Unlike every other aspect of the application, you control your essay. Make sure that the glimpse you give the admission committee into your character, background, and writing ability is the very best possible.
Keep the following in mind as you write:
- Do answer the question. Many students try to turn a 500-word essay into a complete autobiography. Not surprisingly, they fail to answer the question. Make sure that every sentence in your essay exists solely to answer the question.
- Don't bore the reader. Do be interesting. Admission officers ave to read hundreds of essays, and they must often skim. They're not looking for a new way to view the world; they're looking for a new way to view you, the applicant.
- Use detailed and concrete experiences. Specific, clear details provide strong support to your arguments. Too often, an essay with an interesting story will fizzle into a series of statements that tell rather than show the qualities of the writer.
- Do be concise. Wordiness not only takes up valuable space, but it can also confuse the important ideas you're trying to convey. Short sentences are more forceful because they are direct.
- Don't "thesaurus-ize" your essay. Do use your own voice. Admission officers can tell Roget from a high school senior. Big words, especially when misused, detract from the essay, inappropriately drawing the reader's attention and making the essay sound contrived.
- Don't use slang. Write an essay, not an email. Slang ter,s cliches, contractions, and an excessively casual tone should be eliminated.
- Do vary your sentences and use transitions. The best essays contain a variety of sentence lengths mixed within any given paragraph. Also, remember that transition is not limited to words like nevertheless, furthermore, or consequently.
- Do use active-voice verbs. Passive-voice expressions are verb phrases in which the subject receives the action expressed in the verb. Passive voice employs a form of the verb to be, such as was or were. Overuse of the passive voice makes prose seem flat and uninteresting.
- Conclude effectively. Avoid summary. The conclusion is the last chance to persuade admission officers or impress upon them your qualifications.
- Revise, revise, revise!
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