Do Colleges Really Care About The Sat Essay?

Do Colleges Really Care About The Sat Essay? A natural understanding of narrative structure â€" not the prefabricated “academic paper” structure â€" and a great story to tell. Don’t worry so much that other people may have “better” stories than you. Everyone’s life is full of story, narrative, and it’s up to you to tell these stories in compelling ways. Stick to what you know and your true personality will shine through. Don't use big words just for the sake of using big words. Remember, this essay is about you, so use words you normally use. Sometimes creating an outline for your essay can help you get started. It will also help you organize your thoughts and develop a framework. Even if you didn’t visit, you can still establish a strong connection to the school. In that case, you might share a story about why you’re interested in studying a certain program that you can only find there â€" grounding it in an anecdote from your past â€" or a professor you want to study with. You don’t have to solely focus on academics, although you should make them a main point of your essay. Self-exploration can be fun, but don't procrastinate on the actual writing. You don't want to rush or be up against a tight deadline; it will affect your work. Our mind is created to recall things in stories. You want to be memorable to the counselors who read your app. Sometimes, a sense of humor doesn’t hurt, if it’s applicable to your subject and/or that moment in your life. Feel free to tell us about a time you stumbled, and what happened next. Don’t be afraid to reveal yourself in your writing. Focus on one event, one activity, or one “most influential person.” Tackling too much tends to make your essay too watered down or disjointed. Especially if you’re recounting an event, take it beyond the chronological storytelling. You can also include traditions, extracurricular activities, and the campus itself. Prestige and rankings are another topic to avoid. Yes, Yale is very prestigious and consistently ranks among the top three universities in U.S. If you’re worried that your essay topic is a bit run-of-the-mill, you have two options. The first is to find another topic that feels authentic to you. The second is to find a unique angle within the topic. is a published poet and a high school English teacher. She has a BA in English from Skidmore College and an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers, where she studied poetry. Before earning her graduate degree, she attended the New York Summer Writers Institute, The Breadloaf Writers Conference, and the Five Powers of Poetry Conference for Teachers. Smart College Visit is the educated way to search for college, find campus visit dates, get directions for college trips, and book hotels near campus. And of course it needs to be no more than 500 words. Because that’s the rule, and even if it’s a narrow and arbitrary rule, you need to prove you can color inside the lines. In my next post to this site, I’ll give you some advice about how to write concisely and make the most of those, or any other, 500 words. DON’T use the personal statement essay to repeat your resume. You want to make sure you've used proper spelling, grammar and punctuation, so ask an expert to proofread your essay. The point of this essay is to show who you are, not who you wish you were. Formatting and presentation cannot replace substance, but they can certainly enhance the value of an already well-written essay. Tell us something different from what we’ll read on your list of extracurricular activities or transcript. Essays should have a thesis that is clear to you and to the reader. Your thesis should indicate where you’re going and what you’re trying to communicate from the outset.