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By Wilson Joseph
Most students
underestimate the importance of the application essay. Although grades
and test scores are the most important factors in admissions decisions,
selective colleges are inundated with applicants having excellent numbers,
leaving the essay to be the deciding factor. Keep in mind that half of the
students with perfect test scores and excellent grades are rejected each
year by Ivy schools mainly due to poorly written essays.
During my time as a
member of MIT's admissions committee, I was struck by the large number of
sub par essays submitted by students with terrific credentials. It seemed
as though any student who was able to write a strong essay would be
accepted. Admissions officers from other colleges always tell me that a
well-written essay can make an applicant stand out.
With that in mind, you
should spend a significant amount of time and effort on your essay. I've
compiled a list of 3 important application essay writing tips that you
should take to heart:
1.
Avoid Writing on Popular Topics
Picture this: It's 6:55
P.M., dark and raining. A half-cup of cold coffee sits on the floor
leaning against a stack of essays. The admissions officer has just
finished reading seventy-eight college essays in one day, which she tossed
in another stack. She is late for her seven o'clock Friday night date. As
she urges herself, "Read just one more before you go," she hastily grabs
your essay.
If it's about
environment, community service, or your
favourite teacher, she groans before she
notices who wrote it. If your essay's theme is one of the 3 Ds (divorce,
depression, or drugs), she is agony. If that "just one more before I go"
essay is about a sitcom on TV, watch out! If your essay is about God,
love, injustice, death, or the purpose of life, it had better be funny!
So. Before you even get started on your college essay, give some serious
thought to what's trendy and shy away as far as you can from it. No matter how
unsure you are, try to trust your own idea of what to write about.
2.
Your Essay Should Be a Reflection of You
You have a chance to
express the you that you know best and are most proud of. It doesn't
matter what the question is or what your topic is. All colleges want to
know the same thing. What does this seventeen-year-old think? What has she
learned about herself and the world given the opportunities she has had in
life? What kinds of learning attitudes and intellectual curiosity does he
have? How confident is she? How together, for a seventeen-year-old, is he?
The answer to these questions can come from any topic.
More than a description
of events, your college essay must tell how you feel about the event or
activity, and what you've learned from the experience. In other words, if
you write about your dad, or grandmother, or bike trip through China that
you took last summer, or a community service job you held in Chile -- no
matter how dramatic -- tell about the person or event or person in a short
paragraph and use the rest of the essay to tell what you have learned from
the person or the experience, or how you've changed because of it.
Write about what you
have learned about you, the world, and other people. No matter what the
question -- who or what has influenced you the most -- the task is not to
write about the "who" or the "what." The college admissions officer wants
to know what fascinates you about the "who" or the "what." Your college
essay documents how you stand out from your pals and all those other
seniors applying to Selective U!
Have Your Essay
Edited By EssayEdge
Since the application essay is so important
and you have no experience writing it, you should have your essay edited
by EssayEdge . EssayEdge is the country's largest application essay editing service
comprised of Harvard-educated editors. I have sent them hundreds of essays
from my students over the past four years, and they have done a superb job
each and every time.
While they won't write your essay for you,
they will actually make the corrections for you when they edit in addition
to giving you a critique detailing new paragraphs to write and new ideas
to pursue. But what I like the most about their service is that they are
aware of the fact that many schools require multiple essays; hence, they
will make sure each essay complements the others to present a consistent
image of you.
LiqwidMindz.com has an affiliate relationship
with EssayEdge. As such, EssayEdge offers an exclusive 10% discount to
LiqwidMindz.com visitors. You can find the coupon at the College Prep Home
Page.
If you have questions for
Wilson you can send them to
wilson@liqwidmindz.com and we will forward them to him.
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