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Start with a brainstorm. Your first draft should just flow do not worry about structure too much.

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Write about challenges you've faced or failures you've experienced and how you worked to overcome them

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Remember the college essay reveals something about you that your grades and test scores could't.This essay gives the admission officer a sense of who you are and your personality.

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biggest accomplishments are something that you will always use to define yourself, so throw that out there.. but don't make it about a CYC championship game you won. make it personal and narrative

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Write about your plan for commitment-- the more specific the better. Avoid making yourself look perfect and cliches. They don't want perfect, they want someone who will make a difference in their classrooms.

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The essay is a way to introduce yourself to colleges in a way that displays your maturity.

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start with an anecdote

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Write how you speak. If your friends and family think you are funny then write a funny essay.

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Don't let too many people edit your essay or else it may start to not sound like you

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avoid controversial topics! we all know you can write 57 pages about your joe talk.. they dont care (:

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write complex and compound sentences. Save short choppy sentences for when you need to create impact

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Analyze the prompt fully and write down what it immediately makes you think of.

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Examples that immediately make admissions officers roll their eyes: dictionary definitions, sound effects, sentences that are just strings of SAT words, overused metaphors, "Let me tell you a story", talking about the university instead of yourself, over-using the passive tense instead of telling an engaging story, and sticking too close to the prompt.

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If you had 10 minutes to talk to them in person about yourself, what would you say? This is what your should be about, do not overthink it.

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When told to be creative make sure that you describe an experience that has really stood out to you or is intellectually exciting. Make sure that you show passionate conviction with your topic.

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Write about failure. It gives you space to speak to how you respond to situations that don't work out for you and what you take away from it.

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write about something that excites you. make it meaningful, honest, and about you.

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Organize your thoughts before you start writing, and make sure the topic you choose is something you are passionate about.

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write about something that you did a big project or something that you experienced that changed you life or outlook on life for the better.

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When asked why you would choose a university they are looking or the particular reasons as to why their school is the best possible fit for you.

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Run your essay through spellcheck. Ask a teacher, friend, parent, or counselor to read it over-then ask five more people to do the same.

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Don't try to take on too much. Focus on one event, one activity, or one "most influential person".

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Be self-centered. Instead of writing about your team, you should write about you as a teammate.

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Limit the number of people who revise your essay. And remember that it is your essay. Don't let others opinion change what the colleges see of you.

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End your essay with an insightful ending, showing how the story you just told has shaped or inspired you.

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Instead of trying to come up with something gimmicky, catchy first lines, start by sharing a moment. Mini stories naturally grab the readers attention.

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Good essays don't need to hype up an applicant's superpowers: they can expose weakness, demonstrating subtlety and self-awareness

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Mrs. Summers     If you can answer "yes" to these 2 questions, then you've got the makings of a great essay:Is the topic of my essay important to me?Am I the only person who could have written this essay? 

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Mrs. Summers     If you can answer "yes" to these 2 questions, then you've got the makings of a great essay:Is the topic of my essay important to me?Am I the only person who could have written this essay? 

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brainstorm and organize your ideas before you begin writing. Create an outline

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Show instead of telling. When selecting anecdotes for you essay, pick vivid ones that you can tell succinctly.

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Write about challenges you

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Write about a particular challenge that was hard for you. It can reveal how you respond to difficulty to the people who are curious how you will handle the challenges of the next four years at their university.

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Ignore the urge for perfection. There is no such thing. Be your best self.

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Be careful not to have an essay that is all over the place. If writing about the university insure that your facts are correct. When being creative do not be obscure, pretentious or undisciplined when writing.

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Try to come up with a topic you think no one else will write about, so your essay sticks out to the readers.

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Show your essays to two people: One who is a strong writer and one who knows you really e

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admissions are more interested in your perspective and emotions than the actual events of what happened

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Try writing different versions of your essay, maybe in completely different formats, just to see if one of them resonates more than the others.

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Roughing up your background won't help your cause

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Write with authenticity. Say outright the point you want to get across, and don't just say what you think they want to hear.

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don't just write what you think admission officers want to hear. Their boring, forced, and misguided.

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Write about outdoor activities that you've done. Not sports, but experiences. It gives a chance to talk about overcoming obstacles and something that interests you.

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Brainstorm and create an outline before starting the actual essay, so you can add the details to each idea.

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Don't worry about your topic sounding too boring or pretentious-the raw emotion underneath matters more.

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when describing an experience, give more than a play-by-play; describe what you learned and how it changed you

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These essays should read like smart, interesting 17-year-olds wrote them.

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The you question tells the reader about yourself and your beliefs. It gives you the chance to share something about oneself besides test scores.

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the vast majority of the sentences should be compound, complex, or a combination of both. Save simple sentences when you need to create a big impact.

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Make sure your topic reveals something about yourself, or why you want to study and pursue the things you do.

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Anyone can write about how they won the big game or the summer they spent in Rome. Describe what you learned from the experience and how it changed you.

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Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

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do not be vague or cliche, get to the point by being vivid and using specific details.
also be careful if you try to crack a joke, you can be unique, but not bizarre.

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Write about a memorable meal- it gets them thinking about their own favorite meals for a relation and you can talk about important conversations that you've had at the dinner table that have shaped you.

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Don't try to take on too much. Just focus on one thing.

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Your essay's introduction and conclusion are the most important, because it's what will draw the attention of the reader and make them want to read more!

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know your vocab
use college level vocab but use it correctly

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Write about what you're interested in, not what you think is interesting about you.

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Combine like ideas into more sophisticated sentence structures.
The vast majority of the sentences in your essay should be compound, complex, or a combination of both. Save simple sentences for instances when you need to create impact.

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Write thoughtfully and with authenticity. It'll be clear who believes in what they are saying versus those who are simply saying what they think we want to hear.

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Be detailed. Instead of talking about how you love going to the art museum and how your art class in high school helped you, talk about how one artist's paintings make you feel and how this artist's work influenced you.

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they do not except a perfect essay but want you to tell you a time you stumbled and what happened

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Avoid a rehash of the accomplishments on your high school resume and choose something that the admissions committee will not discover while reading the rest of your essay

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Write about what matters to you instead of what matter to them and don't try to hard.

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Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

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There is mainly three different types of essays one could be asked to write about; the you, the why us, and the creative.

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Write several drafts, read it multiple time, and have multiple people edit the paper.

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write how you speak: the job is to show who you are. Do this through not just what you say but how you say it

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many students try too hard to sound smart and don't sound like themselves - don't lose your own personal voice