Crafting a Standout College Application Essay: Essential Tips for Success (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: If you're a high school student, you know that you have to write a personal essay for your college application. It's a short essay about yourself that helps determine whether you get in the school of your choice. How do you write it? How do you keep viewers out of their reject pile? Today, many colleges downplay standardized test scores and focus instead on transcripts, recommendations, and this application essay. A place where you can rise above the numbers and percentages and show schools why you stand out. When reading your essay, college admissions officials ask themselves, What does this person bring to our school? How will they make it a more valuable place? The purpose of your essay is to help answer those questions. Let's get into it with these tips. 1. Know your prompts. The seven essay prompts of the Common App vary from year to year, so be sure to know those that apply to you. Remember, no prompt is better than another. Be prepared with something you feel passionate about and adapt it to fit a prompt. 2. Obey the word limit. 650 words. You'll be surprised how short that is. Be prepared to make cuts before submitting. You cannot submit an essay that's even one word over the 650-word limit. 3. Start early. Begin preparing this essay in July or August before your senior year. Once senior year begins, the days will fly by and suddenly the admission deadline will be sitting there like a time bomb. Start by writing a list of potential topics. Chat box can help. Try the prompt, Suggest 10 possible topics for a college admissions essay. Then regenerate as needed until you've got the one perfect for you. 4. Don't reinvent the wheel. Instead, make it rounder. Read the samples of college essays that worked in the admissions section of college websites and online. Make a list of what the samples have in common and what you liked about each one. 5. Keep it narrow. Avoid philosophical questions and earth-shattering events. For this essay, it's honesty and insights that count, not the scope of the story. 6. Avoid COVID-19 like the plague. COVID-19 impacted you, no doubt, but that was 2020. Today, colleges want to read about something different. 7. Fish for good topics. Ask those who know you best to describe you in a few words. Not only will you be surprised, the replies can provide a great starting point for your personal essay. 8. It's more than a story. The narrative you tell is only a vehicle for revealing yourself. Be vulnerable and honest above all else. Admissions officials won't judge your moments of weakness or fear or your politics. They will look for your level of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and introspection. 9. Be authentic. This is definitely not the time to indulge in overly academic or poetic language. Use plain words you would normally use. Don't over-inflate. Trust the fact that your story is interesting because no one else has lived it. 10. Show and tell. This isn't your typical school essay. Help your reader see and feel what you do by describing sights, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and sounds as you write. However, be sure to keep the typical essay paragraph structure. Give each a clear beginning, middle, and end. And, of course, it goes without saying that the essay should be mechanically flawless. Spelling, formatting, and grammatical errors can be deadly. Ask others to read what you've written. Fresh eyes will see what you no longer can because these are your words that you've read many times. It will help if you read your essay out loud, verbalizing the silent language of the page. Finally, remember, you don't need to pay hundreds of dollars for help in writing this essay. Give yourself time to brainstorm, to write and rewrite, and ask for feedback along the way. Follow this process and your story will shine.