It’s senior year for some here at WTHS. And from now until February if you’re one of our “599 strong”, you’ll most likely be spending a lot of time filling out college applications, writing essays, and taking your last SAT’s. For those who aren’t too happy with their SAT scores or are fighting until the end to bring up their GPA’s, might be relying on a brilliant college essay to help them get into their reach schools. Writing a college essay isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do; it takes time, careful planning, and lots of thinking about how you want your colleges to see you. Actually, this might be the easiest essay you’ll ever write- it’s all about you. There are a couple easy tips to remember that save hours pondering at your computer.
The most important thing to remember in your essay is to be yourself, not someone you think the college will be impressed with. College admissions directors read thousands of essays a day; it’d get kind of boring to read the same things over and over again. The only way to truly stand out is to be yourself, because there’s only one of you out there.
Another important thing to remember is to be honest. If you didn’t do a varsity sport all four years and were not president of five different clubs all while maintaining a perfect GPA, don’t say that you did. If it is discovered that you have lied about something important, you most likely won’t be admitted. While that’s all impressive, colleges love to see your integrity and your personality in your essay, also. Write about a time where you overcame a difficult situation, or had to make a hard decision. You may not be the absolute smartest of the bunch, but if you know there’s an awesome quality about you that you don’t think a lot of people have, write about it.
The last, and most obvious thing to remember, is to have a parent, guidance counselor, or someone who knows you pretty well read your essay. This is a good way to not only catch the mistakes you may have missed, but to make sure the essay sounds like you and presents you well. It’s always good to have a second opinion.
Overall, writing a college essay can be pretty stressful, only because it means so much. But if you take the time to make it you, and put a little love and care into it, it could be the deciding factor that gets you into your dream school.