Your test scores and grades are not what reveal why you are important; your personality is. Sure, you want to showcase your writing skills to your admission officers; however, you also want to provide them with an idea of who you truly are and why you are the perfect candidate for college. Sadly, many college application essays are not that great. They are either impenetrable, boring or melodramatic. They can even be all of these things. According to many admission officers, if you want your essay to stand out; just ‘be yourself.’ They also tell you to get an early start. Some other essay writing tips you can implement to write that college accepting essay are as follows.

Thoroughly Analyze the Prompt

Take a few minutes to carefully think about the prompt. You can divide the prompt into phrases, if needed, and look at each aspect. Why do you think this prompt is being asked by admissions officers? What are they trying to find out? How does your ability to succeed in college relate to this information? These are just a few things to ask yourself. Take a break from the prompt and then return to it a bit later. Perhaps something new just came to you? Your schedule might be full, or you are a busy person, so you might think this part of the essay writing process is a waste of your time. But, it actually saves you lots of time in the long run. You don’t want to have to begin from the beginning of the essay writing process if you realize later on that you misread the prompt.

Select a Topic that Highlights you

According to collegeboard.org, when choosing a topic, try not to focus on the great features or aspects of a particular college, how many extracurricular activities you participated in while in high school or how much dedication and commitment it takes to be a doctor. Instead, share your own personal thoughts and story. Highlight areas that the application doesn’t already cover and take a creative approach.

Stay in Focus

This essay gives you one chance to really tell admission officers why they should accept you into the college. Don’t try to list all your reasons, your athletic prowess, your stellar academic record or your community service all on one page. By doing this, you are making your essay look like your grocery list. Just write down a few examples and choose one that you think you will have fun writing. You don’t have to write down all your achievements. Just stick to the primary theme throughout the entire essay. You can list your achievements later on in your application. Your essay is basically a way you can get really creative while you show the admission officers what you are really about and allow them to get to know you better.

Forget Telling and Start Showing

According to worldessays.com, when you are choosing anecdotes for your college essay, choose expressive ones that you can show concisely. If your story requires 500 words of a 700-word essay, this doesn’t provide you with much space to express analysis of the situation and self-reflection. Keep in mind that the admissions officers are really looking for your take on what occurred rather than the events themselves.

The reason why the admissions officers are even reading your essay is to get to know you. Your initial introduction of yourself is your essay. Therefore, instead of telling them you have a passion for public service; give them strong examples to actually show them instead. Help them envision each example to the point where they feel they are experiencing the situation right along with you.

Make Changes as Needed

Don’t hesitate to make big changes when needed. If you find details that are not really relating to the topic, eliminate them. A couple of things that one particular college counselor suggests include:

• Cut out your introductory and concluding paragraphs to see if you get a stronger essay. Often, these two paragraphs are filled with unnecessary details.
• Skim through your essay removing any occurrences of ‘many’ and ‘very’. These are vague words, and your writing will be stronger without them.

Your Sentence Structures

If you have similar ideas, combine them into sentence structures that are more sophisticated. A large part of your essay should include sentences that are complex and compound, or both. Simple sentences should be saved for times where you have to create impact.

Things to Omit from your Essay

Some things just don’t need to be used in your essay. Some examples include:

• Not writing what you think your admissions officers want to hear
• Not repeating information that you have already included in the application
• Be specific, cut out unnecessary words and don’t make your essay too wordy
• Don’t just list accomplishments or experiences. Go a step further and describe their relevancy

Finishing Up

Once you have finished your conclusion, you are probably thinking that you are done with your essay. Not a chance. Go through it again and focus on the small details. How are your paragraphs ordered? Are the strongest points you want to make in your first and last paragraphs, leaving the rest of the body for other details? Go over the essay instructions very carefully again and make sure you are following the exact format indicated. Finally, give your essay another proofread to make sure it flows smoothly and there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. Add in phrases to connect ideas and thoughts if needed. Have another person review it as well. Even if you have a writing service handle write your essay, you still need to review it carefully before you submit it.