Writing The College Essay

Writing The College Essay Rare students manage to survive freshmen year without help with essay writing by someone experienced from the sidelines. The tricky part is that not always peers and relatives have the necessary expertise. When a parent gets too involved, the story does not sound like an essay written by a 17-year-old student. We can tell when the student’s voice is missing; the colleges can tell too. English teachers have the best intentions when helping students with college essays, but they don’t always understand that a great English essay does not always make a great college essay. It is fine to break out of the 5 paragraph mold for a college essay, and it needs to tell about the applicant. In all cases at least one admissions officer will look at your essay. If a school uses an admissions committee the number could jump to three or more. In any case, what YOU can control is how well your essay describes who you are and gives the admissions person a chance to see things in you that will be an asset to the school. The college essay often frightens students because they think it has to be about some extraordinary event and they may not have something momentous to write aboutâ€"that is OK. Actually, the best college essays I have read have been about mundane, everyday life. Admissions officers have to read an unbelievable number of college essays, most of which are forgettable. Many students try to sound smart rather than sounding like themselves. Others write about a subject that they don't care about, but that they think will impress admissions officers. The thing is, college writing differs drastically from what you've been doing in school. It is apparently more complex and, subsequently, requires more time. Do your best and assume that it WILL be read and that it WILL have a bearing on your admission chances. There is no way to determine a typical scenario regarding a college’s method for reviewing applications. What made them great is that the students showed who they were through their writing. Prompt’s team of essay experts has reviewed and provided feedback on tens of thousands of college essays. Prompt’s hundreds of Essay Specialists support thousands of students each year with feedback on their college essays, having helped students get into every top-50 university and earn millions in scholarships. Prompt’s web application is now available to high schools who want to improve their students’ college essays and is currently used by districts such as the New York City Department of Education. If you were to take bets on the percentage of essays read by college admissions personnel, I’d guess that it would be in the high 90’s. An essay is an important part of sharing who you are with a school. With increased competition for admission, the essay has become an important factor in consideration of your admissibility to a school. So if a school requires an essay it is VERY likely to be read. If a school has a writing section in their supplement to the Common Application you can rest assured that ALL of that writing is evaluated by admissions officers. College admissions officers are very busy and only want to read essays that help them make admissions decisions. Some colleges have a team of people read each file. Others divide them up, and then only share files that require further discussion. There is not one way that all colleges work, so I always tell students to assume everyone in the admissions office could their essays so that they cannot write anything that anyone and everyone cannot read. Also I believe that students should believe that the more people who read an essay the better as these essays should really captivate and engage readers and help them see why you belong on their campus.