Essay Prompts

Essay Prompts The essay creates frustration for students, stress for parents, and an overall feeling of dread as the deadline for submission approaches. The essay, however, doesn’t have to be an insurmountable project. With the right information, realistic time management and good proofing and editing, it should be easy to write the best college essay you can. Give the admissions officer a picture of who you are and the type of college student you would be if they offer admission. The essay should be more than words on paper or a glowing example of writing skills; it should be your story. Admissions panelists read hundreds of applications every year, and they can tell when you are lying. Talk about things that concern you â€" any setbacks, weaknesses, health issues, depression, etc. These essays are an essential part of your application, and they allow you to market yourself and prove your mettle to the decision-makers. A stellar essay will not guarantee admission, but it is a very crucial piece of your application. Sometimes these essays have word limits; for example, UPenn’s Wharton business school requires two essays, not more than 500 words, and 400 words. Boston is headquarters to a growing workforce of admissions essay editors who will hone college applicants’ personal statements for a fee. But the parents and kids lining up for their services have no idea what they’re really getting themselves into. While a personal admission essay topic is often expected, make sure your essay doesn’t read like a sob story, which might be interpreted as the “admit me! It’s the one part of the application where you can really show your personal self, your goals and your creativity. But if you’re looking for someone to tell you that your essay is great as is and those six spelling errors are perfectly fine, well, you’ve come to the wrong place. We’d be mortified if a student of ours submitted essays with grammatical errors to college. Now that doesn’t mean our students can’t submit fragments. It is not just a mere listing of your experiences or your resume, but a more coherent way of telling them who you are and why you will be a worthy addition to their program. It allows the admissions panel to get a sense of who you are and what you value the most. If your classwork already shows that you are studious and determined , then you may want to highlight another feature of your personality. When you have compiled all the pieces of your application and sent it to the college/university of your dreams, all of your hard work gets placed in a pile with hundreds of other applications. Then a small group of admissions officers will review each application, looking over the scores and coursework and reading the college application essays. If you need inspiration, then read this MBA personal statement. This is an actual MBA essay of a student who got into the MBA at Columbia business school. All good MBA essays communicate an accurate picture of who you are â€" not what you think the admissions committee will like. So be genuine and communicate that clearly to the reader. It doesn’t mean our students can’t start sentences with “and” or “but.” We love it when our students write in a colloquial tone. We strongly suggest you not listen to this particular advice of Mark Sklarow, a man who has openly defied the very bylaws of the organization he leads. Well, for starters, who uses paper and pen these days? Secondly, it is preposterous to suggest that an independent college counselor should not address (and fix!) poor grammar or word choice. If a student makes a grammatical error, you bet we’re going to fix it. Overly cheesy or overly sentimental college admission essays can be read as cliché and over the top.