Writing a perfect college essay requires a solid grasp of the subject, exceptional structure, cohesion, and accurate data. However, many students fail to ensure a couple of elements and end up submitting a poor essay, leading to admission denial because of their inability to prove their point. So, what should they do?
The answer is: “They should use smart strategies to write a perfect college essay!” But what if they are unaware of such strategies and don’t know the way out? Do you find the question relatable? If so, then you have landed at the right place, as this post helps you learn all the strategies you can use to craft a perfect college essay that is sure to impress your supervisor and any average reader.
Do you want to know more? If so, then stick to this article until the end for some valuable takeaways. Further details are given below:
Brainstorm Strategically
Brainstorming and choosing a standout topic should be your top priority when working on a college essay. Here are some tips you can follow to make it possible:
Find Your Story
Since a college essay is part of your admissions application and serves as your personal statement, capable of showing who you really are, you must ensure a strong write-up. It is only possible when you focus on brainstorming a story that shows your positive side in the best possible way.
So, steer clear of overly used topics and ideas that are used by every second person to write a college essay. You should avoid cliches and focus on yourself and the unique side that will impress the admissions committee. Consider a topic that allows you to discuss unique talents, interests, or experiences that you haven’t disclosed elsewhere, not even in your application.
Focus on Your Personality
Showing your positive side while writing a college essay doesn’t mean that you have to be all praise for yourself. There is no need to list facts or summarize your achievements. Make the essay a real reflection of your personality, values, experiences, and takeaways. Instead of focusing on your achievements only, consider jotting down your bad experiences as well.
However, the key purpose behind doing so is summarizing the takeaways and motivations you got from those bad experiences and how you implemented them in your life. Doing so will help you showcase your ability to learn lessons from experiences and work on them to avoid mistakes you have previously made to ensure positive outcomes.
Structure Your Essay Smartly
In addition to the thoughts featured in your essay, the method you use to present the information matters a lot. Given this, it is essential to structure your essay smartly and showcase your creative instinct and intelligence.
Here are some tips to make it possible:
Hook Your Reader from the Beginning
The priority of any writer while working on any kind of write-up should be to engage the readers from the first sentence and intrigue them to read it entirely. The same is applicable to a college essay as well. So, if you want to make a positive impression, grabbing the attention of readers from the very beginning of your essay should be your topmost priority. The first few sentences of your essay should be powerful enough to intrigue readers to learn more about yourself.
Leverage Storytelling
Instead of structuring your essay like a letter or a formal write-up, consider layering it with a powerful story that can make it engaging and interesting for the target audience. Come up with a clear narrative that helps you formulate a story and structure your entire essay around it.
Ensure a clear start, body, and end of your essay to present your story perfectly and keep the readers engaged from the beginning until the conclusion.
Infuse Yourself into the Essay
As mentioned earlier, a college essay should be a clear reflection of yourself and capable of demonstrating your personality, experiences, and values. It is only possible when you inject yourself into the content and focus on showcasing the aforementioned elements instead of casually describing them. Hence, including particular examples and personal anecdotes that are a clear reflection of your experience and growth is a must to infuse yourself into the essay.
Ensure Clarity and Conciseness
The admission committee doesn’t have much time to read lengthy blocks of text featuring too much fluff and fancy language. You must also keep that in mind while writing a college essay, and pay attention to keep your writing clear and concise. You can do this by using active voice to write sentences, steering clear of fluff, and ensuring conciseness. Doing so will help you keep sentences direct, clear, and impactful, which will surely impress reviewers.
Don’t Consider Five-Paragraph Structure an Obligation
Many students think that college admission committees only pay attention to essays that follow the five-paragraph structure. However, it is a false assumption. You can go for a more free-form structure that can help you present a more personal and engaging narrative. However, you should ensure that the structure of your essay doesn’t compromise the clarity, conciseness, and directness of your writing at any cost.
End Your Essay with a Robust Conclusion
Once you are done with the body of your essay, it is time to conclude it powerfully to cast a strong, lasting impression on the target audience. So, go through your entire writing, make a rough summary, and then consider it while concluding your essay to ensure that you have briefly provided a recap of the entire content. After doing so, present your final thought that could become the essence of your entire essay.
Vigilantly Refine Your Essay
Once you are done with writing the initial draft of your essay, it is time to revise and refine it further to present a masterpiece of thoughts and creativity alongside your admission application.
Here are some ideas to work on:
First Draft Should Not be the Final Submission
Many students make the mistake of considering their first draft perfect for submission. You should not do that. Your first draft could be bad in various aspects, so work on it as a rough draft of your essay. Don’t run behind perfection in the first go. Your priority should be to jot down all the ideas coming to your mind on paper and then revise the first draft to ensure perfection.
Take a Short Break Before Making Revisions
After writing the first draft, which is a collection of raw ideas, you must take a little break. After taking some rest, come back for revision to make your writing appear focused and refined to the target audience. Your priority while doing so should be to keep sentences clear, concise, direct, and powerful. Go through the entire content to identify fluff and eradicate it to reinforce directness.
Analyze Your Essay for Possible Plagiarism
Even if the essay you have written is the outcome of your personal ideas and features particular anecdotes that are exclusive to you, chances of accidental overlaps still exist. Such a scenario may occur because of duplicate tone or vocabulary. Hence, run your essay through an advanced plagiarism checker. You can easily find an online plagiarism checker free and use it to identify accidental overlaps so that you can eradicate them beforehand.
Focus on Proofreading Carefully
You should understand that the college essay you have written could be a make-or-break factor for you. Hence, leaving a single syntactical or punctuational mistake in it would cost you a lot. So, you should proofread the entire write-up carefully and check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. You can also leverage an advanced grammar checker for this purpose. Such a tool will not only accurately identify the slightest mistakes in your writing but rectify them as well to help you demonstrate attention to detail.
In the End
The task of writing a college essay should not be taken lightly. You should seek perfection because a lot of things are at stake. Using smart strategies to write a college essay can help you make it possible. This post helps you become familiar with such strategies, right from the selection of a topic to the process of refinement. So, follow them and leave a lasting impression on the college admission committee to get admission in your desired academic institute without any disappointments!
