In the admissions process, US colleges and
universities generally use three criteria for determining which students to
accept and which to reject.
1. Previous coursework
2. Standardized test scores
3. Entrance essays
The
college entrance essay provides you with the greatest opportunity to
distinguish yourself from your competition and show off the person behind the
statistics
1: Recognize the Admissions Board Psychology
When you have compiled all the pieces of
your application and sent it to the college/university of your dreams, all of
your hard work gets placed in a pile with hundreds of other applications. Then
a small group of admissions officers will review each application, looking over
the scores and coursework and reading the college application essays.
2: Decide Your Essay Goals
Most students want the college
admissions board to view them as responsible, dependable, and academically
ambitious. These are excellent essay goals, but you should also consider the
essay in relation to your class work. If your class work already shows that you
are studious and determined, then you may want to highlight another feature of
your personality. Along with developing an image of your character, writing the
college admissions essay allows you to feature other aspects of your life that
are not reflected in your pre-college coursework.
3: Differentiate Yourself from the Other Applicants
This bit of strategic thinking should be
fairly easy. As an international student, you by definition are different from
the bulk of American citizens who apply to American universities. However, it
is not enough to simply say, “Well, I’m not from around here.” Instead, you
need to reference the strengths of your home culture. You don’t need to
elaborate at length; a sentence or two should be enough to ensure that the
admissions board pays attention to you. Remember that you are more than just an
international student from an interesting background; you are a complete person
with a lifetime of experiences. You should take some time to think about what
else makes you different from most the other hundreds of students writing
college admissions essays.
4: Donate to the University
Remember that one of the goals of the
admissions board when reading college admissions essays is to find students who
will enhance the educational experience of other students. In other words, how
can you contribute to other students’ learning? One of the general goals of
education is to broaden people’s experiences, so that they come to realize the
limits of their own intellect, and then grow beyond those limits. As an
international student, you offer other students an opportunity for cultural
diversity. As with Tip #3, it is not enough to assume the college admissions board
will recognize this benefit. You need to highlight it in your essay. Again, a
sentence or two should be enough to accomplish this goal.Again, remember that
you are more than just an international student. You have so much more to
contribute to the campus social and learning environment than just your home
culture. Take a few moments to consider what else you may contribute.
5: Realize and Answer the Essay Prompt
At this point, you’ve come up with more
ideas than you can possibly fit into one essay. Now you need to focus your
goals to only three or four ideas – the ones that will make you the most
attractive to the college admissions board. No matter what the prompt asks, you
want to ensure you include those three or four ideas in your college admissions
essay. The concept is to present a few ideas very well, rather than list all
your ideas poorly. A narrowly focused essay will be much more effective than a
general, vague one.
6: Write with Specific Details
The key to excellent and memorable
writing is to write in fine detail. The more specific your essay, the stronger
an impression it will make on the admissions board.
7: Express College-Level Diction
Diction is the fundamental structure of
writing. Your word choice reveals a great deal about your personality,
education and intellect. Furthermore, as an international student, you want to
reassure the college admissions board that you have an excellent command of the
English language
8: Express College-level Style
American proverb states, “Dress for the
job you want, not the job you have.” In other words, you want to present
yourself as being ready for the next job. In this instance, you want to show
that you already have college-level writing skills. So, in writing your college
application essays.
9: Have Someone Proofread Your Essay
This is one of the most important tips
on this list. Everyone who writes knows that the words in your head don’t
always make it onto the page the way they should. Because you know what it
should say, it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking the essay says something
that it doesn’t. For this reason, you should ask a friend or a relative to look
over your essay and check your Grammar,
Diction, and Organization.
10: Pay Attention to Deadlines
College admissions essays require a
tremendous amount of work. As you work and rework the essay, pay attention to
the admission deadlines and requirements. Every school has their own system for
how and when to file your application. Do not assume that, because one school
uses e-mails and PDFs, that another school does as well. The best way to stay
organized through the college admissions process is to rigorously maintain a
calendar that includes, Final deadlines, Reminders of upcoming deadlines,
Process deadlines
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