Once you have come up with a  college application essay topic, make sure it has staying power by asking yourself the following questions:

• Have you selected a topic that describes something of personal importance in your life, with which you can use vivid personal experiences as supporting details?
• Does your topic go beyond what you listed elsewhere on your application? It should move beyond your GPA, standardized test scores, and your extra curricular activities.
• Does your topic have supporting arguments? Can your paragraphs be fleshed out with evidence and concrete examples?
• Can you fully answer the question? Can you address and elaborate on all points within the specific word limit or will you end up writing a poor  summary that sounds more like a research paper than a personal statement? ? If you plan on writing something technical for college admissions, make sure you truly can back up your interest in a topic and are not merely throwing around big scientific words. Unless you convince the reader that you actually have the life experiences to back up your interest in neurobiology, the reader will assume you are trying to impress him/her with manipulative tactics.
• Can you keep the reader’s interest from the first word? They have so many applications to read and skim them pretty quickly, so you want to make sure you draw them in right away.
• Is your topic overdone? Check with old sample essays to make sure yours is more original and unique. Even if your topic is generic, can your writing add a new twist to make it stand out?
• Will your topic turn off a large number of people? If you write on how everyone should worship your God, how wrong or right abortion is, or how you think the Republican or Democratic Party is evil, it might be too racy. The only thing worse than not writing a memorable essay is writing an essay that will be remembered negatively. Stay away from specific religions, political doctrines, or controversial opinions. If you think you can pull off a controversial topic, acknowledge counter arguments so the admissions officers know that you have thought the topic through.
• Will an admissions officer remember your topic after a day of reading hundreds of essays? What will the officer remember about your topic? What will the officer remember about you? What will your lasting impression be?
• Lastly, is your college application essay topic tailor made for the particular college and major you are applying to? Colleges like when you have researched the one you want to attend and show that you have written a unique admissions essay specifically for them.

After reading these questions and you still think your college application topic is good to go, then congratulations, you’ve got the green light to take it to the next stay: the writing.

Writing is not a science—so there is no sure fire step-by-step to writing a college admissions essay.

But here are some ideas to help you put pen to paper.

Make sure you answer the question. If you don’t actually answer the question that is asked of you, it won’t matter how well your essay is written. College admissions officers are looking for strong writing, but also your ability to stay focused and clear and your reasoning skills. So stay on point.

Be original. Even if you have a generic admissions essay topic like your goals and accomplishments, you can jazz it up by writing creatively. For example instead of saying: “I work at Walmart to earn some extra money, you can say: “My family does not have a lot of money. I worked at the local Wal-Mart most evenings and did my homework on the bus ride home or after work.”

The second sentence is much better. Now the admissions officer know that you were very busy and can feel the squeeze of needing to earn money and still get your school work done. 

Be yourself. Admissions officers want to learn about you and your writing ability. Write about something meaningful and describe your feelings, not necessarily your actions. If you do this, your essay will be unique. Many people travel to foreign countries or win competitions, but your feelings during these events are unique to you. Unless a philosophy or societal problem has interested you intensely for years, stay away from grand themes that you have little personal experience with.

Show don’t tell. Use imagery, vivid and clear words to make your application essay jump off the page. Admissions officers have hundreds of essays to read, so you want to make yours stand out.  The application essay lends itself to imagery since the entire essay requires your experiences as supporting details. Appeal to the five senses of the admissions officers.

Introduction. Your introduction is the most important part of the essay. That’s your hook, line and sinker. Admissions officers only spend about 1 to 2 minutes reading your essay—so you’ve got to grab their attention from the start. So don’t just summarize what you are going to say in the body of your essay, then what would be the point of reading your essay if the reader can glean everything from your first paragraph. Instead create mystery and intrigue to entice the admission officer to read more.

Body of text. Your body of the text must relate to your introduction and should illuststrate your point. Use lots of examples and imagery that support your main argument. Use transition words like ‘therefore’, ‘consequently’, ‘as a result’ etc. to help your sentences and paragraphs flow.

Conclusion. The conclusion is your last chance to persuade and impress the admissions officers so make it count. Tie up all lose ends. You essay should take your reader on a journey and the conclusion should show what you have learned and how they fit into a larger picture. So you might want to expand upond the broader implications of your discussion, or bring back an idea that you brought up in your introduction and bring it to a new level. Other ideas is to redefine a term used in your body paragraphs.

Take a break. Once you have finished your first draft, take a break from looking at it for a few days so that you come back to it with fresh eyes. You might have new ideas, or see things that can be improved upon.

Give others a draft. Ask one or two people that you trust to read your work. (You don’t want to ask to many people because too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.)

Ask editors to read with these questions in mind:

• What is the essay about?
• Have I used active voice verbs wherever possible?
• Is my sentence structure varied or do I use all long or all short sentences?
• Do you detect any cliches?
• Do I use transition appropriately?
• Do I use imagery often and does this make the essay clearer and more vivid?
• What’s the best part of the essay?
• What about the essay is memorable?
• What’s the worst part of the essay?
• What parts of the essay need elaboration or are unclear?
• What parts of the essay do not support your main argument or are immaterial to your case?
• Is every single sentence crucial to the essay?
• What does the essay reveal about your personality?
• Could anyone else have written this essay?
• How would you fill in the following blank based on the essay: “I want to accept you to this college because our college needs more ________.”

Revise, revise, revise. You only are allowed so many words; use them wisely. Even the best writers need to edit their work. Don’t forget to check for spelling, grammar and punctuation. These types of mistakes can indicate to the admissions officer that you don’t proofread and you are not detail oriented. Allow for the evolution of your main topic. Do not assume your subject must remain fixed and that you can only tweak sentences.

Editing takes time. Consider reordering your supporting details, delete irrelevant sections, and make clear the broader implications of your experiences. Allow your more important arguments to come to the foreground. Take points that might only be suggested and make them explicit.

Good luck! For more brainstorming strategies for college admissions essays check out our two posts:

College admissions essay: Brainstorming Session Part 1
College admissions essay: Brainstorming Session Part 2

College admissions essays are becoming a more and more important element of the admissions process.

If you, and let’s say Jenny, have the same SAT scores, the same GPA and both of you have done volunteer work, the college admissions essay is what’s going to set you apart. Take that Jenny.

In the college admission essays, admissions officers don’t just learn more about your unique personality, but also your writing, vocabulary and reasoning skills.

As more and more colleges are de-emphasizing standardized tests in the college admissions process, more weight is being given to the college admissions essay.

Admissions essays are even a mandatory part of the common application.

So yours has to be kick-ass.

The first thing you need to do to make yours stand out from the crowd, is to choose your topic. Sounds easy enough, but your topic can make or break you. You can choose something that shows a special part of your personality, that’s going to make you shine.

Sometimes, the college application gives you several topics to choose from but often you can pick your own.

For example, the Common App gives you a list of prompts including one that lets you select your own topic. This year these are the choices:

1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3.  Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
6. Topic of your choice.

Spend one or two weeks thinking of a topic that will showcase your talents and your individuality and that will fare well with the major that you are interested in. For instance, if you are applying to an English literature program then writing about a fictional character or a creative work, might be a creative way to go. If you are going to study international relations discussing a personal, local, national or international concern might be a great way to show what ideas you plan to bring to your major or what lead to your interest in this field.

If you want to choose your own topic brainstorm ideas that would help admissions officers get to know you. Here are some questions worth thinking about:

• What are your major accomplishments, and why do you consider them accomplishments? (Do not limit yourself to accomplishments you have been formally recognized for since the most interesting essays often are based on accomplishments that may have been small at the time but become crucial when placed in the context of your life.)
• Does any attribute, quality, or skill distinguish you from everyone else? How did you develop this attribute?
• Consider your favorite books, movies, works of art, etc. Have these influenced your life in a meaningful way? Why are they your favorites?
• What was the most difficult time in your life, and why? How did your perspective on life change as a result of the difficulty?
• Have you ever struggled a lot for something and succeeded? What made you successful?
  Have you ever struggled a lot for something and failed? How did you respond?(Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerabilities, it sometimes takes strength of character to do this.)
• Of everything in the world, what would you most like to be doing right now? Where would you most like to be? Who, of everyone living and dead, would you most like to be with? (These questions should help you realize what you love most.)
• Have you experienced a moment of epiphany, as if your eyes were opened to something you were previously blind to?
• What is your strongest, most unwavering personality trait? Do you maintain strong beliefs or adhere to a philosophy? How would your friends characterize you? What would they write about if they were writing your admissions essay for you?
• What have you done outside of the classroom that demonstrates qualities sought after by universities? Of these, which means the most to you?
• What are your most important extracurricular or community activities? What made you join these activities? What made you continue to contribute to them?
• What are your dreams of the future? When you look back on your life in thirty years, what would it take for you to consider your life successful? What people, things, and accomplishments do you need? How does this particular university fit into your plans for the future?

Don’t worry if you don’t have a subject for your college admission essay just yet. Coming up with an idea is difficult and requires time.

And you’ve got to find something that you are passionate about so your essay doesn’t sound like everyone else’s college admissions essays.

We want yours to jump off the paper.

So have fun with the brainstorming process—and you might just discover something about yourself you never realized.

Now that you’ve got the ball rolling, check back tomorrow for more college admission essay ideas.