How To Write A Great College Essay

Wed, Mar 15, 2023 11:30 AM

In this day and age of colleges doing a holistic application review – everything counts. Essays can make or break whether an Admissions Representative will advocate for your student to be admitted to their college. Essays can also have an impact on your son or daughter’s chances of being selected to receive a big scholarship. When students get to this level of competitiveness, every college starts to look at their GPA, the rigor of the courses taken, their extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, etc.

So how does your son or daughter write a great college essay? The process starts with them understanding what the prompt is asking for and taking the time to brainstorm a variety of options. Next, your student should determine how to create an interesting essay that will keep the reader engaged from start to finish. After they write their first draft, have them ask a peer to review it and provide constructive input. Next, have your student fix any sentence structure, word use, spelling, and punctuation issues to help with the flow. Once your student’s essay is as effective and engaging as possible, have them do one final sweep to make sure everything is the best they can make it.

Here are some steps to writing a great essay:

#1: Get Organized
#2: Pick a Great Topic
#3: Brainstorm
#4: Map out a plan or outline
#5: Write your first draft
#6: Edit your draft, edit your draft, edit your draft
#7: Finalize your draft
#8: Repeat the process for other needed essays

If your student needs more help, perhaps allow other trusted friends or family to read their essay and offer suggestions. Be careful when it comes to over editing, as it can have a negative effect on your student’s essay. The best of intentions can destroy the voice of your student and colleges can and do pickup on over-edited essays. If your student is still struggling, be sure to check out my book titled “College Entrance Game Plan” which can be found on Amazon. There is an entire chapter devoted to college essays that will help your student create a memorable essay – for all the right reasons.

Caution, since AI is becoming more accessible to students, warn them not to get fooled into believing a computer program can write an effective essay. Colleges are aware this technology exists and are going to run essays through systems that check the content. Have your son or daughter create their own essay that is authentic and something they can be proud of.

Does your son or daughter need help on their essays? Schedule a FREE 15-minute Discovery Zoom Meeting with me TODAY! Definitely set up your MyCAP account by going to https://mycap.collegeaidpro.com and be sure to use my Discount Code (DANB15) if you decide to upgrade to access ALL the colleges in this database.