An admissions officer will want to know about the arc of your emotional journey too. Reciting a list of activities is also boring. The most engaging writing “shows” by setting scenes and providing anecdotes, rather than just providing a list of accomplishments and activities. What did you discover about yourself? Show Don’t TellĪs you expand on whatever theme you’ve decided to explore in your essay, remember to show, don’t tell. Make a connection with your soup kitchen volunteerism and how it may have inspired your educational journey and future aspirations. Let the reader know how winning the soccer game helped you develop as a person, friend, family member, or leader. They want to read about realizations you may have come to through adversity as well as your successes, not just about how many games you won while on the soccer team or how many people you served at a soup kitchen.

They want to know what has brought you to this stage in life. But that’s not the point.Ĭollege admissions officers are interested in learning more about who you are as a person and what makes you tick. Some essay writers think they will impress committees by loading an essay with facts, figures, and descriptions of activities, like wins in sports or descriptions of volunteer work. If your task is to tell a good story, a bold beginning can be a natural prelude to getting there, serving as a roadmap, engaging the reader from the start, and presenting the purpose of your writing. Starting your essay in a powerful way with a clear thesis statement can often help you along in the writing process. This might be a bold statement, a thoughtful quote, a question you pose, or a descriptive scene. Therefore, start your essay with an opening sentence or paragraph that immediately seizes the imagination. You’ll be competing with so many other applicants for an admission officer’s attention. Honesty about traits, situations, or a childhood background that you are working to improve may resonate with the reader more strongly than a glib victory speech. You can write about a specific experience, hobby, or personality quirk that illustrates your strengths, but also feel free to write about your weaknesses. Whatever subject you choose, make sure it’s something that’s genuinely important to you and not a subject you’ve chosen just to impress. Use your own voice, sense of humor, and a natural way of speaking. Inauthenticity could mean the use of overly flowery language that no one would ever use in conversation, or it could mean choosing an inconsequential topic that reveals very little about who you are. Readers can sense when writers are inauthentic. More than any other consideration, you should choose a topic or point of view that is consistent with who you truly are. We’ll touch on how to start your essay, what you should write for your college essay, and elements that make for a great college essay. Indeed, officers may rely on them even more now that many colleges are not considering test scores.īelow we’ll discuss a few strategies you can use to help your essay stand out from the pack. It is your chance to stand out as someone worthy of a seat in that classroom.Ī well-written and thoughtful essay-reflecting who you are and what you believe-can go a long way to separating your application from the slew of forgettable ones that admissions officers read.

Simply that your college essay, traditionally a requirement of any college application, is more important than ever.Ī college essay is your unique opportunity to introduce yourself to admissions committees who must comb through thousands of applications each year. This policy change is seen as fairer to students who don’t have the means or access to testing, or who suffer from test anxiety. Instead, many (including Harvard through 2026) are opting for “test-blind” admission policies that give more weight to other elements in a college application. When it comes to deciding who they will admit into their programs, colleges consider many criteria, including high school grades, extracurricular activities, and ACT and SAT scores.īut in recent years, more colleges are no longer considering test scores.

Good things to write about for school