How can I write an impressive college or university Admissions Essay?

Many of you will now be at a stage in your education where you are thinking about going to college and/or university for the value that it may give to your future career direction due to the need for the further qualifications required for certain jobs in areas as diverse as sport and film and law and accountancy to prepare you for working in these areas.

Therefore, an admissions essay is written by a potential student as part of some college or university admissions processes in order to be able to filter out the best candidates. This is because an admissions essay can be invaluable for allowing the administration of the institution that you are applying to will then be able to get to know much more about an individual student than what more generic application forms can provide. 

And yet the rules in relation to the admissions essay are not absolute.

The importance college and university admission reviewers place upon a potential future student’s admissions essay can vary greatly from one institution to another. This is because whilst some institutions place little or no importance on the nature and scope of this kind of essay writing, others place much greatest importance on this kind of essay writing. Nevertheless, it has come to be commonly understood that liberal arts colleges place a great deal more importance on the value of an admissions essay than major universities – although, of course, there is no absolute rule. 

But what about the admissions essay itself?

Generally it has come to be recognised that the majority of colleges and universities that require an admissions essay from each of their potential future students will choose one or more topics for their applicants to write about. However, it is also to be appreciated that there are some other colleges and universities that have an ‘open topic’ policy in place meaning the applicant can write on any subject they choose – although some of the most typical topics include career aspirations, academic strengths and weaknesses, past experiences, along with the reasons for applying.

The writing of the admissions essy is clearly not a task to be taken lightly – it could be the difference between your getting into the institution you want to get into to further your career and having to resort to your second choice.

With this in mind, I would advise you to make sure that you make sure you deal with the following basic steps in your admissions essay regardless of the subject that you are planning to study (unless of course you are given guidance from your prospective institution that you clearly MUST adhere to) since you need to introduce yourself and explain why you are an appropriate candidate for studying your chosen subject at a given institution.

But what do you need to do for the admissions essay writing process?

When writing your admissions essay you may wish to consider the following areas -

Consider an appropriate theme – May be you could first make a list of all of your experiences and interests at first and then try to find a connection between the different items on the list – although of course you will usually need to emphasise why you should be accepted onto the course by distinguishing yourself as superior to other applicants in your admissions essay.

Use the appropriate tone – There is usually a need to be balanced or moderate, but with a serious and ambitious tone. Regardless of whether you are discussing positive or negative experiences, there is a need to sound open-minded and use a neutral tone. Moreover, you must not sound too casual or formal by portraying confidence with an active voice in your admissions essay.

Writing in the first person – Although most of us are taught essay writing that avoids using ‘I’, ‘we’, or ‘my’, you are encouraged to speak in the first person on your personal statement that may or may not be part of your admissions essay. This is because you must make sure your work sound personal and active – you should also avoid overusing ‘I’ and also include ‘my’ and ‘me’ along with transition words like ‘however’ and ‘therefore’.

Discuss your research interests – There is no need to include a specific and concise dissertation topic in your personal statement since you should only express yourself in broad terms within your field. You must discuss your research interests to compare the degree of similarity in research interests between you and the faculty member you wish to work with in your admissions essay. Of course admissions committees are aware your interests will change over time and so they do not expect you to provide them with a detailed description of your research interests but merely your academic goals relevant to the proposed field of study.

Unique experiences or qualities – All of us have qualities that may distinguish us from other individuals so may be look to make a list of all your qualities and think of how you have used them previously in your admissions essay. Discuss those that will make you stand out but are still connected to your chosen subject and even where you do not have many experiences related to your subject, try to make your other experiences relate to your chosen subject. By way of illustration, if you want to study psychology but only have experience working in a supermarket, find a connection between psychology and the supermarket that show your interest in and knowledge of the subject to depict yourself as unique in your admissions essay.

Faculty members – It may also be beneficial to state who you will be interested in working with at your chosen institution depending on the guidelines for admission essays – so do your research. This is because this will very often make it a lot easier for the admission committee to determine whether your interests match with the faculty members you want to work with. Remember to mention more than one professor because mentioning only one may decrease your chances of being accepted onto a course – also contact professors and find out if they are accepting new students before applying to help prepare you for this aspect of your admissions essay.

Volunteer and Job Experiences – Only mention volunteer and employment experiences that are relevant to your field of study or have helped you develop or acquire a skill necessary for your field of interest in your admissions essay – this may be useful in your personal statement accompanying your application regardless.

Moreover, before you even consider handing in your admissions essay to your chosen institution, I would advise you to run through the following checklist of points of consideration that you must consider whether you have effectively fulfilled -

(a) If you are already studying at a school, college or university, have you got feedback from one of your teachers on your admissions essay?

(b) Do you believe that the admissions essay you have written addresses the question or topic?

(c) Is your admissions essay positive rather than negative about you?

(d) Do you reflect your strengths to the reader in your admissions essay?

(e) Is your admissions essay written and expressed concisely?

(f) Have you used blocked paragraphs for your admissions essay have?

(g) Have you left a line between each paragraph to make your admissions essay look neater?

(h) Is the grammar and spelling you have used for your admissions essay appropriate?

(i) Have you personally proofread your admissions essay?

(j) Does your admissions essay discuss your goals and plans for the future?

(k) Does you admissions essay show how you are a good fit for the subject and the institution?

(l) What skills do you have to offer the institution in your admissions essay?

(m) Have you been formal in your admissions essay and avoided being overly personal?

(n) Have you avoided excuses for poor grades and bad experiences in your admissions essay?

(o) Avoided rambling and too much detail in your admissions essay in keeping with the word count?

(p) Discussed relevant academic, volunteer, and employment experiences in your admissions essay?

(q) Have you distanced yourself from what you have written to see whether your admissions essay is suitably enticing for a reader?

(r) Have you carried out research into this area on an admissions essay?

Then, having checked your work on your admissions essay against the points made in the above checklist, you should be much better placed to then produce something that is suitably impressive for the administration of a prospective institution.

Therefore, in looking to complete your admissions essay for college or university, this article should hopefully get you thinking in the right way about this kind of academic work. With this in mind, by understanding what an admissions essay is and how to produce one, you will then be able to expand on the ideas presented briefly here with the other resources you find useful including ‘The Secret Guide to Academic Writing & Study’ via http://www.academicfx.co.uk that provides you with practial examples and walkthroughs.