5 Things to Check for Before Submitting Your Admissions Essays
When it comes to applying for colleges, most admissions experts will tell you that your admission essay is the most important part of your application. Yes, your GPA and SAT scores matter, but no other element can so easily separate you from the rest
than a well written essay. Since the admissions essay is often the deciding
factor in admissions, great care must be taken before you submit it.
In this case we aren’t going to talk about writing the essay. Instead we want to share some tips that can help your essay stand out as exceptional.
5 Tips from an Admissions Experts on your Essay
So you’ve worked hard, you’ve written your essay, and you’ve double checked (and even triple-checked) your college application. All good to go, right? It’s time to submit your application?
The answer is most likely no. Before submitting anything a little more scrutiny is needed with your essay. Even if you took the time to write a stellar essay, this is one area where you should take some extra time. There are a few things that you
should do before you send in the admissions essay.
- Develop a theme: instead of listing every extracurricular activity you have done or all the things you have participated in throughout high school, write one consistent
theme that embodies who you are as a student and individual. Here’s one example: if you are an athlete but enjoy studying biology, write an essay about what it is like being a student scholar on your team, and how people perceive you as a scholar athlete. Incorporate specific examples of your science research and ways that this research
could someday help our society. Admissions officers love seeing tangible examples of student work. - Proofread, proofread, and proofread: Nothing looks worse on an admissions essay than grammar or spelling errors. Proofread your essay, correct the errors and then do it again. Read it out loud, read it backwards, and ensure that all mistakes
are removed. - Think Critically: As you proofread your essay think about every sentence and every paragraph critically. Could you write something differently to make a bigger impact? Is your word usage correct? How could you improve upon what you have
written to make it even better? - Peer Edits: Along with taking
steps one and two yourself, have someone you know do the same. Your
friends, your teachers, or even your school counselor may have ideas
that can help your admissions essay become that one element that pushes
you over the top and gets you into the college of your choice. - Revise Accordingly: As you work through the first three ideas, revise your essay accordingly. Each time you do go right back to step number one and edit your essay again. If you work through these steps a few times you will get to the point
where you feel it can’t be improved anymore.
The most important part of the whole process here is simply ensuring that you pay as much attention to the essay as you do to the application itself. By doing so you will end up with an admissions essay that builds upon all of the other work
you have done and ultimately gets you accepted!
Ross Blankenship is the President and Director of TopTestPrep.com. He is an admissions expert and admissions consultant who has helped students get into top prep schools, colleges and graduate schools through Top Test Prep’s private tutoring and admissions consulting.
