3 Steps To Writing A Winning College Essay » The College Solutionthe College Solution

3 Steps To Writing A Winning College Essay » The College Solutionthe College Solution I assisted a student who wrote about her father. A man that she adored but discovered that he was a cocaine addict. The essay really gives you an opportunity to be creative. Allow yourself time and don’t throw it together right at the end. With all the competition trying to get into the good schools, your essay could make the difference. A great college essay gives the college an opportunity to see who you really are. Pick a meaningful experience and take the reader through your process of self-discovery. We allow students to find their voices and give them the confidence to use them, and we ultimately provide guidance on structure and editing. At Writopia Lab, we witness the power of authentic young voices every day. A great college essay grabs your attention from the first sentence. It takes readers into, through, and beyond the story in 500 words or less. A great essay tells a a unique story that communicates key qualities you can offer the college. She took the reader through the stages of loving, hating, being disappointed, ashamed and finally acceptance, understanding and again loving while “Dad” was going through treatment. She allowed herself to be vulnerable which made the essay dynamite. Another student talked about the struggles of having learning disabilities and the pain that he experienced during his educational career. You might think, “I don’t have anything like that.” All of us have experiences that have impacted our lives. Sit down with your folks and talk about your family and your “growing-up” years. That is why a great college essay is personal.This great essay is very visual and helps make you become 3-D for the reader. It starts right away with a specific story from running a marathon in the rain to spilling water on customersâ€"twiceâ€" and keeps us engaged from the first word to the last. You can contact me for samples as I collect great essays from the students with whom I work. Students will not only have completed a college essay but will have discovered a new confidence in their own writing. While it’s important to put considerable effort into all college application components, essays are often the finishing touch and should be treated with great care and consideration. The best essays are the ones that provide real insight into who you are and how you think. Your essay should definitely provide perspective on you that augments what is found in the rest of your application….perhaps highlighting an area of passion for you that may not otherwise be obvious. The essays that read best are the ones written authentically, and from the heart. The ultimate point of a college essay is to engage and hopefully convince the reader that you would be an asset on that campus. You need the essay to wow them with your personal qualities while sharing an engaging story, perhaps- a snapshot of your life. The tone could be funny or sad, reflective or poignant, but you NEED that reader to like you, so that they would support your application in admissions. If your essay does not reveal some sense of your best personal qualities are i.e. maturity, leadership or compassion then it has failed. Make sure when you write your essay that you don’t just ramble on and on. Follow the five-paragraph or a modified version of that format. You will need a catchy introduction where you pull in your reader, supportive examples, and then a wonderful conclusion where you pull everything together and leave the reader with a smile, a tear, or a wow.