Outstanding SAT & ACT scores are simply one step towards admission to your dream school. Craft an application essay that takes you all the way by applying our 7 Steps to an Amazing College Essay. Step 6 is to WRITE FROM THE HEART:
At least half of the challenge of writing your college essay will be deciding what you are going to write about. When contemplating that all-important decision, don’t just think about what a college can do for you. Instead, look within, then look beyond yourself to the community you seek to be a part of.
1. Look within. Get in touch with what really inspires and defines you.
2. Look without. Don’t just explain what a college can do for you, but also describe what you will bring to the school lucky enough to have you as a student. How will you contribute to your community?
Jen Zaffuts, our fabulous Performance Coach and owner of Begin from Within, urges students to write from a place of sincerity and passion:
When you write in this way, your words are clearer and your points easier for you to describe. This gives your reader the opportunity to truly get to know you, and you allow him or her to do so in a concise and meaningful manner. If your passion is going to follow you into college and beyond, even better.
Admissions committees try their best to assemble a tremendously interesting and engaged class of students who will succeed in their specific college environments. Trust them to evaluate whether you “fit” by letting them know who you are at your core. Write about yourself and what you truly have to offer, and you’ll dramatically improve your chances of admission at the school that is right for you.
[If you think you’ve read this before, maybe you have. We share our 7 Steps to an Amazing College Essay every summer to support all of the hard working high schoolers striving towards their most successful college applications!]
Mike Bergin