How To Write A Great Essay For College Admissions
Writing a great essay for college admissions includes:
- Incorporating humor
- Writing about the prompt
- Taking care about the tone
In the essay you can always add humor but be careful if you do. You want to come off as mature but you don’t want the essay to be heavy and challenging for the reader. That being said this is a great opportunity to use a bit of humor in the form of a clever metaphor or a slight and well placed piece of witticism. But be careful and do not use humor too much. If you include far too many jokes that might be considered inappropriate by the review board or a slew of bad puns to fill the space then your essay may face rejection. Remember that humor should be the light frosting on the cake of substance. You can’t frost a cake if there is no cake. You want to answer the essay prompts in a thoughtful manner that showcases your substance. Some students have faced rejection because they wrote essays that failed to answer the prompt in a serious fashion and ended up being foolish. You want to bring a smile to the lips of the reader (or maybe even a tear to their eye).
Tone is important in your application essay. The tone is challenging to perfect. When you have to write about your accomplishments in five hundred words or less it can be easy to come off as bragging. Take caution when writing that you balance the pride you have in your achievements with your humility toward your fellow man. Don’t use the essay to complain about how life hates you and everyone hates you. Don’t whine here. Use it as a chance to show off the skills you have acquired.
When you are writing your application essay it is important to reveal who you are as a person. You want to show the admissions board what your character is and what your personal qualities are. Your character will spring up on three occasions within the college application:
- the interview (if your school has one)
- your extracurricular involvement
- your essay
Of these the essay is the most illuminating to the review board. The review board is not merely interested in a high SAT score or a 4.0 GPA. They also want to find students who will act as good citizens and global ambassadors for their community.