September 16
Know Your Reader, Part Four
What do you think admissions officer are looking to get from reading your essay? Why do they insist on an essay as part of the application? What do they think an essay is going to tell them?
A lot of students view an essay as a kind of test that they must pass. They think the job of an essay is to impress their reader with wonderful thoughts and beautiful language. But I would suggest that the readers of your essays don’t see the essay in this way at all.
The readers look at an essay as a chance to learn something meaningful about a candidate, something that isn’t quantifiable (like test scores, grades, etc.) They want to learn what it is a candidate says about him or herself, in order to have a more complete picture of who an applicant really is.
If you look at an essay in this way, you realize that the goal is not to provide a certain thought or idea, and it’s also not to write in “beautiful” language. The goal is much more simple: to tell the reader something true, interesting and unique about yourself. Let me write that again in bold letters:
The goal of an essay is to tell the reader something true, interesting and unique about yourself.
Or, if you’re answering an essay with a specific question, the goal is to provide the reader with an answer to the question that reflects something true, interesting and unique about you.
Got it?
There’s no “right” or “wrong” answer to writing an essay, just as there’s no “right” or “wrong” person. As you move forward in writing your essay, keep this in mind, and try as much as possible to STOP thinking about an essay as if it’s a test.
After all, that’s not how the readers think about it!
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 (This post)
- 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 - 09 Sep
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Tags: how to write a college admissions essay, how to write a college application essay, how to write an essay, tips on writing an essay
