How to write my perfect college essay

During the entire high school years, students are constantly groomed to get grades and participate in extracurriculars as they will help the students get into their ideal colleges. After all this, the last critical step for college admission is the college application essay.

Writing college essays have a significant impact on your chances of acceptance. Due to the importance of college application essays, students will often get stressed out when writing them. The stress has an adverse effect on their ability to write and inhibits them from performing at their peak. At this stage, students can opt to use writing services like Edujungles to craft the perfect college essay. Although, if you think you want to write it yourself but have no idea where to start, then you need not worry. The following tips and tricks will help you write a good college essay.

Choose a thoughtful topic

The entire premise of the essay is decided by the topic. If you look at examples of college essays, then they may not feature a topic or a title as it is not required. Despite this, the admissions board does not mind them. The essay topic or title needs to be brief and not more than 6 or 7 words. A lengthy sentence as the title will immediately lose the reader’s interest. You can choose something simple but precise. Simple does not always mean that it cannot have an interesting undertone to it or something that will intrigue the reader.

Before you begin, you need to determine what are the essay requirements for all your preferred colleges. Each school has a different criterion for how long should a college essay be, but of which are usually between 300 to 700 words. Some colleges will give free rein to you about to write about while others will specify a topic. It will help develop a title that you can use for every essay without altering it too much.

Start early and write several drafts

The writing process takes time, so you cannot hope to write a good college essay the night before its submission. You can try to start at least two weeks before the deadline, so you have ample time to write and make as many changes as you want. As you have already decided what the topic is, you can now create the outline.

Outline Creation

The outline can be a list with points of what you want to include in the different sections of the essay. The outline is a structural guide for you when writing essays and helps in creating a flow that helps capture the reader’s attention. Instead of having to stop and regathering your thoughts, you can just refer to the outline and know what to write next, saving yourself some time.

Thesis Statement

The first actual step of writing is the thesis statement. A thesis statement consists of one or two sentences that briefly explain the theme of your essay. You can read college essay examples to get a better understanding of how to write a thesis statement.

The body

After the thesis statement, it is advised to write the body paragraphs before the introduction. Since you are writing a personal essay for college, you can focus each paragraph on a different time of your life or a different aspect of any struggle. You can include any relevant quotes as well but do not overdo it. Furthermore, you can also include the impact of each event in your life and how it affected your life and changed your overall perspective.

The introduction

After the body, you write the introductory paragraph. The introduction is the summarization or preview of the essay. It is more convenient to write the essay’s preview after you have written the essay. The introduction should be limited to 7 to 8 sentences and not exceed 80 words, including your thesis statement.

The conclusion

If you search how to make an essay, it will state that the conclusion is the last part. The conclusion has to end the essay without being too lengthy. You can try to avoid introducing any new experiences in this part, but instead write about

  • How your perspective has changed;
  • What is the moral of the story?

If you have not reached the end of the struggle, then leaving it on a cliffhanger will keep the reader engaged and set your essay apart.

Formatting and proofreading

Every college application board will use a specific set of college essay formats you have to follow. If you are using the same essay for a different college, then make sure to edit the title page and the format.

Proofreading will help you spot any grammatical or spelling errors. By reading it out loud, you will be able to get out on your head and listen to it with a fresh outlook. It will help see if it is worth it or not. Since you have started writing weeks before, you have time to leave it for a day or two and then proofread it. The break will give you time to re-energize and catch mistakes you previously overlooked.

Be Vulnerable and Authentic

The admission board wants to know about you, so be honest and be real. Write from your heart about your experiences; avoid sugarcoating and exaggerating them. If you think they lack the dramatic impact you seek, then add a rhetorical question or a joke to engage the reader.

Make Connections

The reason behind many college essays that worked is that the students made connections between what aspect they were writing about with cultural, historical, and societal concepts. For example, if you choose to write about how racism has impacted you, then you can connect it with how the recent Black Lives Matter movement has changed that.

Have at least one other person edit your essay

Constantly writing and reviewing your essays will tire you out, and you will not be able to spot any issues after a while. It is helpful for a fresh pair of eyes to read through them. You can ask your teacher or a career counselor to read them and help make amendments. These people are experts and know what the college admission board will be looking for, so they can help make changes you will not even know about. Moreover, you can have a colleague or friend read it to if a teacher or counselor is not available.

Conclusion

Without professional help, writing a college application essay is a demanding challenge. These tips will help you organize your thoughts and words in a manner that will blow away the reader. It will keep the readers engrossed in your essay, and you are sure to get admission to your dream school.