With thousands of essays the admissions committee has to read, how can you ensure that yours will not be forgotten? To make your application essay remarkable, you have to leave a positive impression on the minds of the readers. Eduify shares some helpful tips on how you can create a good impression through your personal statement:
Choose your prompts well
You have various choices for the prompts. Select one that interests you the most or one which you have a lot to share about. Here’s a short list:
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
These are some of the common prompts used for writing a personal statement. Your goal is to write about these things in a way that would differentiate you from the rest of the applicants.
Use key terms in your application essay
If the school provides questions, get the key terms from those questions. Here’s another tip from the blog:
Just as you are expected to express a lot about yourself in few words, the applications are asking broad questions in minimal terms. These words are carefully placed. Zero in on the most important ideas in each question and reflect on them before writing. Just what is “diversity?” What constitutes an “ethical dilemma?”
By researching about the application requirements, you have a good idea what the readers are aiming for, what they expect to see in your essay and what they look for in their future students. Know how the question relates to your application and provide solid arguments to back up your qualifications. Be sincere and straightforward with your answers.
Brainstorm for ideas
You need to list down the ideas that you are going to use. You can do free writing to make it easy for you. Here are some suggestions:
Write the main idea at the top of your page, and set a timer for ten minutes. Pay no attention to spelling, grammar, or syntax (that comes later), and write down whatever comes to mind. Try not to edit or stop the flow.
After doing this, you can now start making an outline and a draft. Here’s a a good tip on how to write an outline.
Prepare an outline by selecting the main topics you want to cover and listing supporting material under each topic.
The outline will guide you in developing and organizing your ideas. This will give your essay a clear direction, making sure that you have covered all important ideas and have supported them well with sub-topics and relevant details.
You can engage your readers and create a good impression if you choose an interesting subject matter, use the key terms from the provided questions, and make a very cohesive outline.
