Whether you’re applying to college or graduate school, it’s likely that you’ll have to write at least one essay to make your application complete. While this might not seem like too big of a deal, your essay can be the difference between acceptance and rejection—or even between getting into your first-choice school and being waitlisted! To help you make sure your college essay doesn’t end up being the reason you don’t get in, here are seven tips for writing the perfect college essay.
1) Start Early
It’s never too early to start working on your college application essay. You can think of your essay as part of a job application process—if you want an A-plus, make sure you treat it like one. Many colleges require that you submit your completed application at least six weeks before their decision deadline; but even if yours doesn’t, getting an early start will help you feel more comfortable and confident about how you’re presenting yourself as a potential candidate for admission. Plus, it gives you plenty of time to revise and get feedback before finalizing anything—and who knows, maybe there’s something in here that helps!
2) Make it Personal
When writing a personal essay on why you deserve a scholarship, it’s essential to avoid making it read like a typical academic article. Many students tend to fall into the trap of using passive voice, complex sentences, and convoluted clauses. However, the personal 100-word essay on why I deserve a scholarship should instead focus on communicating your feelings about the topic and why you are the best candidate. To achieve this, start by crafting a compelling opening paragraph that introduces who you are and why you are qualified and interested in the topic. The more personal and specific you make your essay, the more effective it will be as a means of introducing yourself (and yes, impressing admissions counselors). In essence: make it personal.
3) Choose a Strong Topic
The first step to writing a college essay is choosing a topic. And while you don’t want to choose an essay topic that can be summed up in one word, it’s important that you also don’t use your 500-word limit on something too vague and broad. So how do you know when a topic is strong enough? Focus on choosing something that has some meaning behind it. What makes your choice interesting? Why are you drawn to it? In essence, if there isn’t any substance or interest behind your essay topic, then why would anyone else be interested in reading about it? A great way of figuring out whether your topic is good enough for an essay is seeing whether or not other people care about what you have to say.
4) Back up your Argument with Evidence
Whenever you’re writing an essay, your arguments are only as good as your evidence. And if you can connect that evidence back to a point of view or position, all the better. In other words, think of your thesis statement as a roadmap for where you’re going—and try to make sure that everything on your trip backs up what you say about your destination. This is especially important when it comes to counterarguments. For example, let’s say your thesis is that college students should be required to attend orientation in person; backing up that argument with stats about how online orientation is less effective than in-person orientation would make it stronger—as long as you use valid stats from an unbiased source.
5) Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!
After you’ve written and revised your essay, give it a final look over. Even if you’re submitting electronically, make sure that your document is free of spelling and grammatical errors—it will set a good impression. Since you’ll want to edit out any mistakes that remain, read through it twice (at least) before sending it in. There are plenty of tools online that can help you proofread too; one such tool is Hemingway Editor which highlights elements of bad writing by changing how they appear on screen. Consider using it as a last minute revision tool!
6) Show you Put in Effort
No one is going to believe that you spent five days pouring over your laptop’s keyboard if you turn in a paper that looks like it was written in two hours. It’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. If your professors want to see effort, show them—even if they don’t ask for it. Make sure your essay is properly cited and referenced; make sure citations line up with quotes; make sure there are no typos; make sure word choice is varied and grammar impeccable; and most importantly, go through your essay multiple times using spell check and a friend as a proofreader until you know every single word (and its spelling) inside out.
7) Get an Editor/Buddy Checker
Always have someone proofread your writing. There is nothing worse than submitting an essay that has a misspelled word or a misplaced comma. Not only does it reflect poorly on you, but it can also diminish your chances of getting into college and landing that scholarship! Always get someone else to proofread for grammar and spelling mistakes, not just for you but for others who will read it later (like future employers and grad schools). Most times you might need to write my paper help online to do this too.