The Best Answers to College Essay Questions

May 11
10:01

2007

Robert Andrew

Robert Andrew

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Arguably the most difficult part of writing an essay is getting started. And getting started involves...

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The best answers to college essay questions make meaningful connections between personal experiences and personal qualities. In other words,The Best Answers to College Essay Questions Articles they provide proof that you are the type of applicant you claim to be.

The first step is to perform a self-examination to find patterns that will help in writing your college essays. Look at a list of personal qualities college admissions officers look for in applicants. Things such as academic achievement, creativity, responsibility, maturity, integrity, initiative, leadership, confidence, etc. The list is longer than this but you get the idea. Think of all the qualities that colleges would look for in the ideal candidate.

Don't worry about which ones you possess at this point just write down everything that comes to mind. Of course no candidate is perfect and no candidate will possess all of these qualities. That's fine. The next step is to go through your list and put a checkmark by each of the ideal qualities that you possess in your estimation.

The next step is to go back to the qualities that you checked and jot down two concrete examples from your personal experiences that proves you possess that particular quality. If you can't think of two examples the prove you have that quality then move on to the next one. You can either come back to that quality later or if you can't think of two examples from your entire life that demonstrate that quality chances are you don't really possess it.

Colleges and universities are interested in applicants you can demonstrate personal growth. With that in mind, it's time to examine your personal experiences and qualities looking for examples the demonstrate how you have grown as a person over time.

There are two possible tacts to take here. One is starting in your childhood and demonstrating how you have grown and developed the personal qualities college admissions officer look for. Or the other tactic is to project yourself into the future either when you are in college or after graduation and project or hypothesize how you will grow and how the college or university will play a role in that development. The first tactic is best because it demonstrate by concrete example what you've accomplished versus the second option which is what you hope to accomplish.

At this point, you should be realizing that you really do have a lot of personal experience that would make for a good college essay. That's not unusual. Most students do have it in them to write a good college essay. Sometimes it just takes a little thinking and planning to stir the creative juices. It's really just a matter of organizing your thoughts and planning how to best put your experiences in writing in the way that will most likely impress the college admissions officers.