Writing The College Essay

Writing The College Essay How many people read each essay varies by institution with two being somewhat standard. Your encouragement, ideas and overall support can go a long way in helping your students write their essays. Emphasize to students the importance of writing an informed essay. For example, they should not write about a fantasy meeting with a famous artist and get the titles of the artist’s paintings wrong. It’s important to draw your reader in from the very first sentence. Take a look at some of these opening lines from college entrance essays submitted to Stanford University. The essay illustrates her joy in trying new things and having diverse interests. This helps us understand how Madison would thrive in a liberal arts academic setting with lots of flexibility where she can find the unique cross-sections of her interests. Jerry’s essay helped the admissions committee understand his background and how he persevered and grew through debate. Although we had already learned about Jerry’s enthusiasm for debate in other parts of his application, this essay gave so much more depth into why this activity is meaningful for him. Given what he shared in his essay, we can imagine Jerry being an active participant both in and out of the classroom. These selections represent just a few examples of essays we found impressive and helpful during the past admissions cycle. At this point, you’ve come up with more ideas than you can possibly fit into one essay. Now you need to focus your goals to only three or four ideas â€" the ones that will make you the most attractive to the college admissions board. No matter what the prompt asks, you want to ensure you include those three or four ideas in your college admissions essay. The theme of the essay can range from personal achievements to political controversies. This means you can adjust your writing style to fit the message of the prompt. This guide will explain how to write a 500-word scholarship essay. Admissions officers tell us they read every essay. The extra length gives room for extra creativity, but it also requires more time to put the perfect piece together. During your scholarship applications, you may need to submit a 500-word essay answering a specific question. The number of reviewers reading the essays vary from school to school. I cannot make that claim, but I do believe that most of them are read. In smaller to mid size colleges they are certainly read, at least by two readers, and all Honors College essays are read. Most colleges hire readers during the application season. Log into your admissions application account to verify the status of your application. Like the Honor Scholar Program itself, these essays address a variety of topics and represent different kinds of opportunities for thought. If everything from 250 to 650 words is fair game, what length is best? Some counselors advise students to keep their essays on the shorter end, but not all colleges place the most value in succinctness. Dr. Allen Grove is an Alfred University English professor and a college admissions expert with 20 years of experience helping students transition to college. Creativity is an aspect very much appreciated in writing, but don’t assume that a creative essay is not also an organized one. Obviously, you don't want to write a bunch of words without meaning, so make sure you write about just one subject at a time. Another scholarship essay length you may encounter is 1,000 words. With a 1,000-word scholarship essay, you will need to cite sources and provide detailed references to support your claims. 1,000+ word essay prompts are often used for writing competitions, where you may be asked to create a fictional story. The application essay is your opportunity to impress an admissions officer with your determination and existing knowledge of your chosen subject. Make sure it reflects all of your skills and ambitions, and show how your chosen program will help you achieve future goals. After you’ve read through the instructions a few times and gathered your notes, you can start creating an outline to organize your essay and decide what message you want to send. Madison’s fun writing style left the admissions committee entertained, but more importantly gave us insight into her outlook and personality.