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Writing a great college admission essay doesn’t have to be stressful

A person once wrote that “We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them”.  Writing a college admission essay is probably one of the most stressful events of high school, rivalled perhaps only by the SAT or the prom.   “There’s nothing interesting about me”, “I’m no good at writing” or “I don’t know where to start” are common refrains heard from today’s high school students.

Writing the College Admission Essay doesn’t have to be stressful.

However, the college essay doesn’t have to be this awful, stressful experience. This article is designed to assuage those fears by giving 10 practical tips for writing a memorable college essay.

1. Answer the question the being asked.  When a college has a specific essay topic, there’s a reason for it. Answer it.
2. Tell a story.  Good college essays have a complete emotional arc, with a beginning, middle, and end.
3. Write the essay about you.  No matter what topic you choose, the essay is ultimately about you.  What are you passionate about?  What makes you different?  Why should the college accept you?  What is your admission hook?
4. Follow the rules.  If there is a word limit, stick to the word limit.  The rule of thumb is never go more than 10% over the number of words they are asking for.
5. Be concise.  Since you are limited in the number of words you can use, choose your words carefully.  Good essays should be journalistic and crisp.
6. Talk about growth and how an event changed you.  Don’t just describe an event, tell how that event impacted you and helped you grow into the person you are now.
7. Avoid cliched or overdone essay topics.  Don’t tell about how you won the big game or how your summer travel has changed your worldview, unless you can write about it in a new and exciting way.
8. Take risks.  One admission officer lamented to me that not enough students take risks with their essays.  Don’t tell the colleges what you think they want to hear, tell them what you think they need to know about you.
9. Have someone who knows you read your essay.  That person should be able to read the essay and say, “yup, that’s you.”  Even better, someone who doesn’t know you should be able to read the essay and say, “That is someone I would want to share my college experience with.”
10. Finally, just because a word is spelled correctly,  doesn’t mean it is the right word.  It is important to have a set of fresh eyes review your essay, especially to make sure you aren’t ending with “and that is why I really want to go to Boston College” on the application that you are sending to UConn.

Like most difficult things in life, procrastination is the enemy.  Pick a time and get started.  Before you know it, you will have winning college essay that will help get you in your first choice college.

James Maroney is the founder of First Choice College in Milford, a member of the Connecticut State Planning Commission for Higher Education, and the creator of AdmissionHook.com, a website dedicated to the college essay.