Undoubtedly a daunting task, writing your personal statement for college applications is. It is quite understandable to feel anxious because your essay is your best chance to show colleges who you are. But don’t let that anxiety make you helpless.
In order to help you understand exactly what you need to do to produce the greatest personal statement possible, this tutorial will take you through each step of the essay writing process. I’ll also follow a fictitious student named Eva as she organizes and drafts her college essay, from the beginning stages of brainstorming and early planning to the end results. You’ll have all the resources you need to write an outstanding, impactful college essay by the time you finish reading this article.
So, what constitutes a quality college essay? Finding the best subject to write about first involves comprehending what the prompt is asking for and giving yourself enough time to come up with a few ideas. The next step is to decide how to produce an engaging essay that showcases your distinct viewpoint. You’ll next draft several drafts to perfect your structure and wording. You’ll conduct a last sweep to ensure that everything is accurate after your writing is as compelling and effective as possible.
Step 1: Organize yourself
Identifying what you must do is the first step in learning how to write a cheap essay writing service. Rutgers and the University of California still retain their own applications and writing standards, despite the fact that many schools are now using the Common App. You might be required to compose an extra essay or give succinct answers to questions, even for Common App colleges.
You should be well aware of the essays you need to write before you begin. By assessing whether an essay may be used for more than one prompt, you can prepare the best strategy for each essay and reduce the amount of effort you have to do.
begin early
Composing effective college essays requires a lot of work; just one personal statement requires dozens of hours to polish, and that’s before you even start thinking about any extra essays.
I advise beginning at least two months before your first deadline to ensure you have enough time to plan, draft, and edit your essay (or essays). The last thing you want is to be forced to submit an incomplete essay that you aren’t proud of because you ran out of time.
Decide what has to be done.
Each institution has its unique essay requirements, as I mentioned above, so you’ll need to look through and figure out exactly what you need to submit for each school. If you’re simply using the Common App, this step is straightforward because you can quickly examine the prerequisites for each school under the “My Colleges” option. Be careful though, as some schools (even those that want a full essay) will place their prompts in the “Questions” box, while others (even those that want a writing supplement) won’t.
Applying to any colleges that aren’t on the Common App makes things more difficult. You’ll need to research each college’s essay requirements; these should be stated on the application itself or in the “how to apply” section of the school’s website.
Making a chart with the name of the school, the word limit, and the application deadline on one side and the prompt or prompts you need to respond to on the other is advised once you have calculated the requirements for each institution. In this manner, you’ll be able to clearly see what needs to be done and by when.
Choose a starting point
Start with the essay that is due first if you have any that aren’t. If not, start with the essay for the school of your first choice.
I would also suggest beginning with a lengthier personal statement before going on to shorter supplemental essays because essays between 500 and 700 words tend to take much longer to complete than brief answers between 100 and 250 words. You might find ideas for the lesser essays that you like thanks to the brainstorming you perform for the longer one.
Furthermore take into account whether any of the questions are close enough together that you might send the exact same essay to various colleges. By doing this, you can save some time and concentrate on a small number of outstanding essays rather than a large number of subpar ones.
Don’t, however, utilize the same essays—especially “why us” essays—for different or extremely school-specific prompts. Admissions counselors want to see proof that you’re truly interested in attending a college if they ask you to write about why you’re thrilled about attending. The quickest method to demonstrate your lack of authenticity is to reuse an essay on another school while changing the names.
Step 2: Generate ideas
The next step in learning how to write a college essay is to brainstorm essay topic ideas. There are a ton of methods you can use to generate essay topic ideas; I’ve included three below. I advise trying them all and making a list of potential themes before selecting the best one or, if you’re writing several essays, the best few.
As you come up with ideas, remember that there is no ideal college essay topic—only the best topic for you. Avoid writing an essay because you feel you should because those writings usually aren’t interesting or well-written. Similar to this, avoid writing about the first thought that comes to mind out of laziness or a lack of enthusiasm in coming up with anything more intriguing. Spend some time thinking of a subject that will pique your interest and allow you to write extensively.
Create the Ideal College Essay
Review the Prompts
Consider carefully the essay prompt provided by the college as one technique to generate potential subjects. What do they want from you? Dissect them and consider every viewpoint.
Is there more than one part to the question? Do you have a number of things to complete?
What do you believe the admissions representatives want to know about you?
If there are multiple prompt options, does one stand out to you more than the others? Why?
Let’s analyze one of the questions from the University of Washington as an illustration:
“Our particular worlds and families are frequently defined by them. Your ethnic group, extended family, religious community, neighborhood, school, sports team or club, coworkers, etc. are all examples of your community. Explain your environment and how, as a product of it, you might contribute to the diversity of the UW.”
In essence, this question asks how your personal history—including your upbringing, family, affiliations—helped shape who you are today. It gives a variety of potential perspectives.
You can discuss the results of your family life (such as your connection with your parents or the environment you grew up in) or your cultural history (like your Jewish faith or your Venezuelan heritage). Also, you can decide whether to concentrate on the advantages or disadvantages of your family or culture. But, readers will undoubtedly be interested in learning about your educational objectives (i.e., what you intend to gain from college) and how they relate to your personal experience.
As you try to come up with answers for a prompt, consider what you would respond if a friend or during a get-to-know-you icebreaker asked you the question. Admissions officials are essentially just people you want to get to know you, after all.
Although the essay questions can be a terrific starting point, don’t feel bound by them. The majority of prompts are broad enough for you to generate a concept and then tailor it to the inquiry.
Think About Significant Events, Experiences, and Concepts in Your Life
What skills, talents, hobbies, or other peculiarities do you have that universities might be interested in learning about? Or, how would you characterize yourself? Suggested topics include pursuits outside of school, intellectual pursuits, occupations, notable one-time occurrences, tidbits of family history, or anything else that has influenced your outlook on life.
The finest themes are frequently those that are unexpected or just a little unique, like your obsessive devotion to Korean dramas or your annual family road trip to a significant historical location. If you’re an All-American soccer player and want to write about the impact soccer has had on your life, you’ll have a higher bar to clear because you want your essay to add something to your application.
Of course, you are free to write about more difficult aspects of your personal experience, such as parent loss, life-threatening disease, or a difficult upbringing. Make sure, however, that you are at ease discussing specifics of the experience with the admissions committee and that you are able to detach sufficiently from it to accept helpful criticism of your essay.
When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Consider how you view yourself.
Consider whether there are any particular personality qualities you wish to emphasize as a last step in the brainstorming process. Although it may seem stupid, this strategy has the potential to be incredibly powerful.
How would you present yourself if you were trying to sell yourself to a possible employer or even a date? Strive to identify specific traits that set you apart. What are some instances where you shown this trait?
How to Choose a Subject for a College Essay
There is no one correct response to the question of what constitutes a good college essay topic, but there are several important considerations you should make. Finding the correct topic is essential to creating a great essay with all of these traits. The best essays are narrowly focused, meticulously thorough, illuminating, and insightful.
Be selective as you sort through your thoughts and consider each one’s suitability for an essay. So don’t be too hard on yourself; there might be another way to tackle something even if your original ideas doesn’t pan out. Focus on the things that really excite you, then find ways to implement those concepts.
Whenever you have a variety of concepts, you must choose the one that truly stands out.
First Thing to Consider: Does It Matter to You?
It will be difficult to persuade your readers to care about your topic if you don’t care about it yourself. You cannot create a self-reflective essay unless you choose a subject that is actually meaningful to you.
But remember: a college essay is not a compelling argument, so don’t mistake what’s essential to you for what’s important to the rest of the world. Making a political or intellectual statement is not the point; the point is to give the reader a sense of who you are. It must be a personal essay.
Similar to this, many students believe they must write about a significant life event or their greatest accomplishment. Yet, there are plenty of other areas in the application for you to provide such information; the objective of a personal statement isn’t to act as a resume or boast sheet. Because how you approach a common event typically reveals a lot about your perspective on the world, many of the best essays are about something minor.
Mainly, your topic needs to have had a real impact on your perspective, whether it changed your perspective on something else or taught you something about yourself.
Consideration 2: Does it reveal new information about you to the reader?
Your essay should strengthen your application in a way that isn’t already clear from the rest of it. Again, there are spaces for all of your extracurricular activities and honors; the purpose of the essay is to provide a more in-depth personal statement that cannot be understood solely from statistics and lists.
Also, you should ensure that the two essays you submit to a school, such as a Common App personal statement and a school-specific supplement, address distinct subjects.
Third Point: Is It Specific?
In the end, your essay should have a very specific focus. Although 650 words might seem long, you can fill them up pretty quickly. This means that you either need to start with a very specialized topic or identify a particular area of a larger topic to concentrate on.
If you attempt to tackle a particularly broad issue, you’ll produce a lot of generalizations and tedious lists of your achievements. Choose a brief anecdote or a single concept to delve deeply into instead.
Question #4: Can You Go Into Further Detail?
A vague essay is boring; it is the specifics that give your writing charm. She probably won’t be all that interested if I tell my friend that I had a fantastic dessert yesterday, for instance. She would undoubtedly ask where I got the beautiful slice of peach raspberry pie that had a flaky, buttery crust with a filling that was both sweet and tangy, though, if I tell her that (at least she will if she appreciates the joys of pie). She’ll discover more about me as well, such as my love of pie and my rigorous analysis of deserts.
Given the value of specifics, it’s often not a good idea to write about events that occurred in the distant past or that you don’t recall clearly. Writing a strong essay about something that you can’t fully describe will be difficult.
Also, avoid choosing a subject on which you feel uncomfortable speaking. Essays about deeply personal subjects, such as a student’s mother’s bipolar disease or their family’s financial troubles, can delight some students, but others find it difficult to divulge such details. If you fall into the latter category, it’s entirely acceptable; just don’t write about one of these delicate subjects.
But, don’t stress that every single detail must be flawless. Don’t invent anything, but your readers won’t care if you recall a wall as being green when it was actually blue.
It is not necessary to know the precise number of dewdrops that covered the leaf.
Fifth Point: Is It Connected to the Prompt?
There aren’t many thoughts you can’t connect to one of the Common App or Coalition App questions as long as you’re talking about yourself. Being sure to answer the question will be more important if you’re applying to a school with a more specific prompt or writing additional essays.
