It’s another beautiful summer day. Some of us are sitting in our yards or by the pool and feeling relaxed. And here at EA, we say to you and each other, enjoy these warm days. For others who are entering your senior year and are planning to attend college, this is an excellent moment to evaluate what needs to be done to apply to the colleges of your choice. It is known that in our most relaxed state of mind that we can see things the clearest. So visualize the steps you have taken and will take as you sit and stare at the sky. And in that contemplation, consider these EA tips for writing your Common Application Essays.
If you haven’t begun to write those Common App essays, or you want to edit and proofread them one more time, here is a helpful way to view your writing. First, you should think about your five best traits that would sell you to an admissions officer. Yes, sell would be the correct word. You are the product that you want the admission officer to purchase as an incoming freshman. There are thousands of students applying and you want to be the person chosen. Of course, your essays should not only be well written, but they should reveal your personality traits that would be ideal for living in a dorm as well as an academic community. The 650 word essay is your only chance to show why you are the best student for the entering class. All your achievements will be revealed in the other parts of the application, but only your personality can be shown here. If you completed your essay in your English class, be sure to review it carefully to determine if it has demonstrated your ideal personality traits. If you are thinking that your teacher references will reveal your most wonderful traits, they probably will. But everyone knows that you only ask a person who likes you to be a reference, so that affects the way an admissions officer views those words.
If you review the Comm App questions carefully, you will see that each question asks you to describe one moment when it became apparent to you that you understood yourself. In other words, who are you and how did you get to be that person? Sometimes, we refer to that as an AHA MOMENT. So think of meaningful moments in your life and write about them. Then identify the one that you want to sculpt into your essay. If you have already written the essay, make sure that you have conveyed your personality clearly. If you are beginning, you are on a great path and will reveal your personality if you think about what you just read.
Remember first impressions count, so have a great introduction that will make the admissions officer want to read your essay. Don’t worry about describing a unique event. It just needs to feel like an authentic and honest advertisement about you.
And one last tip, don’t submit an essay of your choice, question 7. Truthfully, It makes you appear lazy since you weren’t willing to work on writing an answer to a question an admissions officer wanted to know.
Remember, if you want to try to improve your score on the SAT or ACT, there is still time to join EA’s six-week test prep program. Prep for the Novmeber SAT begins September 28 6-8PM All class are virtual.
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