6 College Essay Tips To Improve Any Teens Personal Statement

6 College Essay Tips To Improve Any Teen's Personal Statement Essays should reveal your strengths, passions and how you connect to others by sharing your experiences in a heartfelt and authentic essay. Admissions Officers consider many factorsin evaluating your college application, including your college application essay. Some colleges and universities are actually notorious for their unusual â€" and in some cases, genuinely strange â€" college application essay prompts. According to Business Insider, Tufts University and the University of Chicago have both earned reputations for their out-of-left-field essay questions. From this vantage point, Lombardi shared some awesome expert-level college essay tips. We also enlisted the help of a qualified expert in the field. Meredith Lombardi, Associate Director of Outreach and Education at the Common Application, offers a few tips on exactly what admissions officers are seeking from a great application essay. Do's and Don'ts for your College Application Essay What are the worst mistakes you can make on your college application essay? When we think of tragedy, most people think of a disastrous moment or an epic life event. However, tragedies can be small-scale and the type of experience that may have only affected your family or yourself. of the colleges that you are applying to with the Common App or Coalition Application. There should not be any college-specific information in your essayâ€"you can save that for supplemental essays. Now, you may say, “I haven’t lived an extraordinary life! I haven’t done anything remarkable or experienced any significant challenge.” This is totally OK. Admissions officers report that an effective essay should discuss things that happen in your everyday life. That means everything you need to write a successful essay is in your head already. Unfortunately, as with most aspects of the admissions process, a one-size-fits-all solution does not exist. Once you have completed your application essay, be sure to find a couple of people you trust to look over your work before you submit it. I don’t recommend a friend who is afraid to correct your mistakes, or a parent, if you can help it. A teacher or family friend would be a great choice. Either way, there is a way to write about these moments that can help a college understand you more. Are you a natural-born writer or is it literally the last thing you want to do? In other words, you’d run a triathlon to get out of writing an essay? Whichever way you lean, let’s talk a little bit about strategy, implementation, and getting ‘er done. This video explains what not to include in your college admissions essay. Every word matters, so make sure everything in your essay is serving a purpose. As you edit and revise, focus on making your story tighter and more concise by eliminating unnecessary words and sentences. You might encounter supplemental essay prompts that allow only 100 to 150 words. These essays can be tricky, because you don’t have a lot of space to respond. Our suggestion is to start with a brief story of just a sentence or 2 to hook the reader. Then, respond to the question as succinctly as possible. For your first draft, it is OK to go over the word count a bit and then trim your essay down as you revise. This will allow you to explore different approaches to the essay and see what works best for you. Your computer’s spell check option may not catch every little mistake you make so you should plan to read back through your essay a few times on your own and have as many other people go over it as you can. Be sure to address the question, especially if it is a two-part question â€" admission essays are just as much about showing who you are as they are about proving your writing skills. This video explains the importance of your college admissions essay. Since you already know how it’s supposed to read, and you’re accustomed to reading it, it’s often easier for another person to catch your mistakes. You should also try reading the essay aloud to yourself. Don’t feel obligated to max out your word count just because the Common App allows you to write up to 650 words.