Sample College Application Essays

Sample College Application Essays The admissions officers reads as 1 out of 1000’s and possibly even 10,000 or more. Your English teacher reads your essay to assign one grade out of many. The admissions officer reads to determine if they should offer you one spot out of probably relatively very few. Many applicants will have high GPA’s and SAT scores, volunteer in a local organization, or be the president of a club or captain of a sports team. Admissions officers are looking for something, anything, to distinguish your essay from the pile. Model United Nations, often referred to as Model UN or MUN, is an extracurricular most commonly for high school students, but also available to college and middle school students. I do not believe that parents make good essay editors because they are not admissions officers. They do not know what admissions officers are looking for. For the same reason, I do not think English teachers make great admissions essay readers. Your English teacher reads your essay as 1 out of 30. Parents may know other details about the student that they should include in the essay. Parents are also a great second pair of eyes for grammar and spelling errors. While parents mean well, any constructive feedback may be misinterpreted, creating conflict at what can already be a stressful time. Teachers, guidance counselors, even friends are viable candidates when looking for a second opinion on your writing. Take advantage of college study abroad programs to experience a new country, culture, and activities. I recommend that students try to find an adult other than their parents to help with essay editing. Parents are blinded by love and perhaps perfection. Each student needs to be able to claim authentic ownership of their essays. Mom and Dad may be great help during the brainstorming process of generating essay topics. Connect with our featured colleges to find schools that both match your interests and are looking for students like you. Model UN is a club for middle school, high school, or college students whose members simulate UN committees. If you're still unsure, drop by a meeting at your school to get a sense of what joining the club would be like. Strong teamwork skills are very important to colleges because they want to admit students who will work well with their classmates and other students on campus. Having strong teamwork experiences such as the ones you can get through Model UN can help strengthen your college applications. While this is a great way to get more information, it usually isn’t a very interactive experience. I would still suggest that a English professional still read over the essay for expert editing purposes. However, parents should not try to change the voice of the student, which can be difficult to refrain from. The essay needs to be a reflection of the student’s creativity, writing ability and personality; not the parent. While it is okay to have a parent proof an essay, they are not always the best option. Asking someone who is slightly more removed from the application process may be the wisest route to go. Essays are a big part of academics and this is why they are revered by many students. The best advice that we can give regarding the title of your common app is to not overthink things. Every college essay needs a title because it’s a piece of creative writing, but by no means does it have to be something you spend days stressing out about. I think the five paragraphs for an essay is more of a rule-of-thumb number that is easy to teach students when they are first learning to write. Your teacher was just trying to make sure you understood how to write, not give you a rule you had to always obey. EssayJack is an interactive web platform with a patented solution that pre-structures student essays, reduces writing anxiety, and allows educator customization and feedback. Narrative essays also require a clear structure introduction, body and conclusion populated with concise language. Again, as the title suggests, a narrative essay, is a more personal piece of writing with your point of view being made clear for your reader. Study abroad programs can be very affordable, usually costing about the same as a semester at college. For most students, it may be the first time they’ve been out of the United States. Between being a student, managing your course load, working a job, spending time with your family, and making time for your social life and hobbies, there is a lot to learn to balance when earning your degree.