I am not going to kid you, writing well is hard.
It is hard to write a college entrance essay well is not easy. Sometimes you don't even know who will be reading your essay. Does the reader have a sense of humor or should you write a serious essay with a lot of fancy words? It is also hard because often essays have word count limits. As much as you want to write your life story, you only have 500 words to write everything you need to write to convince the committee to select you.
But writing well is important. It is not only important when you write your college entrance essay, it will be important all your adult life. People who write well get paid better, are able to explain themselves better.
So reviewing high school grammar lessons would be a good use of your time. Hopefully you are starting to write your essay well in advance of the deadline. Writing the essay the night before it is due is a very bad idea. Strunk and White's Elements of Style is a good choice. It is written in plain English and it is a thin book.
Here is a short list of key points about writing:
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Another thing about writing an essay for college is don't be boring, melodramatic, hard to read or impersonal. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is try to follow the example of essays on the Internet that use big fancy words that don't tell anything interesting about yourself. The writer that follows the examples of the sample essays on the Internet sound like robots, writing the same story that a million other high school students have written. Nothing new, interesting or unique. And do yourself a favor, do not use buzzwords or fancy words.
You are unique. No one else has had your life or experiences. The trick is being courageous and write an honest essay about you and why you want to go to that college and in that program. Use your own voice when you write.
Let me give you two essay examples about one (pretend) student who wants study urban planning::
I am honored to apply for the Master of Urban Studies program at the University of Illinois because as long as I can remember I have had a love affair with neighborhoods. Since I was ten I have known I wanted to be an urban planner.
vs.
When I was ten, my family moved to Pilsen in the heart of the Mexican community in Chicago. We loved next door to my grandmother, down the block from the grocery store and on Sundays we walked to church. Along the way we visited neighbors. That was a community that worked. Since then, I have wanted to design communities that worked as well as my neighborhood.
Both examples give the same information. The student wants to learn how to plan neighborhoods. But they are different. The first example is generic. It does not give much information about the writer. The reader has nothing to care about. The second example is a story about something that happened to a real person, in a real place (it does not get more real than Pilsen). A story in plain English (we at EducationRealSimple.blogspot.com like everything in plain English).
Here is a list of things to consider when you write your essay:
- Find a subject you care about.
- Do not ramble, though.
- Keep it simple.
- Have the guts to cut.
- Sound like yourself.
- Say what you mean to say.
- Pity the readers.
Remember be specific, clear and brief.
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