College Admissions Forum

[mpappano]

What or which topics do you think make an applicant stand out more to college's admissions counselors? What are some things you've already written about that you've had success with? When do you think is the best time to begin writing it? Who is the best person to get advice and feedback from?

[boxy]

I think focusing on something clever is better not like just how good is your musical skill or sports leadership. A little humor is useful ... imagine the person who has to sit down and read tons of bragging essays for weeks or months. Anything to make you stand out without being controversial... :

[proximityinfotech1]

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[rajan84]

An admissions essay or college essay is written by a potential student as part of some university admissions processes in order to get to know more about the student than what forms can provide.
The amount of importance that admission reviewers put on admissions essays can vary greatly. Some schools place little or no importance on the essay and others place the greatest amount of importance on the essay. Generally, liberal arts colleges place a greater importance on the essay than major universities but this is not always the case.
Most schools choose one or more topics for applicants to write on, but there are some [which?] schools that have an "open topic" policy in place, meaning that the applicant can write on any subject they choose. Common topics include career aspirations, academic strengths and weaknesses, past experiences, and reasons for applying to a particular school.

[annie.baker]

With my experience undergraduate college admissions boards do place an emphasis on the application essay. After all, they're not looking for just GPAs/SAT scores at their school, they want to make sure they get a great kid for their community. You really want to put a lot of effort and invest in a lot of time for this part of the application. It gives you personality and explains you as a candidate. I highly recommend professional services in this case. These people know what they're doing and many of them are inexpensive. They can help fine-tune your work to give you that edge you need. One of the good ones is ivypoint Prep. They specialize in just undergraduate essays and their editors have secured admissions to all the top schools. Their price beats the rest of the market by a lot. The website is www.ivypointprep.com

Good luck!

[patrickdanforth]

It is important to make your college admission essay very interesting. Try to keep good writing style when preparing essay.
The following link will help you to make a good one.

http://www.sampleadmissionessay.com/

[edvadmin]

Here is a good blog post recently posted on the College Admission Blog :

So the time has finally come, you are putting procrastination aside and sitting at the computer to write that killer college essay. Congratulations! Here are some tips for the best way to approach the task on hand.

* Write in first person
* Share a powerful message
* Connect to the requirements of the essay
* Strategically support your academic profile and goals
* Show your ambition, exude confidence and express initiative

First develop an overall strategy. Sit with your mentor (friend, parent, brother, sister, grandma, physics teacher, boss, school counselor — an outside reader) Talk about what you want out of college, and that will most likely match with the top colleges on your list. Let this information guide your strategy to incorporate supporting qualities, information into your essay. Qualities that match up with the school’s mission and your goals.

Here is the link to the whole article:
http://blog.howtogetin.com/college-prep ... say-topic/

If you need writing advice, I would love to hear from students what they are writing about!!

[theadvancededit]

The important thing is to choose a topic that, not only showcases your growth and maturity as a rising college student, but also you are comfortable with.

Here are a few blog posts that should help you on your way:
http://theadvancededit.com/tag/personal-statement/

And, for good measure:

http://theadvancededit.com/tag/essay-writing/

Hope this all helps!

[wotmac]

I wrote this blog post specifically about applying to Bucknell University
http://www.parentsandcolleges.com/blog/ ... University
but the main gist of it is that the college essay, especially as a supplemental essay from say the Common App, is a chance for you to show a school who you really are and some reflection of yourself that pertains especially to you. Now all that probably sounds redundant, but really if you stay within yourself, don't stretch the truth, and tell a good story that comes straight from you genuinely, you'll have a good chance of catching an administrator's attention