11 Things Students Should Include In Their College Application Essay

11 Things Students Should Include In Their College Application Essay My interests range from sports to fashion but most of all literature. I have occasionally bright hair and an obnoxiously cheery personality. If you find it hard to stop yourself from constantly rereading, try to scroll down the page until most of your essay is covered. Then don’t let yourself scroll up until you’ve surpassed 500 words (but make sure you’ve read step number two first). The SAT Essay used to be required at many top colleges, but it has become optional at many schools. Now, among elite schools, only the University of California schools require the Essay. Other selective colleges like Duke University, Amherst College, and Colby College recommend the Essay, but it’s not required. If you’re planning to take the SAT, you won’t want to miss this complete overview of what colleges require the SAT essay. 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. 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. I'm an 18-year-old aspiring writer/poet in Upper Sixth in England. Kate Koch-Sundquist is a graduate of Pomona College where she studied sociology, psychology, and writing before going on to receive an M.Ed. Regardless, as you consider which colleges to add to your list, you’ll want to be certain you know what colleges require the SAT essay so that you can plan ahead for this part of your test. That being said, there is currently no option to withhold your essay score if you do terribly on it. Your essay scores will always be reported with your other test scores from that day, even to colleges that don’t require them. If you think you might change your mind about which schools you want to apply to, you should take the SAT Essay to leave those doors open. The number of pages you write depends on several factors. These elements include the average length of your words and whether your page is single- or double-spaced. But there are other aspects of your writing that you should consider when writing 1,000 words, such as font style, font size, and margins. This is why we generally recommend taking the essay, regardless of whether or not it’s required. After all, you can’t go back and just take the SAT Essay if you decide to change your mind and apply to a school that requires itâ€"you’d have to retake the entire SAT. Take a look at the colleges on these lists, and see if there are any you plan to apply to. Also be sure to double-check on your schools’ webpages, as these policies can change. If you have time to review your essay before your time is up, by all means do so! Make any revisions that you think will enhance your “rough draft” and be sure to check for any grammatical errors or misspellings. This is often the most difficult paragraph to write. In your conclusion, you should restate the thesis and connect it with the body of the essay in a sentence that explains how each point supports the thesis. Your final sentence should uphold your main idea in a clear and compelling manner. Be sure you do not present any new information in the conclusion. Develop a thesis statement, or what you want to say about the main idea. When the writing prompt is a question, your thesis is typically the answer to the question. I’ve seen some news articles in which each paragraph is only one sentence long. I feel that’s taking it to extremes, and it can have the opposite effect of making your writing look disjointed. I like to see at least three or four lines to a paragraph, and as an indication, my longest paragraph so far is just 74 words long. 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. Describe your main idea, or what the essay is about, in one sentence. You can usually use the essay writing prompt or question to form this sentence. Using paragraphs well (with or without sub-heads) makes your work more accessible to your reader, and, to a certain extent, it shows you’ve ordered your thoughts and are discussing one point at a time. If you can’t organize your work into paragraphs consisting of related thoughts, you may be jumping around too much. “White space” is a wonderful illusion that tells your reader what you have to say is pretty easy to take in.