Tips on Admission Essay Writing

Writing Tips

When applying for college entrance, you will be faced with having to create that all-important admission essay. The latter essay will represent you at a time when you cannot physically speak to college administrators face to face. Thus, what you write in the admission essay needs to be clear, concise, accurate, and professional. An admission essay works much like a resume in that it serves to represent you, your skills, and it must demonstrate strong communication abilities. Ultimately, an admission essay plays a huge role in whether or not a college accepts you as a student for the upcoming academic year for which you are applying. Below are some tips on how to make your admission essay stand out from the rest, all while adhering to basic writing guidelines.

Tip #1: Start the writing process as early as you can start.

Check into the requirements of the admission essay. What does the paper need to contain? What is the word count limit? Are there any special formatting requirements? Document what you need to do and establish a plan to get the admission paper done in a timely fashion.

Tip #2: Remain sincere throughout your essay.

Two characteristics are desirable in an admission essay: Originality and sincerity. Write in your own voice and do not be afraid to express yourself, as long as you remain diplomatic and respectful in your expression. Write with sincerity: This could not be more true than when you are asked to write a personal essay about your life experiences. Consider your reader when you are writing: A reader can tell when a writer is being genuine and when he or she lacks sincerity.

Tip #3: Check for grammatical errors.

How you write is just as important as what you write in an admission essay. Make sure you check for grammatical errors and you fix the mistakes when editing your paper.  Check for comma splices, run-on sentences, pronoun errors, inappropriate apostrophe usage, and the absence of subject/verb agreement. Also, check for misplaced modifiers and senseless words like “unthaw,” or “irregardless.”  Check for common spelling errors like “a lot” vs. “alot,” or “it’s” vs. “its.”  Do everything you can to ensure the flawless presentation of your work.

Tip #4: Do away with unnecessary wording and edit sentence structure.

There is often a word limit on an admission essay so every word you write counts. The word count is limited so that you will only convey the most important information.  Bear in mind that college administrators go through thousands of essays, so your tight, concise writing is extremely desirable.  Do away with unnecessary words like “ly” adverbs.  Instead, use stronger adjectives.  Make sure you edit the sentences to ensure they are active, not passive.  Active writing is tighter and passive writing uses more words with a less powerful or succinct impact.

In addition to the removal of “ly” adverbs, make sure you keep an eye out for buried verbs and unnecessary wordy phrases like “a large number of,” “add the point that,” “after all has been said,” and “after the manner of.”  Make sure you use clean, concise writing only.  Imagine that you have five minutes to impress someone as the person reads a 650-word essay. In such a situation, tight writing is necessary.

About the Author: Tarek Barlow is a professional life coach who teaches people how to live the life they have always envisioned.  He blogs regularly on how to make your life goals a reality at Paperswrite.org. Tarek asserts that any life goal is achievable when an individual knows the right steps to take.

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