How to Draw Attention to Your College Application Essay
Your essay may be 100% impeccable when it comes to typo and spelling errors, but what about the attention-grabbing factor, have you considered it? Admission staffers take on hundreds up to thousands of essays, and if yours has nothing interesting to say, then the interesting words you want to hear would not come. What are those words: you are in, congratulations. Take a minute and check these tips- before long, you’ll have a roaring essay that you can be proud of.
Ways to develop attention-grabbing intros for admission essays
This is the aim of your first paragraph- to make sure that the readers will get hooked and keep on reading until the end. The hooking could be out of curiousity, disbelief, shock, surprise, or others. One word here: in isolated cases, it could be because they laughed until they cried. Unless you were born with an incredible amount of sense of humor, don’t use this. You want to be accepted to the university/college, not thought of as a clown. (No offense here to the real clowns in that profession). Use a controversial assertion, or use some amazing statistics, and you would win Round 1.
How to choose interesting topics
First, you have to really believe in it, not just on a theoretical level, but deep down in your heart. For lack of a better word, just call it passion. When speaking, it is obvious when one is passionate about what he is saying, but this is written, how can the readers feel your passion? Don’t sweat it, they can- by your use of words, meter, syntax, they will be able to discern how sincere and passionate you are on the topic.
Another thing: if you are at a loss on choosing topics- pick one that is uncommon, YET, one you could relate to your values and long-term goals. The Internet has a multitude of sites offering samples of admission essays. Read up on dozens of them, and you’ll get something. (Use them as guides, plagiarizing something is one hell of a risk, don’t succumb to the temptation).
An interesting topic is one sure way of being different from thousands of applicants. Pick one, maintain the flow and logic in the discussion, and bring a safe conclusion. There you have it, a solid and impressive essay to be submitted.
Related questions:
1. What is hooking in the writing of an admission essay?
2. What is wrong with mundane topics that thousands of others have dwelt on?
3. Should one crack a joke right on the first paragraph of admission essays?