How to write a winning essay

Most colleges require you to submit an essay or personal statement as part of your application. Your essay can make a difference at decision time. It’s your chance to stand out.

Here are some tips to get started:

1. Start early and write several drafts.
2. Choose a topic you really want to write about, something about which you’re passionate. If you don’t care about the subject, neither will your reader.
3. Choose a topic that will show the admissions officer something new about you that they cannot find in the rest of your application.
4. Your essay should reveal what you value and what your strengths are.
5. Share something unique to your experience.
6. Think of the pivotal moments that shaped you. Look at your past struggles or even your failures. Figure out what you’ve learned from the experience.
7. Don’t brag about your achievements.
8. Do a brain dump to extract your ideas for the first draft. Write whatever comes to your mind regarding your chosen topic. Don’t strive for perfection on your first draft and don’t reread as you write. You can go back later to tidy it up. But at least you’ve got something on which to work.
9. If you suffer from writer’s block, turn on a recording device and start talking.
10. Write with the reader in mind. Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions officer who has to read dozens of letters.
11. Tell a good story. Show, do not tell.
12. Hook the reader with your opening sentence. Do not repeat the prompt.
13. Provide a strong ending that will make a lasting impression.
14. Read your essay aloud to catch poorly structured sentences, repetitions, and pacing issues.
15. Set your essay aside for a few days and come back to it with fresh eyes.
16. Avoid clichés. Those are stock phrases so common that they have lost their impact: “an axe to grind”, “an uphill battle”, “thinking outside the box”, “the fact of the matter”, etc.
17. Express nuanced thinking. Consider multiple perspectives when looking at a situation. Avoid binary thinking and extremism.
18. Write in your voice. Use your own vocabulary. Keep it simple. Leave out the slang and the idioms.
19. Have a positive tone. Show enthusiasm.
20. Use active voice. It makes your sentences more concise and engages the reader more than passive voice.
21. Ask teachers, school counselors, and family members for help to polish your essay. But keep your voice. Admissions officers can easily spot if mature adults have written your essay.
22. Tailor your essay for each college. Answer the question being asked.
23. Make sure your essay is free of spelling or grammar errors.
24. Adhere to the word count.