College Essays

College Essays However, if you’re applying to an Ivy League school or a smaller liberal arts college, then they’re really looking at the whole package and the essay can be very important. At some of these schools, there are very few students who don’t have near-perfect test scores and GPAs, so how do you stand out? They’re looking at your essay, recommendations and activities to understand the whole picture of you. It all depends on where you’re applying, your grades and your test scores. I didn’t want to be labelled as just another Asian immigrant by college admissions. I started brainstorming as early as June before my senior year, but I didn’t actually start writing my first draft until mid-August. I finished right before my first deadline on October 15, and hardly touched my Common App essay afterwards. While I met my deadlines, I remember desperately wishing during late-September and early-October that I had finished at least the first draft of my Common App essay before school started. If you’re applying to a large state institution, and your numbers are strong relative to their average student body, then you’ll get in on the strength of your four years of hard work. The bottom line is that they may be getting 25,000 applications, and they simply don’t have time to sift through essays and recommendations. There are so many terrific free resources online â€" just google “brainstorming college essay” and you’ll be pleased with what comes up. Also, look at the Common Application essay promptsâ€" one of them will speak to you, but you need to really read them. And even Joan Didion herself wouldn’t get into college on her writing skills if she had lackluster grades or scores. Your child has narrowed down the list of colleges to apply to and now comes the all-important college essay. No subject is more anxiety-inducing than the essay. It will capture who your student is beyond grades, test scores and co-curricular activities. Have more material than you can possibly use for one application essay, and then some. Inzer also encourages students not to stress too much over the essay and put unnecessary weight on it as part of their college application. While a strong essay may elevate a candidate in a crowded field, she says it doesn’t make or break an application. “The essay really needs to be the student’s work. That is good because your average student has tons of supplemental essays to write, too. Bryant and other admissions officers want to read more compelling essays that “tell us how that experience affected” the student. Alternatively, some of my friends who were successful in the college admissions process met with their English teachers frequently to review their college essays. This allowed them to constantly have someone to bounce ideas off of and to receive assurance if they were going in the right direction and advice if they weren’t. I wish I had kept in mind that college applications were not my only priority during senior year and planned more proactively accordingly so I that wouldn’t get stressed out. Don’t turn in your essay without someone else reading through it, Corner advises. Grammar or punctuation errors are the most unnecessary â€" and unfortunately common â€" mistakes that appear on The Common App. Every year, a student will address the essay to a specific school and not realize the application is sent to every school the student applied to, she said. Kids are quick to eliminate a prompt, but I always ask them to go back and rethink. Ask smaller questions around the prompt to get at exactly what you want to write about. The other subject to handle delicately is loss or tragedy. Colleges want to admit students who are ready to be successful members of their community. I encourage students to ask people close to them to read the essay and ask ‘would you know this essay is about me? But make sure it’s still your voice,” Richardson says. While St. Johns College may ask for more in-depth answers, other schools value brevity, challenging students to write concisely. When I first began, I had my counselor and history teacher read my draft because I felt very unsure about the intention and content of my essay. However, neither of them have ever seen my final draft. Throughout the process, I also had several close friends read my drafts. It told a story of the struggle between two cultures that many immigrant students experience, and furthermore, it didn’t reveal anything about me that felt unique or essential to my personality.