Writing admission essays: how to stand out from the crowd?

Most colleges requires admission essays. It seems like everyone is giving advice on how to make your essay stand apart from everyone else’s paper. So many high school seniors write about personal struggles, mission trips, and first jobs because experts recommend these topics. However, when every student writes about struggles, mission trips, and first jobs, no one stands out and admissions departments can get bored.

Write About Something Special

If you want your admissions essay to stand out from the crowd, you need to write about something special to you. Most colleges have requirements for the essays. The requirements usually involve length and themes. When you write your essay, you must follow the requirements that the admissions department established, but make the essay your very own. Standing out from the crowd means that you follow requirements, but you put your personality into what you write.

Go Beyond the 5-Paragraph Essay

When you want to stand out from the crowd, you should prove that you can write more than a five-paragraph essay. The basic five-paragraph essay is too basic for college admissions essays. A five-paragraph essay might be satisfactory for high school teachers and their assignments, but college admissions departments are looking for more.

Make Every Word Count

To stand out from the crowd, you need to make sure that you make every word count. Admissions departments usually ask for fewer than 500 words. This means that there is very little room for unnecessary words. High school students need to revise over and over again so they get their essays into a concisely meaningful form.

Show Them What You’ve Got

Admissions departments are looking for more than just an amazing topic. They want to see that you can think clearly on paper. They also want to see that you can follow a topic from start to finish. They want to see that you can also follow the rules of writing with paragraphs, sentences, transitions, and complete thoughts. As long as you write about a topic that is meaningful to you and you write a well-structured essay, your essay will stand out from the rest by just being good.

In conclusion, a stand-out college admissions essay needs to be well-written. The topic should not be one of the common topics, like mission trips and personal struggles. You should always include your personality so that the admissions department know who you are and what you’re about.

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