How to Write a Successful Application Essay
So you are now ready to join the college. But getting admission into the college of your choice wont be that easy, as more and more pupils are applying for the limited slots every academic year. You are now facing the challenge of writing the most successful application essay for the eyes of admission officers; who would also be judging the essays of all the other applicants, probably with the same profiles, backgrounds and test scores as you have.
This 500-word application essay becomes the bases for the acceptance and rejection, as it is the only way admission officers can judge the worth of the applicant. It is very natural to feel concerned at this stage; standing out in a crowd is not an easy task and thus calls for extra care and preparation. But what ever the case may be, let not the essay stress you out, be very playful to gain utmost.
Follow the following while you write the essay:
Brainstorming; a crucial step:
The key to truly presenting an insightful and incisive application essay is to go through the exercise of brainstorming. It brings out the ideas and thoughts out on the paper that might not be consciously significant to you in the first place.
If you are finding it difficult you can always take help from your friends and family that knows you well. There point of view would be different and really revealing at times. If you have a role model, study his or her personality to discover yourself.
It would be better if you set out goals for the life ahead of you. Brainstorming sessions will help you go through it. It might give you a fresh outlook of what you really want out of life.
Prepare a rough, unedited initial draft and consider the following when pondering:
1. Note down your skills, aptitude and interests no matter how meager they seems to be, like wise accomplishments and ambitions.
2. Noticeable highlights of your life, which have changed your perspectives in anyway.
3. The struggles of your life and their outcomes; either positive or negative and how it has changed your life.
4. Your contributions towards the society through community services etc.
5. And most of all, brainstorm why you want to join the specific institute, what is compelling you to apply there and how will you proof commendable of it.
What to write; choosing the theme or topic of the essay:
The essay could be about anything, you can describe you in any way you desire. You can discuss any topic you wish on earth. But the challenge remains of using the essay up to the maximum. Remember it is the only way of proving your self to be outstanding.
Present your goals, ambitions and accomplishments of life. If you are not the high achiever explain why you are not so. Always keep the theme of the essay positive. Show yourself as a stronger person rather than a pitiable one. Present as if you the one who could work against all odds and can put up a good fight against obstacles. You must attempt writing on such topic that shows your individuality and promotes your desire to be the attendant of the college as well.
Choose a theme about which you have ample amount of knowledge. Difficult and tricky topics, merely to impress the readers will render you with nothing. More avoid the complex, controversial topics. Like politics and religious affairs, even if you choose to write about them, write down more about your point of view rather than commenting who is right and who wrong.
Final Draft: Tips for writing good essays:
1. It is quite advisable to visit the desired college or visit its website and read brochures and introductions. This way, you will have the insight of what the organization believes in and you can arrange the essay accordingly.
2. Take your time and understand what you are expected to write. Understand the questions you have been asked and the requirements you have to fulfill. Take about three or four weeks to ponder on the essay and the ideas you have in mind.
3. Analyzing other previously attempted application essays would help you a lot. Writing application must be a new task for you and going through the others gives you a good idea for writing your own.
4. Copying the style of others would not help, be original and be you. There would be experiences in your life that can set you apart from other people and similar actions. So be open to express yourself and your feeling about a topic you decide to write about.
5. Make an outline or a plan to follow through out the process and refer back continually. The paragraphs of the essay should relate to each other, follow the rules of logical flow in writing.
6. You could be creative in your presentation. Catchy openings can do much more then a dry, lengthy and uninteresting essay. Introduce yourself in the first paragraph as the readers are found to maintain the interest for first few minutes. Show off your self as captivating as you can for those few moments. Creating Mystery is one good idea of keeping the interest of the readers for the rest of the essay.
7. Show what have you achieved by using the action verbs and active voice. Describe your life by applying adjectives and descriptive nouns. It would be more impressive and will make a picture in the mind of the admission officers. Imagery presentations are like five-sense experience and eye catching. At the end of the day, after reading thousands of the essays, your way of presenting yourself will be in the minds of the admission officers.
8. Conclude your essay with caution. It might be the last chance of convincing your reader that you deserve to be in there.
9. Your essay should not be the repetition of your information given in the other parts of the application; it must discuss the dimensions of your personality that needs description.
10. Use different words to express yourself. Do not hesitate to use dictionary or thesaurus. It will give a good perspective to your essay. Remember too much of the repetition of the words would dull the essay and loss of interest on the part of the readers. But using thesaurus doesnt mean complex words can impress the officers, it might rebound if you use them out of context and if simple and common words are better off.
11. Too many long or short the sentences makes the presentation monotonous and boring.
12. Take great care in using the language. Look out for the spelling mistakes and other common grammatical errors. These avoidable errors make the essay off-putting and the impact on the readers about your personality is ruinous. You might be assumed as careless person.
13. You can proof read the essay before submitting it. Revision is one of the most important key to a successful and custom written admission essay.
14. It would be better if you could leave the essay after writing for few days; and then get back to it. The fresh look might help you improve the essay.