At many competitive colleges, the college admissions essay is a very important part of the application process. The college admissions essay gives the admissions committee a chance to know the applicant a little better and get insight that may not be available elsewhere on the application.

Yet understandably, high school students frequently have a lot of questions about the college admissions essay. How should I get started? What should I write about? What are colleges looking for? In what format or style should I write?

We have got resources to help you answer all of those questions and to guide you through the process of putting together a great college admissions essay.

Here are the basic steps you should take:

1. Be Prepared. Before you start the essay-writing process, learn everything you can about the college admissions essay.
2. If possible, meet with someone. Schedule a meeting with your guidance counselor, if you have one, to talk about what essays you will need to write and how to approach them strategically. If you do not have a counselor, or he or she is unlikely to help with the essays, you should look at some college applications (including the common application) to give yourself an idea of what you are up against. If you are thinking about hiring an outside admissions consultant or essay assistant, we suggest you order essay with us, so that you can also get help with the brainstorming process.
3. Find a topic. This is arguably the most important part of the essay-writing process. Your topic selection will say a lot about what is important to you, and will determine how meaningful, interesting, impressive, and intimate your essay can be.
4. Think about essay planning and essay structure. Once you have got a topic, you need to decide how you are going to set up your college essay. Some of this may come as you write, but it makes sense to have a plan before you start writing.
5. Write your first draft. Once you are ready to write and understand how you are going to approach your college admissions essay, the next step is to actually write. Let your creativity run the show, but do not forget about the basic principles of good writing. Put a draft down on paper and see how you do. If you are happy with it, and you have time to spare, you should probably put your college admissions essay in a drawer for a while and forget about it. This will help you have a fresh perspective when you are ready to revise and edit.
6. Revise and edit. However good your first draft may have been, it should get a lot better with some serious revision. Pay attention to grammar, usage, and punctuation, of course, but do not forget to look at the content and other, more substantive, issues. If anything in your college admissions essay does not strike you as great, work on it until it is!
7. Get some essay writing help! Whether or not you are going to use a guidance counselor or outside counseling service, you should get someone to look over your essays - preferably someone who is a great writer and has some experience with the admissions process.

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