120 College Essay Examples For 14 Schools + Expert Analysis

120 College Essay Examples For 14 Schools + Expert Analysis And then there’s the all-important application essay, the chance to convey in a few hundred words why a dream school should extend an admissions offer. Perfectionâ€"in college admission and in lifeâ€"is often overvalued. What will distinguish your writing and your application is your unique voice. Be willing to take risks, be vulnerable and share your truth. The readers will appreciate the opportunity to learn more about you, and you will get to know yourself better as well. In fact, the more people who read your essay, the better. Ask your readers whether the essay provides an accurate depiction of who you are and ask whether it is clear, concise, and easy to read. If you were given a prompt by a certain school, make sure that your essay actually addresses the prompt. Even if you don’t have anyone else who can read your essay, you can review it yourself â€" just take a day or two off after writing it before you read it back so you can view it with fresh eyes. Transcripts, letters of recommendation, standardized tests â€" it’s the time of year when high school seniors are checking items off their college admissions to-do lists. Essays on negative life events can be very tricky. Unless enough time has passed since the experience, the essay can be too personal, too much of a rant, or just too hard to read. One rep said the general rule of thumb was no essays on the Four Dsâ€"Drugs, dating, death, and divorceâ€"but you get the idea. If you want to write about a personal challenge, emphasize what you learned and how you grewâ€"if you dwell on the details, the essay will not achieve its purpose. Once you have written your college application essay, your job isn’t done â€" you need to keep working on it to improve it until you can improve it no further. It is a great idea to have someone else read your essay to provide feedback. News and World Reportranking, they take another sip of coffee and move on to the next file. After pouring their heart and soul into the Common App essay, students often run out of gas by the time they encounter any remaining supplemental essays. While supplemental essays may ask you anything from “What is something you can talk about endlessly? ” to your thoughts on time travel , the most important question in this section will, in some form, ask you to explain why this school is the perfect postsecondary home for you. ” essay, in whatever permutation, lulls students into spewing clichés, empty hyperbolic proclamations, and other vapid, “let me just fill up this space” commentary. Picking up your essay, the officer learns that you want to attend their school because it is “great” and “has a stellar reputation.” Yawns ensue. After being reminded for the 37th time today of their school’sU.S. Especially tormented are the perfectionists, you dutiful students who view the college essay as just one more roadblock to be overcome with sheer will. Although juniors may feel like they have a lot of free time right now, the reality is that most high school students are still taking classes â€" they've just shifted into an online format. Therefore, Sawyer says, this may not necessarily be the right time to start working on essays. The goal of your essay is to make an impression on an admissions officer, but you don’t have much time to do it. In some instances, you can actually see this cultural identity reflected in an essay prompt. Of course, your college application essay is just one part of your admissions package, along with your GPA, your class rank, and your extracurriculars. What questions do you have about writing college admissions essays? That’s because the school is interested in seeing students write at length on a chosen topic. No college application is complete without the personal essay, which can be daunting for many students to write. Imagine an admissions officer, at the end of a long day’s work, getting ready to digest his or her 37th “why this college? Look for a strong opening line that really grabs the reader’s attention. Be warned that some college essays demand more creativity than others. Consider the cultural identity of your prospective school as you formulate your topic. Some may embrace a tradition of creative thinking. The best way to move forward is to see a college essay as a conversation. If they could, colleges would welcome you to campus and ask you questions for hoursâ€"but if they did that, no one would be admitted to college until they were 43. To accelerate the process, they want you to talk on paper; let them get to know you by giving them a guided tour of your heart, your brain, and your life. If you succeed, they will look up from reading your essay, and be surprised you aren’t in the room; indeed, they will swear the chair next to them is warm from your having sat in it since Tuesday. While no lives are riding on your college application essays, this is a great time to revisit some of the rules of writing well.