10 College Application Essay Dos And Donts

10 College Application Essay Dos And Don'ts The essay is supposed to reveal information that you haven’t had a chance to discuss elsewhere in the application. It’s meant to be a deeper dive into who you are beyond the numbers and accolades. As we mentioned earlier, you don’t know who is reading your essay or how they feel about these subjects. It’s best not to offend them or make them feel uncomfortable. With careful advance planning, you’ll be able to work out more or less how many paragraphs you need to complete your essay. Ultimately, your essay will be evaluated on the information you present, not on the number of paragraphs in the essay. Early in your academic life, teachers and lecturers may give you both a structure for your essay and a guideline on how long each part of the essay should be. But for the most part, it’s better to avoid subjects that could reflect poorly on your judgment and morals. After all, you don’t want colleges to think you’re someone they’d rather not have on campus. Meet all your essay deadlines with the help of our expert writers. Keep in mind your quotes too, you should have one quote per paragraph or two . It really is up to the person though, I have a buddy who writes considerably less than I do, but is able to get his point across. As we said, writing is hard, and even professional writers like myself have trouble doing it. Here are a few useful tips that I follow in order to get the most of myself. Some key requirements for writing a good essay are ensuring a logical flow of content and smooth transitions but also using compelling evidence taken from trustworthy sources. A lot depends on how captivating/ original your information is, so focusing on content quality is crucial. EduBirdie uses top quality writers with years of higher-level writing experience on a variety of subjects. the general rule is that 3 paragraphs are minimum for an essay. So, no matter how short your essay is, you should still need 3 paragraphs. If you are really for some reason writing a 100 word essay, then you should have one short sentence for both your introduction and conclusion. Paragraphs structure information into sub-topics, and they make your work easier to read and understand thanks to the structure they provide. What you’re taught is often a general rule to shoot for, not a rule set in concrete. Your teacher felt that 7 paragraphs was a good number for the essays you wrote for her, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. My teachers always taught by eight paragraph essays, but five-paragraph essays normally lie precedent to the more advanced or larger essays. Why do writers seem to obsess over word count and page count? There are instances when you’re given an assignment, not by word count, but assigned by the number of pages. For example, “Write a paper four pages long.” If you get an assignment to write four pages, one of the first questions that will likely come to mind is, “How many words are in four pages? ” If you need to figure out words per page, you can use a words per page calculator. On average for a five-paragraph essay, I write around 1, words. For an eight paragraph essay, I write around 2,000-2,600 words on the document. Sometimes, applicants write about obstacles they’ve overcome or illicit/illegal topics including arrest, sexual experiences, drugs, and alcohol. In a few cases, these topics have been addressed effectively. Editing for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes is fine, but don’t change the voice of the essay. If an essay is too “polished” it may seem inauthentic, creating confusion in the reader. Make sure that you are confident in your essay and accept feedback, but don’t allow others to change your essay in any way that will cause it to lose its original message. CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit. Rachel, a student at James Madison University, recalls her Common Application essay with pride, because she was true to herself in everything she wrote.