College Essay

Writing a college essay is one of the hardest tasks for a student. First of all, this paper is really not easy to do. Its particularities, format, structure, and other elements must be totally relevant to the task assignment. Second of all, this essay may determine your future, so it usually causes authors to feel nervous. No surprise that 9 of 10 students can’t relax before and after writing.

The college essay is literally your admission work to apply for college. It aims to show your personality and make the admission committee to understand, that you are the one to become the student of the exact education establishment. It must be relevant to all writing requirements and present your person from the best sides.

No matter the value of the college essay, you need to stay focused and do not allow panic to paralyze your brain. To express all your skills and stay calm you should use the following guide. It includes step-by-step instruction to help the author handle the writing process.

How to Start Writing College Essay

You should better start long before writing. Don’t underrate the preparation stage. Understand the task of your college essay, plan its structure, collect interning facts to share. And put a lot of effort to find a great topic.

Usually, college essay does not mean exact topic. The task assignment has no line with the topic you must prepare your text about. You may face with different prompts which will allow you creating various titles. You can find several examples of college essay prompts on the Web and analyze them. This approach will help to understand what you are expected to do.

Then plan your work. Mention the tips of time management to divide your job into sections. As a result, you will be able to prepare each part of your college essay in time and with a full understanding of requirements.

If you feel you are ready, you should start your writing process. It consists of several steps, so be an attentive and responsible author.

5 Steps to Write a College Essay

To write a paper you need time and skills. There is no exact investigation or another task to hold beforehand. But even without such an additional job, the writer may face numerous complications. If you want to be successful with your essay and reduce the possibility of hard situations to a minimum, then get prepared.

You may use these 5 steps to prepare your college essay like a professional writer. Each stage includes its challenges, so don’t relax until you become a student at a university you have dreamed about.

Step #1. To organize your job

At this stage, you need to focus and figure out what you are expected to do. Nowadays a lot of students use the Common App system, so writers should concern about the rules of this kind of essay. But at the same time, a lot of popular colleges still use own requirements to admission task. Among them is the University of California and the University of Texas. Besides, even if you are entering university with the Common App essay system you must prepare the supplemental paper to answer short questions. So the traditional college essay will be useful for you.

Here are the main things you should do on the organization stage:

• Plan your time, so you have enough hours to polish each sentence in your college essay;
• Determine all requirements for the paper of the school you want to enter;
• Solve organization issues like the approximate length of your essay;
• Buy a textbook and several colorful pencils to make notes.

So don’t start writing before you find out everything about your paper. Collect all information and ask additional questions, if you need more information.

Step #2. To hold brainstorming

In most cases you have no exact ideas for your essay, so start the brainstorm. This creative method helps to collect as many topics for paper as possible. All you need is no get inspiration and record all ideas. Please, don’t ignore this rule. You must write down even those things you consider to be too silly. Be sure, that at the end of brainstorming you will definitely value all of them.

It’s important: while you collect useful ideas for your college paper you need to understand, that each topic is right. This task doesn’t mean that something can be wrong. This task means that each idea may be brilliant if the author can support it with proper arguments. Remember and use this rule for your sake. At this stage, you can also analyze several prompts. Find out good themes for your essay and read how other people made their tasks.

To make a comprehensive analysis you can ask yourself the following questions:

• What admission committee expects from you;
• Why the exact education establishment is so special for you;
• What are the different angles of your future education, etc?

Try to give only fair answers. If the situation is too formal for you, imagine that you talk to your friends. Consider your experience and remember any unique situation, event, or problem in your life. Be honest and free in your words.

Step #3. To choose a topic and your approach in writing

With the list of topics and ideas after brainstorming you need to range them from the best to worst. It could be a situation when you like several titles, but make sure to pick up one topic or several common ideas, so you can arrange them organically in your college essay. Remember, that you want to impress the admission committee with your paper, but not to mess them up.

To choose the best topic you need to prepare several criteria. Here are the questions which will help you determine the value of each idea:

• Does the topic matter for you;
• Does it include something new about you;
• Does it describe your personality;
• Do you have enough information to share;
• Can it provoke a discussion, etc?

In general, the good topic for college essay is an exciting, focused, relevant idea. It may be simple or hard, but can’t leave readers untouched.

Then you should figure out your approach in writing. It depends on what you want to tell in your college essay. Create several points that will be centered on paper and create a general image of yours.

Step #4. To prepare the first draft of your college essay

You need to write your text but do not worry about its perfection. This is only the first draft, so it may include imperfections, mistakes, and misprints. Try to add everything important in this first copy of the essay, so you can improve it in the future.

There are no exact requirements on how to write. You may sit at home in your pajama or be in a library with your textbook and notebook. You can also write non-stop for hours or make one paragraph per day. Do as you like, but remember you must be on time with your task.

In any case, these simple advice will be useful for each author:

• Don’t focus on perfection, but keep in mind your general aim;
• Keep the relevant structure and all rules from the task assignment;
• Use your creativity to make an introduction, body, and conclusion exciting;
• Write as much as possible, so you can edit paragraphs on the revision stage.

It is also a good idea to let your friends read your essay. Maybe they will give you independent advice, so you may improve the text one more time.

Step #5. To make edits and final revision

Before you start editing your college essay, you need to know one important rule. Never make edits right after writing. You should let yourself rest for several days or even weeks. Only such an approach can guarantee you an independent position in revision.

The point is most writers lose their objectivity while writing a text. They may consider the argument strong, but in a real-life, it is very weak. The same is fair for misprints. This is the unbelievable fact, that you just don’t see mistakes right after finish writing. Several days after you will consider the paper general, but not your personal, so you can give it a try again.

Your first edition step may be concerned about the general questions. Think of the quality of structure, arguments, and paragraphs. Make sure you can create the exact impression. The second edition will include mistakes and misprints which harm your college essay. Use your attention and special software to correct all weak sentences. In case you are not sure in own skills, you can always hire a professional editor to help you make the college essay the best of the best! 

At the end of writing make the double-check of your essay. Read it aloud and figure out how the sentences sound. Your aim is to prepare a real symphony of your personality. Pay attention to each detail even if it is not important for readers. Remember, that your future is on the line right now, so only the high-quality paper is allowed.