There is a plethora of misleading information regarding college admission essays. This misinformation affects how students view the application process. Students should know about these myths before writing their essays. This article outlines some college admissions essay myths that should be considered while writing.
An Essay Has to be About a Major Experience
Colleges are interested in knowing what the experience you are writing about means to you. You should, therefore, use your own voice and words to write a genuine story about an experience you had. This is an opportunity for you to share your experience and something significant you learned from it. The experience is not really what counts. Rather, it is the lesson learned from the experience. Also, you can write an essay that talks about what defines you. Therefore, college essays should be impressive, but don’t have necessarily to be about monumental experience.
College Essays Should Be Sophisticated
The fact is that the college essay is you are writing is your story. Using your own words and in your voice makes it personal. You should sound like a high school senior while writing the essay since that is who you are. The college expects the essay to sound like its from a high school senior. Though it is important for you to seek guidance from your parents or literature teacher in writing your college essay, they should not sanitize beyond your level. Let it be plainly from you.
No One Will Know if Someone Else Wrote the Essay for You
There is a difference between seeking help and somebody else writing your essay. Plagiarism in college essays is also not permitted. This is considered an academic fraud. The admission officers are aware of online sites that are likely to provide essay examples for students and will catch you. This will result in your application being thrown out.
There is a Right and Wrong Way to Write an Admissions Essay
The fact is that your experience will define your writing process. Follow up your story and the process will come out automatically. You only need to trust that process. Be sure to revise and review the essay several times. The writing process may not be easy, but it will be less tedious if you will allow it to flow from the experience. The only way to come up with a college admission essay that will stand out is writing a genuine story about yourself. Show some reflections and write the story with your own words and in your own voice.
Only Excellent Students Impress Colleges with Their Essays
Any experience can be impressive depending on the writer. In this case, since you are writing your own experience, make it the best. Get the genuine lesson from the experience and write about it. Present it in the best way possible so that it will catch the attention of admission officers. For instance, a student who writes an essay about how he improvised a base guitar for his orchestra concert performance after forgetting is cello would go a long way in impressing the admission officers.