College Essay Topic Samples
My 28 months in America living with five families helped me develop five values: open mindedness, spending quality time with family, understanding, discipline, and genuine appreciation.While the importance of college essayswhich are written over a period of a few weeks or, ideally, a few monthsvaries from school to school, most experts estimate that they make up for anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of admissions decisions! The US college experience offers not only academic growth, but also campus community. While admissions officers use your grades and test scores as a baseline, they also use the college essay to further evaluate if you can add value to the academic community, student body, and campus culture. Similarly, college application essays are less formal than other kinds of academic writing. You should use a conversational yet respectful tone, as if speaking with a teacher or mentor. Be honest about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences to connect with the admissions officer. In an ideal world, you can start writing and planning for your college essays the summer before your senior year. But many students have prior commitments that make following a six-month (JuneDecember) timeline difficult. So here are a few adjusted timelines that can allow you to take advantage of the brainstorming and freewriting process even if you dont have the full six-month window.
Eg, it may be a statistical truth or a quote that is strongly related to this issue. Below are some guidelines on how to get started on their article with a hook words. Admissions officers use college admissions essays to evaluate your character, writing skills, and ability to self-reflect. The essay is your chance to show what you will add to the academic community. The college essay, or personal statement, is a creative, personal piece of writing in its own genre. Rather than providing a broad overview of your life, personal essays are often centered around a specific narrative or theme. For example, you might be asked to write your college essay following an APA format or MLA format. Not adhering to the required formatting will show the examiner that you are not capable enough to understand the basic instructions. For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the Why this college? essay, including a real sample essay. Many students and parents wonder how big of a role essays play when it comes to college admissions decisions.
Students most common mistake on a Why this college? essay is lack of specificity; in particular, some students will list attributes that can apply to multiple schools, which is what you want to avoid at all costs. Why so early? You may not be thrilled at the prospect of spending the summer before your senior year on college applications. But getting going in June after your junior year and committing to a few exercises over the summer will be like spring training for summer athletes. By the time you get to August, when youre drafting your Common App Essay and your secondary essays in full, you will be warmed up, and much of the hardest workthat is, the reflection and figuring out what you want to saywill be done for you. 4. The Mini-Odyssey Essay: The last classic and powerful module is the good old problem-driven essay. In this type of essay, our hero (you, the writer) meets a challenge in the first paragraph, and then the essay is devoted to showing us how it is solved. Lets say Michael wanted to write not about learning to surf from his grandfather, but about learning that his grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.
Why does the Common App Essayand any other college essaymatter?
- Dont ever say that your reason for choosing a major is money-making potential. If you want to mention life beyond college, then talk about how this major will help you achieve your dreams. If your dream is to produce a feature-length film and a film major will help you get there, say that. But dont say your dream is to be a rich film producer.
Like other academic essays, a college essay can also be approached like a good story. Write the college application essay in a way that has an interesting introduction. All the details are discussed in the body paragraphs and should be ended with some thought-provoking lines. The good thing is that the college essay or personal statement also follows a five-paragraph essay format. It includes an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Your grades are in, your test scores have been sent, and recommendation letters have been uploadedbut theres one last component of your college applications left: the essays. For many students, essays are the final and most daunting hurdle to clear before hitting submit. In other words, your four years of schoolwork, AP, IB, ACT, and SAT exams, community service, volunteering, and so on account for only 70 to 9 percent.
Advanced College Essay Techniques
These estimates are provided not to scare you, but rather to emphasize how critical it is for you to spend at least as much time on your college essays as would on any other high school pursuit. After understanding the basic formatting guidelines, it is important to understand how to structure your college essay. You need to organize your essay in a way that can easily and clearly express your ideas. Next, lets make sure you understand the different types of college essays. Youll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay. These essays are extremely important in standing out. Weve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last years essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. Well update these in August when schools release their prompts.
You might be familiar with the Common Application, Common App for short, which serves as a single application shared by over 900 colleges, including every Ivy League school and similarly elite universities like Stanford, Caltech, and the University of Chicago. The Common App allows you to enter information like your name, demographics, extracurricular activities, and more just once for every school that uses it. Its also where youll encounter The Common App Essay, otherwise known as your personal statement (PS), which is what this guide will focus on. Tagged: college essay topics, College essay ideas, Sample topics, Example college essay, college application, personal statement, essay The Matchlighters Scholars Program: Free college essay and application coaching for students. Apply today! Get started your own article with a catchy words a connect that brings in the eye on the audience and offers a reason to keep learning.
ANOTHER GREAT READ: how to start a college essay: 9 techniques
You should use your unique culture and individual perspective to write a compelling essay with specific stories, a conversational tone, and correct grammar. Here are some basic guidelines on how to write a memorable college essay as an international student. If you can hear the music, then peer inside this magic scene for the best advice in writing college essays. Be like Indiana. Be adventurous and choose wisely. Now, if youre ready, grab your Indiana hat, trusty whip, and treasure map and youll be well on your adventure to writing a killer college essay. Some colleges also require supplemental essays, which must be submitted along with the college application. Scholarship essays are also worth writing, as many students overlook this opportunity. Research deadlines early, and create a college application timeline and checklist. Below you can find some college application essay templates and format examples to help students write the best essay. If you are planning to write a college essay, make sure to follow a certain template. This will help you get an idea about the contents of the essay. A college application essay format is a set of guidelines you need to follow to organize your thoughts and ideas.
It is important to make sure your essay follows a proper and logical direction. Nick Platohas been working with high school students to reach their college dreams for over 14 years. Teaching history, English, philosophy, geography, and study skills in both public and private schools, Mr. Plato has worked with high school students as they make the transition into college. Years of editing and grading papers gives Mr. Plato a distinctive outlook on writing college essays. One of the most rewarding parts of his job is being in touch with past high school students as they successfully complete their college degrees and go on to be admirable adults with their own families and careers. Theres more that goes into applying to college than what weve been able to cover here, including your grades, standardized test scores, and recommendation letters, but your essays are some of the most important materials. They form the cornerstone of the qualitative side of your application. Get these right and your entire application starts from strength. Good luck! Beyond your test scores and grades, the college essay is your opportunity to express your academic and personal character, writing skills, and ability to self-reflect.
Another way of thinking about this is: does your potential topic contain a person (other than you), a setting, and a beginning/middle/end? That gives you a character, a place, and a plotall crucial elements of an essay.