To Write An Extraordinary College Essay, Tell An Ordinary Story

To Write An Extraordinary College Essay, Tell An “Ordinary” Story Ah, college application essays â€" the necessary evil of college-bound high school seniors everywhere. If you’ve just finished your junior year of high school, then these may very well be in your near future. Finally, submit your college essay, along with any other application materials, well before the submission deadline. This shows colleges that you're serious about developing your future potential with their institution. Before you send your essay to colleges, have someone you trust read it and provide feedback. Usually, your English teacher will be happy to take a look. The college essay may be your only opportunity to show your personality to the admission office. If you are witty, show the reader your sense of humor (But be cautious. What you think is funny, someone else may not.). If you are more thoughtful, take on a slightly more serious tone. She also worked as a consultant for the Boston Public Schools District and the Department of College Counseling. Ms. Then has presented her work for local, regional, and national organizations, including the National School Counselors Association and the National College Access Network . She holds a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Boston University and a master’s degree from Bridgewater State College in School Counseling. Reading your essays gives us insight into how you define yourself and how you will define yourself as a member of the Babson community. When you apply to Babson, you’ll be required to submit two essaysâ€"a Personal Statement and a Writing Supplement. In other words, an outstanding essay may tip the scales. Some teens think their college essay, or “personal statement,” will determine their entire future, and others bristle and balk when asked to finally write it, believing it will never be read. I hope that after reading this post you feel a bit more confident in your ability to write your college admissions essay. It’s something all writers struggle with â€" including myself; I struggled with it while writing this very article. It’s impossible to write an article covering every possible essay prompt you could encounter in the college application process. In fact, more than one professional points out that students should not have already reached their writing potential before entering college. I know parents who believe kids who can’t sit down and write essays themselves aren’t ready for four-year college. Jager-Hyman said there are some who believe a 17-year-old need only “put one foot in front of the other” and apply himself to complete this task. But in reality, many otherwise-capable teens have no clue where to start. Students will be accepted “if the student’s numbers fit the academic profile of the institution,” she says. Some of the most frequent questions about the application process we get from students are about the essays. While you are always welcome to contact us with these questions, we provided some tips to get you started. Applicants should realize that most admissions counselors are young and have a sense of what a teenage voice sounds like, Jager-Hyman says. If a college suspects an essay is not the student’s work, they don’t automatically throw him out of the applicant pool, says Krahnke, but a negative vibe is placed in the counselor’s head. Jodi Then is the High School Counselor at Boston Green Academy. Before joining BGA, Ms. Then spent 15 years working at a non-profit organization that specialized in college access and financial aid. It may feel scary and impossible, but with right approach , you can write an essay that showcases your unique personality and impresses admissions officers. Vagueness isn’t a problem unique to admissions essays. This essay doesn’t share many life-defining revelations; we learn, as a brief aside, that the author often cared for her younger siblings, but little beyond that. Yet despite its relative lack of major information, it reveals a lot about who the author is. We learn that the author knows how to turn a phrase, the author is a warm and caring person, the author has a sense of humor, and the author will bring us cookies if we admit her to our imaginary college. All in all, we see a student who is a skilled writer with a warm heart â€" positive traits, to be sure. In our College Essay Clichés to Avoid post, we advised students against writing about moving to America from a foreign country. Heathman believes the job of the essay coach is to help students themselves find the right way to tell their story. No one would expect a student to dash off a perfect essay.