JUST GET STARTED

Writing a winning essay is not all that difficult, but it does take time. Like anything, getting started is the toughest part. As in Toastmasters speeches, you’re “Breaking the Ice,” by introducing yourself to your audience. In this case your audience is readers not listeners so you will have to be even more creative. You won’t have the advantage of eye contact, expressions and gestures. So you must make yourself stand out on paper!

THE 7 C’s

Based on experience conducting Scholarship Workshops for graduating high school students, I developed a model to help participants focus on the essentials of the essay process. There are 7 C’s to remember and practice in your essay preparation and development. These are: Conformance, Competence, Completeness, Clarity, Construction, Content, and Convincing. Your essay, in order to stand out from the others will need to include these:

1) CONFORMANCE – Of course you want your essay to reflect your individuality, but you must abide by the rules. This means precisely following the requirements and guidelines provided on the application form. Typical requirements include: minimum and/or maximum number of words, format, font size, margins, double or single spacing, etc.

2) COMPETENCE – You must demonstrate you’re capable of doing college level work. Your essay will provide the reviewers with evidence of your writing ability, creativity, and thought processes. It will be substantial evidence of your ability to perform at an acceptable or superior level.

3) CLARITY – Thoughts, premises, ideas, positions, and so forth, must be clearly expressed. Ambiguity or confusion must not be demonstrated. Rather, it is clear thinking, and logic which will be rewarded. Be sure to say exactly what you mean, and make certain it will be understood.

4) CONSTRUCTION – The essay should observe all conventions of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. One simple mistake may disqualify you, or at least cast suspicion on your abilities. Be sure to proofread, revise, and correct your essay before submitting it. “Spell check” will not catch grammar errors, incorrect terminology, or even some spelling errors. So use it, but don’t rely on it. After your thorough proofreading, ask trusted friends, family or colleagues help you identify and correct errors.

5) CONTENT – Essays should follow the standard protocol of: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Remember, the body is only supportive or explanatory. Extraneous facts, opinions or positions have no place in your final product. Your content should be substantive.

6) COMPLETENESS – Be certain to include everything of critical importance. Aside from completeness of facts and information make certain that you have not missed key elements that will assist the reader in following your “story.” Again, have trusted friends, family or colleagues critically review your writing and make recommendations.

7) CONVINCING – Your paper should be convincing. It should reflect you; your goals passions and uniqueness. You will need an “angle” something that will grab the reader’s attention, and make them interested in finding out more. One important consideration is to develop a great introduction, and a great closing. Your essay will stand out from the pack and gain favorable consideration if you are able to accomplish this.

The memorable introduction and closing are a must. Sometimes it’s difficult to express your passion, excitement or other strong emotion on paper. Remember, your essay is akin to painting a picture – a picture that will capture the observer’s attention, interest, and emotions and convince him of your sincerity.

WRITE YOUR ESSAY

Now get started. And, make it exceptional. You deserve that scholarship or entrance to that college. And now you have the tools to make it happen.

Keep your focus personal. Your essay must prove a single point, which shows you are worthy of a place at your college of choice. The reader must be able to see what you are arguing for and follow it from the beginning through to the end. Let a friend or family member read your introduction to see what they think about the topic which you have written. If they don’t know, then try rethinking how you’ve worded your essay. Remember, you are not telling the committee your life story, you are simply showing them who you are, and using past experiences and achievements to help them choose you as a candidate.

If you struggle to think of what to write, then you should ask friends, family or past employers/teachers, they will be able to tell you the positive things about you that you should write about. You should pick the ones that most closely relate to the course you are applying for.

Use facts. There is a big difference between saying you did work experience at a primary school, or saying that you spent two weeks at a primary school teaching five year olds maths and English; developed patience and empathy, as well as establishing some leadership skills by planning and teaching some lessons. Make sure you back up any opinions you use with strong facts.

Avoid clichéd writing by using specific details. Again, saying that you want to be a teacher because you want to help children succeed is okay, but it is much better to say that your own teacher was committed to teaching you in fun ways, such as hatching your own chicks to learn their life cycle, and you wish to give other children a brilliant start to their education too.

Make sure you are telling the truth, and not just writing what you think the committee wants to hear. Wanting to change the world, discover a cure for HIV or stop terrorism are all very common answers, write something new and your essay will stand out.

Make sure you aren’t just rewriting your CV. Include specific information that isn’t explained well, or even mention new things, such as tennis clubs or an avid interest in history. Family holidays can be mentioned if they were to places of interest, or activities such as making props or taking a role in productions. Anything that shows you are a respected member of the community should also be included.

Don’t use more words than you need too. Making sentences too long and confusing will make your essay harder to understand. A lot of students make the mistake of trying to elongate sentences to look better; however, simple sentences are often better. If you have to add words to sentences, in order to meet the word count, then you are probably missing the point.

Make sure that you proofread your essay, as typos and errors can often be interpreted as carelessness or bad writing. Don’t rely on your word processing software’s spell check, as it can miss simple mistakes, such as accepting fried instead of friend.

Get a friend, teacher or parent to read through your college entrance essay and make sure it makes sense and sells you in the best possible way. They may also pick up on sentences that don’t make sense or mistakes that you have missed.