College application paper should showcase your personality
This is most definitely the case. Have you ever considered how challenging it must be for the people who have to wade through hundreds, no thousands of college application essays in order to select the next year's intake of students? What a job. So, how can you make yours stand out? How can you increase, if not greatly increase your chances of being successful?
There are many practical steps you can take and here are a few.
- Make it personal
- Tell your story
- Bring your personal story to life
- What can you bring to the campus?
- Don't repeat yourself
- Explain your uniqueness
- What is the college looking for?
Remember that fact about your essay being one of thousands. You can make yours stand out by making it personal. There are things that have happened to you in your life which did not happen to anyone else. Take advantage of this event or events and make your college application paper very personal.
When people write an essay or make a speech in public, one genuine way to make the material interesting is to tell a story. When an anecdote is repeated, the essay or speech takes on a new tone. Remember this when penning your essay. Follow the normal rules and conventions of essay writing but don't forget to tell your story.
Of course telling a personal story is one thing but making it come alive is another. You need to think about your essay as being something like a short story or even a film script. Build the tension and work towards the climax. Have a great punch line or conclusion to your personal story. Make it come alive.
The people assessing your college application essay will not only want to know about you the person and your academic results, they will also want to know what you can bring to the college. Tell them. Tell them how you can make a difference to the teaching staff and the student faculty. Sell yourself.
Checking over your application paper is vital. Remove redundant words. Never ever repeat yourself. Make your point and move on to the next one.
Everyone is unique but the secret here is to be able to tell or explain what makes you think and act the way you do. How are you unique?
Finally we return to the age-old problem where a student writes a brilliant essay that doesn't answer the question being asked. Result is a fail. Avoid this. What is the college looking for? Always keep that answer in your mind as you create your application paper.
