This is an excerpt from our popular book, How to Write an Effective College Application Essay. Get your free copy here
Colleges use essays to get to know you a little bit better and to flesh out your application package. Some use them for scholarship selection, too. Assuming you are qualified academically for the school, effective essays can make a difference, tipping the balance in your favor when colleges must choose between applicants with similar qualifications.There is no rubric for a good essay, but the ones that standout share a few common features. Regardless of the prompt, you must:
- Answer the question.
- Showcase a positive trait or characteristic.
- Sound like you, a high school student.
- Illustrate something meaningful about you.
- Demonstrate reflection.
Reflect
The key word here is reflection. The essay should teach readers something meaningful about who you are. Does the experience you write about have to be earth shattering? No. Does it have to illustrate an “aha” moment? Not at all—as long as you reflect on something that has meaning to you. There’s no magic answer. No secret sauce. The essay is one (very important) piece of a holistic admission process, which generally means that as colleges decide which students to accept, they look at many different aspects of each application, from grades and test scores to letters of recommendation and essays.
“We need to dig deeper,” says Calvin Wise, Deputy Dean of Admissions for Johns Hopkins University. “That’s where the essay comes into play. That’s where we find out more about the student. We are looking for your story. Academically, we are glad you’ve done well. We want to know who you are. What did your experience mean to you? How did it shape you?
”Regardless of their specific prompts, colleges want to learn something new about who you are as a person. Tamara Siler, Director, University Relations – Admission at Rice University, believes personal statements add “needed texture.”“Quantitative factors such as transcripts and test scores only tell part of the story; a personal statement can provide context and truly show why a certain student is a better match than other clearly capable applicants.”
To apply to Rice, Hopkins, and a majority of the nation’s most selective schools, students must write supplemental essays specific to each school. You could be asked why you want to attend a particular college or which activity you would like to continue at college. Sometimes colleges will ask about your community or if you’ve experienced any academic challenges.
Be Creative?
You might also be asked to answer a creative prompt. The list goes on and on. For now, we want to emphasize that every time you are asked to answer a question in writing as part of your application to college, you need to take it seriously. Colleges would not ask you to write these essays if they didn’t want to hear what you have to say. Admissions officers we’ve talked to over the years are delighted when a story rounds out an applicant’s package. They appreciate an essay that helps them understand who the person is. They want to put a face to the application file.
What turns them off? Stories that are not genuine, do not answer the prompt, or fail to give them any insight into the applicant’s character. One thing we hear consistently from admissions officers from coast to coast: They don’t like it when students try too hard to impress them, or when students write essays that seem forced, heavily edited, or inauthentic. Remember, take this task seriously. Don’t whip off your essay(s) the night before the deadline. Treat every essay as the opportunity it is meant to be. In other words, don’t wing it!
Essays Matter
A college essay can make a difference in helping colleges say yes to your application. At a moderately selective school (60% admit rate and higher), where more applicants hear yes than no, students who meet certain academic requirements will generally be admitted. For students who don’t quite meet the standards but are not far off, the essay can push a student into the admit pool. At a selective school (40% admit rate and lower), where more applicants hear no than yes, essays are even more critical. They help distinguish one student from another. The essays are even more significant at a super-selective college, where admit rates dip below 15 percent.
No matter what happens next, the essay is not going away and it will continue to be significant inside an increasingly holistic admissions process. There are a lot of moving parts in this process, and nothing is guaranteed. You might never know how many applicants have the same GPA and test score as you in any given year, or how you measure up in other ways. Any type of college application essay is an opportunity to make yourself more three-dimensional in the eyes of admissions officers. How do you do that? Use the essay space to highlight one or more character traits you want to share with colleges. You can begin by answering these questions:
- What do you want colleges to know about you apart from the rest of your application package? (Think traits and characteristics, not experiences or activities.)
- What story can you share that illustrates the trait you want to share, and also answers the prompt?
This is an excerpt from our popular book, How to Write an Effective College Application Essay. Get your free copy here
