This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org.
Choosing an Essay Topic
Most college applications will provide a question for you to answer in your essay. Some examples include: “Describe Yourself,” “Explain Why You Want to Attend Our College,” or “Discuss an Issue” (like why Americans should vote). If you’re given a choice of question or topic to write about, choose something that you have experience with or that you have an opinion on.
Pre-writing Preparation
After you have selected a topic, think of some specific details or examples you can include in your essay. When writing an essay about yourself, focus on one or two aspects of yourself that a reader would find intriguing. You might write about an interesting hobby, a club you started at your school, or an anecdote that illustrates something about yourself. If you want to write about why you want to attend a particular college, make sure you have researched the college’s website and can discuss specific degree programs that interest you. Before writing an essay on a controversial or political issue, come up with at least three reasons to support your position and some supporting details.“Don’t try and impress the admissions officers with fancy words; use simple and clear language.”
Follow the Rules
If the application asks you to write a 500-word essay, don’t write much more or much less than that. In general, don’t write more than about 700 words for an application essay since the admissions officers have to read hundreds of college essays—longer is not always better. The Common Application’s main essay requires a minimum of 250 words and a maximum of 650 words. Stick to the topic of the essay and keep your writing focused on answering the question.
Writing Advice
- Use vivid, concise and descriptive language; include names of people and details to establish a setting.
- Do not try and impress the admissions officers with fancy words; use simple and clear language.
- Try to vary your language, using strong nouns and verbs.
- Keep a thesaurus and dictionary at your desk so you can find synonyms for words you might overuse.
- Do not start each sentence the same way since that can become repetitive.
- Avoid unnecessary words such as “very” and “many.”
- And do not use slang words or text messaging abbreviations.
Beginnings and Endings
In your introductory paragraph, avoid writing a sentence that says, “This essay will be about my opinion on gun control.” Instead, start with something that will attract the reader’s interest, such as an anecdote or a news event, and then just dive right into the topic. Likewise, do not write a conclusion that just repeats other parts of the essay. The conclusion should end on a strong note since this is the last thing the reader will remember about the essay.
Edit and Revise
Give yourself enough time to write the essay so that you can put it aside for a day or two and reread it with fresh eyes. Use the spell check and grammar check on your computer to edit your essay. Then ask at least one other person to read it and correct anything you might have missed. Revise your piece several times until you have the strongest essay that you can write for your application.