Answer:
1. Your first paragraph should grab the reader
The college essay has to grab the attention of an admission’s reader. It is imperative, then, that the introduction to the college essay capture the reader’s attention and make the reader want to read more.
2. Be a real person, not an anonymous author
Do not be just another of thousands of applicants that do not make an impression. If you are reading a newspaper article, the writer fades behind the facts and you know nothing about the writer except that s/he can collect, organize, and present the facts that you need to now. You want the admissions reader to say, “Ah, this is a real person writing to me.
3. Don’t be boring
Trying to be proper or trying to impress or trying to be intellectual can be a drag. What you should be are doing is getting noticed as unique. It’s like you are on a date with the admissions reader and you want to be asked out again.
4. Make your essay correct and beautiful
Dates should look good, too. You can make your essay beautiful by giving thought to a few things. Use a font that is readable. Consider whether or not bold type face could make your essay easier to read. Don’t crowd your essay near the top of the page, but balance it on the page and attend to soothing margins. Provide the essay prompt at the opening. Separate paragraphs in a consistent way, either by indenting each paragraph or by using block style, keeping all the words to the left margin but spacing extra between paragraphs.
5. Approach the essay from a different angle
If you look at things a little differently from others you stand out. In answering an essay prompt, you need not always do it the most normal way.
What if you were to take the negative approach to answer the prompt? What are your hopes? Maybe you can tell what your hopes are by writing what you do not hope for.
Perhaps you can create a little mystery by not answering the prompt immediately. What to you want to study? Maybe you could reveal that in the last sentence of your prompt after telling about all the little things that have some relevance to your area of study. For example, you might describe many natural flora, observe fauna, then list feelings you have about nature to lead up to writing that you want to study biology.
You might even bury your answer to a prompt in a story or in a moral tale or even in a description.
6. Be clear and logical
As much as you wish to shine, the shine will be lost if your sentences and thoughts do not string together logically. You must make sense to the reader. Reread your essay as though you have no idea what the writer is talking about. Does it make sense? Are there transitions between different sections of the essay? Is the essay organized? Have you started at the beginning? Have you provided an ending? Have you given enough background information?
7. Leave your reader with a lasting impression
People remember last things first or, at least, best. As Alan Alda said in a commencement address he delivered to his daughter’s graduating college class, the most important things are said on the way out the door. His last words in that speech were, “I love you.”
