September 9
How to Write an Essay for University Applications
Today we begin a new series entitled, “How to Write an Essay for University Applications.” The goal of this series is to give you, international students, an idea of the kind of information you want to include in your application essays, and the style you want to use in conveying that information.
This series will not be about how to write. Many guides on college essays focus on issues of how to write essays in general – how to make an outline, structure your arguments, use the active voice, etc., etc. We will not be talking about these issues. Instead, we’ll be talking about broader questions, such as:
- Why do U.S. universities ask you to write an essay in the first place?
- How are your essays read and evaluated?
- What information should you include in your essays?
- Who can you ask to proofread your essays? What questions should you ask of them?
Now, this isn’t to say that information about essay writing in general isn’t useful. To the contrary, you should make sure to check out all the information you can about the mechanics of writing an essay. However, there is so much excellent information on the internet that it would be a waste of time to try to copy it here. If you want some good sites for this kind of information, try here, here, here and here. Or just Google “how to write a college admissions essay” and marvel at the results.
We want to provide you with something different, something unique: a window into the college admissions process, through which you can see the part that essays play in selecting students. Our hope is that once you understand how admissions officers use essays, you can write a better one yourself.
As always, as the series go on we encourage you to ask questions and make comments.
Tomorrow we’ll get started by asking how an actual admissions officer reads application essays.
Posts in this Series
- Tell Us About Yourself: Final Advice for Essay Writing - 08 Oct
- Should You Pay To Have Your Essay Edited? - 01 Oct
- The Greatest Editing Trick For College Application Essays - 29 Sep
- How To Edit Your Essay - 28 Sep
- The "What They Want to Hear" Mistake - 17 Sep
- Know Your Reader, Part Four - 16 Sep
- Know Your Reader, Part Three - 15 Sep
- Know Your Reader, Part Two - 14 Sep
- Know Your Reader, Part One - 13 Sep
- Listen to an Admissions Officer Discuss Essays - 11 Sep
- How to Write an Essay for University Applications (This post)
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Tags: application essays, how to write a college admissions essay, how to write an essay
