Writing A Strong College Admissions Essay

Writing A Strong College Admissions Essay Last year's Operation Varsity Blues scandal means that college admissions can't return to business as usual. We need to ensure that the admissions process is fair and equitable, that we don't allow those with money to cut in line and that we don't reward those who make things up or embellish their credentials. We shouldn't abandon a process based on trust, but we also need to make decisions based on information that is verifiable. We would expect a nursing applicant to have had academic training and extracurricular choices that support a desire to help others. A student who highlights their love of community service but has only one or two short-term service opportunities is probably not as committed as he or she wants to claim. As we mentioned earlier, you don’t know who is reading your essay or how they feel about these subjects. It’s best not to offend them or make them feel uncomfortable. If an essay is too “polished” it may seem inauthentic, creating confusion in the reader. Make sure that you are confident in your essay and accept feedback, but don’t allow others to change your essay in any way that will cause it to lose its original message. Try joining clubs and organizations to develop a new community and to make new friends with similar interests. Activities can also help you build confidence while developing important leadership and teamwork skills. If you’re interested in politics, try joining student government. If you just want a break from studying, find out when the Ultimate Frisbee Club meets. Clubs and activities provide endless ways to broaden your horizons. Consider taking a community college course while you’re still in high school. That will allow you to gauge your interest in a field of study while earning college credit. Make sure that your essay is more than a recitation of the accomplishments, activities, and experiences already hashed out in the application. If your essay doesn’t present any new information, it will be dull and forgettable. If you really want to make an impression, let your personality shine through. The essay is supposed to reveal information that you haven’t had a chance to discuss elsewhere in the application. It’s meant to be a deeper dive into who you are beyond the numbers and accolades. Believe me, those admissions officers are experienced and they can definitely spot the difference between a 50 year-old businessperson’s phraseology and a 17-year-old senior’s own voice and manner of expression. In most cases, your essay isn’t the factor that determines your admission to college. However, an offensive, off-putting, or forgettable essay can hurt your chances. By avoiding the topics listed above, you’ll ensure that your essay helps â€" instead of hurts â€" your chances of admission. Sometimes, applicants write about obstacles they’ve overcome or illicit/illegal topics including arrest, sexual experiences, drugs, and alcohol. In a few cases, these topics have been addressed effectively. But for the most part, it’s better to avoid subjects that could reflect poorly on your judgment and morals. After all, you don’t want colleges to think you’re someone they’d rather not have on campus. Living away from home for the first time can be intimidating. Exhibit #2 is the Operation Varsity Blues scandal. As we enter a new admissions cycle one, of the challenges for our profession is mitigating the damage done by that criminal conspiracy and trying to restore public confidence in the college admissions process. I responding by suggesting that he call the dean of admissions at his first-choice college and ask him the same question. Parents should always help their child in a positive way as long as they are not writing the ideas for the student. Editing is vastly different from original writing so this needs to be clarified first, as it has to be the voice and personal memories of the applicant not the parent. The sooner the family treats this as a team effort it will be much easier for the 12th grader to feel as though they are not alone in this process. My preference (and admissions officers’) would be that parents are minimally involved in the essay. His reluctance to do so showed that he already knew the answer. I hammered home the point that misrepresenting himself was wrong and an honor offense, and that colleges are interested in authenticity rather than heroism. I told him that any college admissions officer would detect instantly that the story was not genuine. Editing for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes is fine, but don’t change the voice of the essay.