A writing guide for college essays will ensure that your essay is remembered by the admissions committee. Although halloween usually marks the start of the holiday season for america’s retailers, if you are a senior applying to college, the day signals the unofficial start of the college application season. Regardless of your grades or test scores, you will likely struggle writing your personal statement, commonly known as the college essay. Here are six tips that will help you through this stressful, but essential part of the college application.

Make sure that you address the recommended topics and answer the questions asked. Rarely do four single spaced pages impress very busy admissions officers who must make quick judgments of your candidacy. If you are using the common application, i recommend that your personal statement not exceed one and a half pages. use the appropriate format. when applying online, your essay will automatically be formatted to fit standard guidelines. However, if you decide not to send the application electronically, follow these guidelines: use single space.

start with a catchy first sentence. it is always a good idea to have a catchy first sentence. If you are experiencing writer’s block, skip this first sentence, and work on the rest of your essay. avoid clichés. do you see commonly used phrases in your essay that you’ve heard frequently in casual conversation? if so, these are probably clichés. Instead, you could share the same idea with the sentence: heavy raindrops fell, blinding my view. Word processing programs often provide assistance with converting passive sentences to the active tense. use your conclusion to recapture the main points of your essay. your conclusion should leave a lasting statement that reminds the reader of your essay’s key points.

Reiterate the main themes of your essay, but say it in a different way than you did before. As solid writing only comes with practice, i recommend that you invest time in your personal statement. To start, complete a first draft of your essay at least one month before the deadline. A few days between each draft will allow you to think clearly and not be overwhelmed. With continual proofreading and editing, you’ll be able to see a fresh perspective. Get expert help applying to college! applywise llc copyright 2007

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every semester, fastweb helps thousands of students pay for school by matching them to scholarships, grants and awards for which they actually qualify. The resources in this section provide a general timeline for undergraduate applications.

In this section you will also find more detailed information about each stage in the application process. contributors: fernando sбnchez last edited: 2013 04 22 1:39 when you sit down to write your application essays, there is very little left that you can control. You should have already taken, or retaken, the sat and act, your grades from your first three years of high school are set on your transcript, and your recommenders all have their impressions of you that are unlikely to change before the recommendation deadline. The only thing that left in your control is your writing for the application essay.

As with all things related to your college application, you will need to start drafting your application essay far ahead of the due date. In fact, you should move each school rsquo s deadline up two weeks so that no unexpected events prevent you from completing and submitting your application. The reason that you need so much time to work on your essay is primarily because many schools will ask you to write about similar topics, but to do so in different ways. You will need enough time to draft essays that address each of these questions or prompts for each school to which you are applying. That is, resist the urge to reuse the exact same essay for different schools if each of them is giving you a slightly different writing prompt. Many schools do allow you to use the common application essay for admission to several participating schools. For more information on the common application and to check which schools participate as members, click here.

Although using the common application does simplify the processes, make sure that you review each of the schools rsquo application requirements. As many of these same schools also request that you submit a second essay along with the common application essay. For instance, in addition to answering one of the standard common application questions, amherst college asks that you write an additional essay responding to one of several quotations. Before you can start writing your essay, you will need to begin by reading the prompts and questions carefully. You should ask yourself what sticks out the most for you after having read through them. You can free write writing without stopping or censoring yourself , create word association maps visually clustering concepts that you feel go together , or keep a journal over the course of several days so that you can collect your thoughts in one place.

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See the purdue owl's powerpoint on ldquo finding your focus rdquo for more details on these strategies. After you have generated several ideas, reflect on where you find the most intensity or excitement in what you were writing. If nothing jumps out at you, keep brainstorming or talk with others about some possible topics until something grabs you. Don rsquo t be afraid of stray thoughts if they lead you to something more interesting than you had set out to write. Just make sure that you eventually come to have a rough draft that is about one thing.

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After reading your essay, does it seem like anyone could have written this? make sure that your essay captures who you are. Successful essays relate an experience or analyze a pattern from the writer rsquo s life. It is not enough to make general claims about what impacted your decision to go to college, for instance you must elaborate by including evidence that answers ldquo how rdquo and ldquo why rdquo when you make your claims. It is important to note that admissions officers care as much about your structure, style, and insights as they do about your content. That is not meant to add an extra layer of anxiety to your writing process, but to highlight the fact that you don rsquo t necessarily need to have something life changing to write about in order to write a successful essay.

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As dowhan, dowhan and kaufman note in essays that will get you into college. Ldquo personal does not have to mean heavy, emotional or even inspiring rdquo 10. In fact, as the authors explain, students might over rely on the significant event that they write about to speak for itself and don rsquo t ldquo explain what it meant to them or give a solid example of how it changed them. What is it that you learned because of this experience? what message can you decipher from the series of events that you present? what led you to your conclusions? once you have completed your rough draft, put it away for a few days. Is it personal? does it use vivid language? is it focused on one topic? rewrite whatever needs to be strengthened. This is a great time to have other people look through your draft and get their reaction. Make sure that you ask someone early, and that you trust this person rsquo s judgment they will be putting in a lot of time to help you, so don rsquo t disregard anything that is inconvenient or that you don rsquo t want to hear.