#studublr
Writing a college essay is a prerequisite for students seeking admission into colleges in the United States. If you are applying to a college that has a very rigorous and highly competitive application process, then your essay should be the one thing that sets you apart from other applicants. Writing the college application essay isn’t rocket science, neither is it as difficult as it seems.
It’s simply matter of merging your personal experiences along with some factual information about the college are applying into. One of the first things you must therefore do before thinking of how to write a college essay is to determine what direction you wish to follow. It is advisable that you research the college of your choice online and find out detailed information about the course of study you wish to pursue. You can then use the information you have gathered to your advantage by seamlessly blending it into your essay. The concept behind this is that you want to show them how their college will help you achieve your goals academically.
The aim in college essays is to enable the admission officers learn new information about the students applying for admission that they cannot source anywhere on the students application. It is therefore expected that every college student should a unique and personalized story that helps to distinguish them from other applicants.
These unique stories can at times something as simple as your everyday routine that does not require travelling to other locations around the world. It may be writing about a part of your life’s experiences as a person or writing about a mentor or accomplishment. Writing the perfect college essay should not be viewed as a hindrance, but seen as an opportunity to reveal who you are. Your personality and character should be felt through in your writing in order for the college to have an understanding of your persona. Simply view this process as a chance for self-discovery and self-reflection as the case may be.College application essays are typically limited to 500 words, so you will need to really choose your topic carefully. With such a restricted amount of content, you will most likely have room to write about one experience only. Whichever story you choose to write about should be interesting and compelling enough to hold the admissions officer’s attention. When writing the college essay, you must understand that there are a number of subjects, topics and writing styles that already exist; as such it can be a bit challenging trying to evaluate a college essay. During evaluation, there are certain basic requirements that your essay is expected to possess. Your college admissions officer will no doubt be looking out for these vital key points in your essay, and it is there for important for you fulfill these fundamental requirements when writing that essay.
For insightful tips on how to write a college essay, here’s are some basic things you must to consider when writing one.
1) Decide on a Concept
If the college admission’s instructor has not assigned a particular concept to you, then you will enjoy a lot more freedom in deciding what you wish to write about. When you are choosing a topic or subject by yourself, it is extremely important that you choose one that is pertinent to the course that you need to write the college essay for. Endeavour to select a topic that brings out some of the strong points of the essay you are writing.
2) Build an Outline for Your Essay
The next phase in writing the college essay involves building an outline for your essay. The introduction, body and conclusion need to be incorporated into the outline for your essay. The introduction must include a short and concise definition of the concept you have chosen to write about. Any other additions you make to this definition should be added to the body of the essay. The body of your college essay should include comparisons,definitions as well as cause and effect examples. This will enable your admissions officer or other persons reading your essay to easily understand what your concept is all about. Your conclusion must include a brief summary of the major points and areas of your essay. Feel free to peruse other college essay samples to see how others have patterned the outlines for their essays.
3) Focus on One Section of Your Essay at a Time
Focusing on one section of your essay at a time enables you to you break down your essay into smaller parts that will be easier for you to manage. It’s important for you to always keep to in mind the concept of your essay at all times when writing the perfect college essay. Bear in mind that your essay should not be wholly persuasive, but descriptive and informative as well.
4) Aim to be as specific as possible
When aiming for a perfect college essay, avoid being overtly generic as much as possible. Making use of general phrases such as “my brother assisted me” or “I was completely nervous” will rapidly bring down the quality of your essay and also make you sound boring to the reader. As an alternative to using such generic phrases, think of more specific words and examples that better express your feelings or emotions without making you seem monotonous at the same time. Avoid cliches at all cost!
5) Make use of your own personal voice
The sole aim of writing a college essay is to prove to the school that you would be of immense value to the school and also add something to their student body. All colleges desire students with creative ideas, a touch of humor, and the sort of personality that will make them standout in the future. Let this aspect of you be visible in your essay.
6) Review and edit your essay where necessary
Among the things you should look out for when reviewing your essay is continuity and/or contradictions in your concept that may be present in your essay. You surely do not want your points contracting themselves all over the essay-saying a thing in a paragraph and saying something contrary about it in the next. You can easily deal with the grammatical errors while creating your last. One good way to do this is to allow several persons to read your college essay and hear their honest opinion on it. It always pays to view things from a different perspective.
7) Read through your essay more than once
Before finally dropping your pen on the table, carefully and methodically read through your essay, and on a small jotter or separate piece of paper, note down the key points in your essay that make you stand out. Do not read anything specific at his point; but rather read to get a feel of what you are trying to convey through the essay to your reader(s). Read through it again and this time, pay close attention to the individual sections of the essay such as the introduction, body and conclusion while also watching out grammatical errors.
Scholarships are your ticket to getting out of having to pay for college with student loans. You may even not have to work if you get enough scholarships! If you know where to find scholarships and the right way to apply for them, you may just be able to get your college paid for. Here are some tips to help you get started on the scholarship search and application process.
Finding Scholarships
Finding scholarships is not always easy, but there are plenty of resources available to help you find them. You’ll have to do some serious digging and research to find relevant scholarships, but the effort will be well worth it.
1.) Visit Your Guidance Counselor.
If you’re in high school, visit your guidance counselor. This person should be your first stop on the journey of finding scholarships. He or she has relationships with colleges and knows which scholarships you might be eligible for. If you’re already in college, go by the financial aid office to learn about potential scholarships for which you might be eligible.
2.) Visit the Library.
You can go to the book store to get a book about scholarships that are out there, but you can also often find such books at the public library for free. Make sure you find the latest version of the book. The title of the book often contains the year for which it is relevant. They’re typically published every year.
3.) Search Online.
FastWeb.com and Scholarships.com should be your best friends online when you’re looking for scholarships. Fill out your profile, and then search for scholarships that match. These sites provide eligibility information, application instructions, and contact information for the scholarship organization.
4.) Visit Professional and Civic Organizations Online.
If you or your parents are part of a civic or professional organization, there may be scholarships available to you. You can also find scholarships for students from professional organizations that are in your field of study.
Applying for Scholarships
Once you find the scholarships for which you want to apply, the next step is applying for them. Paying close attention to detail is vital if you’re going to win any scholarships. If you stop paying attention for any length of time, your application will reflect that, and you’ll miss out on college funding.
1.) Read the Eligibility Information Carefully.
The eligibility information should be one of the first pieces of information about a scholarship that you read. This will quickly tell you whether you have a shot of getting the scholarship and can prevent wasting time applying for a scholarship for which you’re not eligible.
2.) Read the Application Instructions Carefully.
Your application will end up in the trash faster than you can blink if you don’t carefully follow the instructions for each application. Don’t get careless and accidentally submit the essay for one scholarship that was meant for another. Follow each instruction to the letter if you want your application to get serious consideration from the scholarship committee.
3.) Represent Yourself Honestly.
In your application, essays and other application materials, represent yourself as honestly as possible. Speak from the heart in your essays, but don’t overdramatize your life or opinions. Fill in accurate GPAs and class rankings. Chances are that you will be found out if you lie, and you’ll lose your scholarship as a result in most cases.
4.) Double Check Your Application.
Before you turn the application in, make sure that you have included every piece of supporting documentation necessary to complete it. If you don’t have a document, your application may end up in the trash. Don’t expect the scholarship committee to contact you if you are missing something.
5.) Write a Neat Application.
Every document in your application should be completed neatly. It reflects poorly on you and your ability to do well in college if your application is messy or incomplete.
Searching for and applying for scholarships takes maturity and a sense of purpose. If you want someone else to pay for your college, you’re going to have to research and work hard to make that happen. It’s not impossible by any stretch, but it does require a commitment to see the process through.
