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Writing a Good Essay For College Admission:

          Colleges generally ask applicants for at least one essay .  The essay(s) play a crucial role in the admissions decision. As the time approaches for you to complete your application, your chances of adding to your extra-curricular activities or test scores are very limited. At that point your essay is probably your last shot at making your application stand out. Colleges look at the essay in order to assess your personality and your chances of success at that institution. Your objective when you plan your essay is to bring out your personality in an interesting, clear and grammatically correct manner.

Choosing a topic:

     In general, the topic is already chosen for you in your application. How ever, if you have the choice would be better to write something about you. In other words, you don't have to write an essay on a serious topic like "The Threat of Nuclear Weapons" or "Ending world hunger" for it to be good. In fact, it would be better if you write about how you became your cricket team's star batsmen after joining as a less than average overweight kid and how it changed you.

Mechanical Details and Structural Details:

      Yes....I know....It looks like I am lecturing about building a skyscraper. But what I mean are details that make your essay more pleasing to read and show your mastery of writing.

The main focus of your essay must be revealed in the first or second paragraph. The sentence that does this job can be called your thesis. This thesis must mention the main idea of your essay and the subject of the paragraphs that follow must connect back to this thesis.  

 Make sure you have a transition from one paragraph to another and from one sentence to another.

For example, you cannot talk about hating math classes in one sentence and jump to cricket in the next. You have to connect them together.The same applies when moving from one paragraph to the other.

The last few lines should effectively summarize your essay and make a lasting impression on the reader.

It is better to use simple words correctly as opposed to using lofty words incorrectly

Spell check properly. Ask somebody else to read the essay and proofread it for you. Simple spelling mistakes can ruin your reputation.

Some Useful Websites:

College Board: This site tips for every step from choosing a topic to writing a draft to polishing your essay. It also has some sample essays. This site is a little more useful than princeton review because they give you more information for free. I would recommend spending time to read this section before going to other sources. They do advertise their book The College Application Essay.

The Princeton Review:  This link has a nice one page article on writing college essays. There is a short section which has tips from Admissions Officers from different universities. And they are trying to sell you their book College Essays That Made a Difference

Essays that Worked: This is a section form the website of The Connecticut College.  They have posted some 12 actual essays they received from applicants. However, they have not critiqued these essasy.

 College Essay Tips: this page from the website of Carleton College give 15 tips for a good college essay. There are no sample essays or critiques.