Ask about college essays, and plenty of people will offer advice. Plenty of people (including me!) call themselves experts and will offer advice, insights, tips, pointers, suggestions and recommendations.
   But who (really) knows better than the folks who actually read your essays and make admission decisions largely based on your essays?
   The admissions staff at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, was asked for their top essay tips, and here's some of their truly expert advice:  

•  Make it fun. If you're recounting an amusing and light-hearted anecdote from your childhood, it doesn't have to read like a Congressional Act.
• Tell us something different from what we'll read on your list of extracurricular activities or transcript.
• Write thoughtfully and from your heart. It'll be clear who believes in what they are saying versus those who are simply saying what they think we want to hear.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread. Nothing says "last-minute essay" like an "are" instead of "our" or a "their" instead of "they're."

   Click here for the full list.
***
   The college-admissions essay effectively has taken the place of personal interviews with prospective students, according to educational consultant Eric Greenberg, writing in The Huffington Post.
   As the field  of applicants grows more competitive -- students presenting higher standardized-test scores and GPAs -- "it inherently becomes harder for schools to effectively differentiate among students," he says. That's where essays come in.
   "Admissions teams want to get to know the students, their passions, social skills, versatility and level of confidence, and so they are looking to the essay for the student's humanity and personality," Greenberg writes.
  One of the most effective techniques for crafting your essay? Say it out loud first.
   "By talking through your thoughts and ideas, it can help to determine which subject to write about, as well as to find a better sense of voice," Greenberg writes. "This can result in an essay that is more conversational in tone and thus very appealing to admissions officers."
   And that's a good good thing. Just like in fashion, there are trends, he says, and "conversational is 'in.'"
***
   There are few things -- some would argue there's nothing -- more important  to your college application than your essay. As the application landscape changes, the importance of your application essay grows.
   That said, college consultant Gerald Bradshaw has parsed five categories of problematic essays. Understand the flaws that he identifies, and you'll be well on your way to avoiding many of the common problems high school writers fall into.
   "Essays will play the decisive factor in your admission," says Bradshaw, writing in the Post-Tribune in Merrillville, Ind. "Rejection letters typically are sent to the applicants with the worst essays."
   Blunt. But oh so true.
   Here's how Bradshaw breaks down unsuccessful essays:
   Greenhorn or first generation.  Who wrote this essay? It could have been written by any applicant. There are no details about the applicant’s personality or what excites them about learning.
   Another pretty face.  Your goals and interests may show up in lists of achievements and names of people who have influenced you, but you will fall short if you do not describe your background in some detail.
   The second time around.  His friends in college wrote law-school essays that not only were uninteresting, they were "just plain boring." He had them rewrite their essays, make them more personal and revealing and apply again the next year to the same law schools.
   Write short autobiographies, warts and all, he told them. Include their hopes and aspirations, failures and disappointments, he advised. Most got into their chosen law schools the second time around.
   "Remember," Bradshaw says, "that the goal is to write a great essay, not vie for a Pulitzer Prize. Let the admissions committee see you as a real person."

Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                                                    © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence

    If your college essay focuses on money, work or social class, it could be featured in The New York Times.
   Last year, Times writer Ron Liber issued an open call for high school seniors whose essays focused on those subjects to send in their work. The best of them would be featured in a column in the  Your Money section.
   An essay by Lyle Li, now a New York University freshman, was produced into a video by The Times.
   Liber is looking for those wonderful stories again this year. If your essay shares a story along those lines, send it to [email protected], and it may be featured in Times Your Money column in May.
***
   When it comes to tips on writing your college essay, everyone's got advice. And most of the Top 10 or Top 7 or Top 25 lists are pretty much the same.
   But Sabrina Yates, a California high school student, has some tips worth noting in her Top 9 list.
   Writing on the website AllWomenTalk, com, Yates includes these valuable pointers:

•    Hook the reader: "You need to hook the reader right off the bat, and convince them that they want to keep on reading, because yours is not like the other essays stacked a mile high on their desk."
  

• Be humble: "No one wants to read an essay full of arrogance and bragging.  . . . You shouldn’t shy away from highlighting your achievements, but should avoid putting yourself on a pedestal."
• Seek advice: "In order to write a fabulous essay, you’ll need to get outside opinions. These can come from various sources: parents, older siblings, teachers or counselors will all offer unique and valuable input to your essay!"

***
   Everyone wants to tell you how to write your essay. "I did it this way," says an uncle. (Yeah, but that was in the '60s.) "I did it that way," says you mom. (Yeah, but that was in a time when essays were less a focal point of the admissions process, and just getting into college at all was easier and less complicated a process.)
   Myths about college essays abound, but Kim Lifton, president of Wow Writing Workshop, busts five of them on wowwritingworkshop.com
   MYTH #1: An essay has to be written about an impressive topic.
   BUSTED: You are the impressive topic. A college application essay is your opportunity to share something meaningful about yourself. The story, not the experience, is most important. Colleges want to know what you learned, not what you did.
   MYTH #2: Your college entrance essay should sound sophisticated, like Hemingway or a college professor.
   BUSTED: The college essay is your story; it should be written using your words, and in your voice.
   MYTH #3:  Admissions officers will never know if a parent, tutor, teacher or college coach has “helped” a student with an essay. They won’t know if you plagiarized, either.
   BUSTED: There is a fine line between getting help and letting someone write part or all of your essay. While parents and others cannot always tell the difference, admissions officers know when someone other than the student writes a story; they don’t like it.
   MYTH #4:  There is a right way and a wrong way to write an essay.
   BUSTED:  Your best story will grow out of the process of writing your college application essay. There are no tricks, and no shortcuts. You just need to trust the process.
   MYTH #5: Only superstar students will impress admissions officers with their essays.
   BUSTED: Anyone can stand out with a great story!


Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                                                    © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence

  

   Are you a leader? The term has many meanings, but if you have leadership qualities, it's critical to have that fact come through in your college applications.   That's where your college essay comes in, according to Linda Abraham of Accepted.com. 
   One way to show leadership is through your work experience, she said.
   "Whether you worked part-time in high school and college or full-time post-college and are now applying to medical school, law school, business school -- whatever -- after a couple of years of work experience, you may have had the opportunity to lead, to manage a team, to initiate something," Abraham says in an Eye on Admissions video.
   The other activity that can show a college your leadership experience and potential is extracurricular activities, she says.
   Either way, your essay is the perfect vehicle to get your message across.
   Watch the video here:   

***  
   "Yes!!!!!" the relieved high school senior shouted, pumping his fist in the air after opening the email. He was accepted to his first-choice college. He'd gone through the arduous application process -- pages of questions, letters of recommendation, confirming that transcripts had been sent and, of course, spending hours on his application essay.
   The euphoria lasted a couple of days until he realized there was more work ahead: scholarship applications, and with them, more essays.
   Scholarship essays are different from application essays, writes Lisa Biber on the website Collegefactual.com. Biber offers a list of dos and don'ts for scholarship essays. Among them:

•    Don't recycle your college application essay
•   Don't turn your essay into a pity party
•   Do choose to discuss what makes you shine

***
   If you don't think colleges pay attention to diversity in their admissions decisions, look at the acceptances Brown University has sent out for the Class of 2018.
   Brown sent more than 2,600 offers to prospective freshman, The Boston Globe reported. It had 30,432 applications, for an incoming freshman class of about 1,500 students.
   Nearly half of those getting acceptances, 45 percent, identified themselves as African American, Latino, Native American or Asian American, according to The Globe.
   The students represent all 50 states and 88 countries, most of them from China, India, Canada, the United Kingdom and Korea, according to The Globe.

Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                                                    © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence



  

   Your college essay does so much more than just get you into college. Sure, it's increasingly important  when admissions counselors sit down to evaluate applications. But there's another group you need to be keenly aware of
   When it comes to applying for scholarships, a strong essay is essential, experts say. Scholarship committees are looking to learn something about each applicant -- something that will set him or her apart -- and your essay plays a big role in that process. But don't think you need to sit down and create a flawless, 750-word, stream-of-consciousness masterpiece. There are tricks.
   "Instead of writing the answer to the question, answer it out loud while recording yourself, and later transcribe the recording," Mark Kantrowitz, senior vice president and publisher of Edvisors Network. Because people talk much faster than they type, "the act of writing interferes with the flow of thought."
   Many high school students spend hours each week applying for scholarships, but that doesn't mean each package needs a separate essay, either.
   "After your first half dozen or so, you find yourself being able to reuse material from the first essays," Kantrowitz points out.
   Getting the best scholarships available is just one more reason your essays need to be their best.
***
   How can you improve your writing before tackling your college essays?
   Read, read, read.
   The advice comes from Josh Stephens, the director of development for Los Angeles-based tutoring firm ArborBridge and a former teacher, college counselor and journalist.
   The problem with schools today, according to Stephens, is they have no time to teach personal writing, which, essentially, is what your college essays are. Mandatory curriculum -- and in some cases, preparations for mandated tests -- sucks up all the time in the school year.
   Stephens offers five great books that will strengthen the foundation -- or lay the original foundation if you don't already have one -- for writing your college essays.
   "These pieces are clear, original, powerful and often delightful -- just like the writing, they are meant to inspire."
***
   Have you heard enough about changes in the SAT, specifically the change to make essays no longer mandatory?
   Those changes won't happen until 2016, but there are other changes, according to The Wall Street Journal.
   The free online tutorials that will be offered by The College Board, the organization that develops and runs the SAT, could be bad news for test-preparation firms that have grown into a $1 billion industry, according to the journal.
   But not all agree.
  "Any time there is a high-stakes event, people want coaching, people are going to want an edge," said Seppy Basili, vice president of Kaplan Test Prep Co., told the Journal.

Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence