How to Write an Essay for University Admission and Meet All the Requirements
Your college essay is a very important part of your application. What you provide helps the university know you as an individual. The essay is independent of test scores, grades and other objective data and highlights your writing ability and personality.
You do have a tremendous amount of freedom in writing your application, however, you want to be sure you meet all of the essay’s requirements so that you aren’t penalized for not following instructions. Here’s what you need to do:
- First review all of the essay questions and select the one that you are most comfortable writing about and gives you the biggest opportunity to showcase a unique aspect of your personality.
- Next you want to make sure you understand the essay word length. Most college essays ask that you don’t go beyond 500 words, but this number varies from college to college.
- Next review the key components of the essay question you plan to answer. Is it a two part question? Does it have any suggestions for an approach?
- Draft some ideas that answer the questions of your essay. At this point you shouldn’t worry too much about the quality of writing. This is just a brainstorming session.
- Circle your best ideas and create an outline. You may feel more comfortable writing a 5-paragraph essay but you will run close to your word limit soon, so consider a shorter form essay or one with very short introductions and conclusions.
- If your essay answers multiple questions per requirements, make sure you devote at least one paragraph to answer each question.
- Draft a thesis statement that clearly indicates your position on the topic you’ve chosen to write about. The thesis statement is important in all types of writing, but you certainly want to make sure it’s clear and concise so that you don’t confuse your readers.
- Draft your essay using your outline as a guide. This will ensure that you stay on topic and you don’t stray from your intended goal.
- Revise your essay, paying special attention to ways to improve your essay by removing excessive sentences or whole sections. You want to keep your writing to the point and not bore your readers with useless information.
- Finally, proofread and edit your essay one last time. Look for spelling errors, grammar errors and mistakes in your punctuation.