| The arrival of Fall comes hand in hand with the return | | | | why. |
| to classrooms, sweatshirts, football, and for high | | | | 3. Stick with the familiar. Do not under any |
| school seniors, college applications. Some students are | | | | circumstances take this opportunity to branch out. |
| so busy cramming for standardized tests that they | | | | Stick with topics you know like the back of your |
| forget all about a key aspect of applying - the | | | | hand, be it people, books, features of the school, etc. |
| admissions essay. Some schools ask for a statement | | | | If you start discussing a book you barely flipped |
| of purpose - a personal essay explaining why the | | | | through, your lack of knowledge will show through no |
| student believes X school is the right fit. Other | | | | matter how many adjectives you use. On the other |
| schools give prompts akin to ‘Write about | | | | hand, if you write about your favorite book that you |
| someone you admire' or ‘Write about a | | | | read five times this year, your knowledge will shine in |
| meaningful experience.' Either way, these quick tips | | | | your essay and provide unique insight. |
| will help ensure your essay exceeds expectations and | | | | 4. Emphasize your learning experience. Whatever |
| wins out over the hundreds of other applicants. | | | | topic you are writing about, you should highlight that |
| 1. Avoid cliches. If the prompt is to write about a | | | | it taught you something. Every experience in life |
| meaningful experience, dig deep for an experience | | | | teaches us something, we just have to be attuned |
| that was truly meaningful to you. A lot of applicants | | | | and open to the lessons. If you write about someone |
| make the mistake of writing about an experience | | | | you admire without mentioning something that |
| they think other people will find meaningful. Don't | | | | person has taught you, essay readers are going to |
| write about being a member of the student | | | | perceive that you are not open to learning new |
| government or tutoring inner city children unless the | | | | things. |
| experience truly touched you in a profound, unique | | | | 5. Stay focused. As with any other essay, make sure |
| way. If going on summer vacation with your family | | | | your college application essay has a thesis and clear |
| was meaningful, don't be afraid to say so, as long as | | | | structure and stick with it. While you very well might |
| the meaning is expressed in a thoughtful way. | | | | have had more than one meaningful experience and it |
| 2. Be specific. Admissions essays are not that long, | | | | is tempting to share them all, pick one that means |
| it's true, but that doesn't mean that you should save | | | | the most to you. |
| valuable space by omitting crucial details and | | | | And last but not least, EDIT EDIT EDIT. Avoid |
| evidence. For example, if you are writing about a | | | | wordiness, and double and triple check for spelling |
| book, do not just summarize the plot. Essay readers | | | | and grammar errors. Spell check can't catch every |
| are looking for insightful writing. Provide specific | | | | mistake and it would be horrible if there were an |
| details about what you enjoyed about the book and | | | | obvious typo in your conclusion paragraph. |