3 Common College Essay Mistakes To Avoid

3 Common College Essay Mistakes To Avoid Your essay may be your own ideas, words, and writing. Ask people to read your drafts to provide you corrections and advice on your essay. Your teachers, family, friends, school counselors, and community members are all people you might ask to help you create your essay. There are several tutoring services available across the nation; with a little research you should be able to locate an agency near you that may be able to assist you with writing. Here are 5 essential traits of a compelling college essay. Your essay doesn’t need to have all 5, but college admissions officers look for at least one of these traits or possibly two. Craig is a college admissions coach and founder of CollegeMeister. He previously held university admissions and high school college and career counseling positions in Baltimore, West Palm Beach, and Rio de Janeiro. The Hamilton Admission Team offers these tips for you to consider when sitting down to write your college application essays. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Look, we all procrastinate. But please, please, please do not not procrastinate on your admissions essay. Everything I’ve covered in this article matters only if you give yourself enough time. If you start the day before the application is due, all I can say is good luck. It’s impossible to write an article covering every possible essay prompt you could encounter in the college application process. While you may prefer certain settings or sizes, the fact is, you can easily find those qualities anywhere. Ethan Sawyer is a nationally recognized college essay expert and sought-after speaker. Each year he helps thousands of students and counselors through his online courses, workshops, articles, products, and books, and works privately with a small number of students. The team at Marks Education was very helpful to my college application process. The planning of my high school class selection, provided by Nina Marks and Ian Perez was especially helpful. When it comes to college essays, you want to maximize the opportunity to delight, intrigue or amuse your reader….immediately. Many students fall into the trap of offering superficial or generic reasons for wanting to attend. An admissions committee doesn’t want to hear that you’re attracted to the warm weather â€" you can just as easily find that at another college in the South. Even if you’re only applying to a couple schools that you know you can get into, it will still serve you well to write a compelling admissions essay. Standing out from everyone else could put you in the running for additional scholarships and will also simply make a good impression, which never hurts. Ah, college application essays â€" the necessary evil of college-bound high school seniors everywhere. If you’ve just finished your junior year of high school, then these may very well be in your near future. Really good writing is hard, and takes lots of practice (and you will get plenty of that in college!). We do not expect perfection, but we do hope to get to know you a little bit better through your writing. My essay advisor, Hugh McIntosh, worked with me to refine broad ideas to concise, strong personal statements and supplemental questions. The fall of senior year is inevitably a difficult time, but Mark's Education made it clear and painless. Often the best college essays develop out of a moment or idea that at first seems small, but then grows, develops, and takes on a life of its own. A thoughtfully crafted essay and a clean, clear application can make a tremendous difference in the college admissions process. Remember, in the grand scheme of the college admissions process, the application essay is a unique opportunity â€" and an opportunity to be unique. Always ask for help and stay focused on your topic. Remember that the college application is important, but not as important as your grades. You should also feel free to use any assistive technology that you are using in school to help write your essay. Good writers always keep their audience in mind and a college essay is no exception. Colleges and universities have their own personalities and priorities. You should find out more about the college or university of your interest and write an essay specific to that audience. Emory even calls out the commonality of that response in its prompt. The same applies to wanting to be in a city or town or being part of a small, medium, or large student body.