Parents and students alike become clueless when the topic on college application essays comes up. It always seems like a daunting task. However, with careful preparation and strict adherence to specific guidelines, writing an essay becomes an easy task. This article will point out some great advice that you can apply when writing your application essay.

Be Brief

Many students always have the urge to put their entire life story on the application essay. However, with the word limits that most essays have, it is practically impossible to do that. If you really have something burning to share about your life, then at best try to pick a specific event that meant much to you. First of all you need to write a cool outline. The premise here is observing brevity. The ideal essay is one that does not try to showcase too much at once. The admission officers are greatly turned off by such essays, and most of the time they don’t even read them to the full.

Focus on the Actual Write-up; Worry about the Editing Later

Many people have a perfectionist attitude when it comes to writing their college application essays. It’s no wonder people write while at the same time trying to edit their work. This is, in essence, trying to juggle between two technical processes. The end result is not always good. In fact, it takes a toll on you and you actually end up being exhausted. The best thing is to write first. Ignore the spelling errors and grammatical errors that you make as you write. You will have ample time to correct them after you’ve finished writing.

Avoid Generalities

Generalities are quite a turn-off. As soon as one reads a cliché sentence or word, their minds automatically switch off and a negative attitude forms. You don’t want to elicit such a response with the admission officers that will read your application essay. The general expectation of the admission essay readers is that you’re creative enough to come up with something appealing. Therefore, avoid descriptions that are quite general and cliché as you write your application essay.

Give It a Personal Touch

The application essay is actually the only chance that you will get to be yourself and voice out your inner thoughts and feelings. The norm with most application essays is that they have a lot of focus on academics and extracurricular activities, but they focus less on your inner person. So make a difference and let them know that you are a person too that has a unique personality and abilities.

Don’t Try Too Hard

One of the major mistakes that are common in application essays is trying too hard to impress. The image that it portrays is that of a person who’s chest-thumping. More so, it makes you look like a show-off. College admission officers most of the time avoid such essays, because anyway, who would like to read more about someone that has an air of self-importance? The most common way that people show that they are trying too hard is when they use jargon and pompous words. It’s advised that you cut down on such words.

Never Pretend to be Someone You’re Not

The tendency of most applicants is to be someone they are not. This is always done with the aim of creating a better image. However, in many cases, this never helps as you will be regarded as a disingenuous person. Don't fake experiences. Instead, just give the readers a piece of how your mind works. When giving a specific topic or issue, you don't necessarily have to experience it in order to have something to talk about. What’s important is how you frame it and what your perspective is on the issue at hand. Your application essay hence should focus on giving the readers a glimpse into your awesome mind. And besides, you cannot pretend for too long. Just be real with yourself and the readers of your application essay.

Self-Branding

In order for a reader to vividly remember your essay, you have to take your self-branding game to another level. The secret to effective self-branding is being able to choose a specific topic and writing it with vivid details. An imprint has to be made in the mind of the reader. Make yourself the focus of the story. Do frequent branding tests at each point of your drafts.

Make Room for a little Bit of Humor

Life is short to be too serious. One of the great and fun ways of making life a bit bearable is entertainment and humor. When you look at the conditions and the type of work that the admission officers do, they surely need a break from reality. They receive volumes of and volumes of application essays every day and have to read through all of them. Burnout is common amongst them. By you knowing this, you should try to entertain them a little. You will break some monotony in their work, and your essay will be somehow unique. You can entertain them by use of humor, comic stories and also by being somewhat controversial. You can also describe a story in such a nice way that the reader will yearn to read it till the end. In all that you choose to do, ensure that the readability of your essay is not compromised.

Proofread and Check against the Instructions Given

Most application essays come with a set of instructions. Do not assume that you know them even if you’ve read a number of them previously. They may sound repetitive, but it does no harm checking if you have written according to the laid down instructions. Make a point of proofreading your work to check for errors of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. You can run your work through an online editor to check for such errors. You can also have a friend or relative to proofread. There are also online proofreading services to check the essay cheaper. The value of proofreading is that it reduce the instances of silly mistakes which admission officers may dislike.

Conclusion

After following the steps outlined here and you feel satisfied with your work, go ahead and submit it within the stipulated deadlines given by the college or university. If you feel dissatisfied, you can go ahead and rework on it provided that you meet the deadline for submission. The guidelines discussed in this article are best placed to make your college application writing a piece of cake. You are bound to be successful if you apply them fully!