It is currently November, a big month for many high school seniors. Among the academic obligations and extracurricular activities that seniors have to manage, many of them are currently working on University of California and California State University applications that are both due November 30th. To exacerbate the workload that seniors have, students are expected to navigate on the complexities of deciding whether they want to apply to more colleges, most of which are through the Common Application and each have different deadlines and essay requirements.
In this complex college application process supporting through the process, I have seen a consistent trend of mistakes that both students and parents make. The purpose of this article is to impart of some advice specifically regarding essays, in hopes that these suggestions will prevent students from making these errors that, at times, can negatively impact their chance for being accepted to the respective colleges they are applying to.
There is no “one” way to writing an essay. In the current influx of articles from individuals claiming that an essay must be written in a particular way in order to increase students’ chance to get accepted to a respective university, this is not true. The strongest essays that I have seen render the best results in acceptance rates have been those that are unique and individualistic. By having students write their essay in their own voice and perspective, it allow authenticity and personality to show in the essay.
Do not have someone else write your essay. This is something that I know a few parents and students request in college counseling services. In the end, it not only affects the authenticity of the essay (which is important to the college process), but can also raise alarm from the respective colleges. Many times, students’ writing styles are reflective of what they learned through academics and extracurriculars along with their academic and standard examination scores. For example, if a student’s academics and extracurricular show a specific personality type but the essays show a completely different disposition, it can cause admissions officers to completely discount the individual’s application for admissions.
Make sure that the essay is personable and answers the prompt. Students have the tendency to write essays similarly to how they would answer a standard essay at school. This is a huge error, especially since the purpose of personal statements is for admissions officer to get to better understand the students, from their personal difficulties to motivations. That being stated, students must also be careful to not be carried away while writing essays. At times, students have the tendency to focus on one aspect of the essay but disregard the prompt. In order to avoid this issue, I recommend that students have their essays checked by outside perspectives such as from peers and mentors.
Do not settle on the first draft. The first draft that students do tend to not be the best representation of the students’ messages or personality. Many times, I have told students to either start over on the essay or to keep a small portion of the initial draft. The reason is that the student tends to state things similarly to a list of accomplishments rather than focusing on the development process that led to these accomplishments. Students should be working through rewriting and testing different approaches towards delivering the same message in order to see which essay comes out best.
Royal Education hopes that this article was helpful for guiding students to do well on their college applications.We also want to state that it is not too late to receive the necessary help in college counseling. Royal Education is dedicated to providing the supports necessary to not only improve essays and college applications, but also ease the college application process. Feel free to reach out to us through the following outlets if you have any questions about our services, or about anything else:
Website: www.royaled.net
Phone Number: (818)-275-3424
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