Essay Review
Your student will have to write many essays while they are in high school, especially during their senior year. Students will need to write essays as early as eighth grade if they apply for programs such as Rogers Explorers or AHEC Summer Camps. They will write several essays as they apply for Rogers Scholars, Governor’s Scholars Program, MSU’s Craft Academy or WKU’s Gatton Academy in their sophomore year. Of course, by the time they are seniors in high school, they will probably dread the essay prompt.
However, it is possible to use tips and tricks to improve essay responses. Understand that most students will come from similar academic backgrounds with similar achievements and many times the essay is the student’s opportunity to set themselves apart. Writing a great essay is important and time spent perfecting the final product is not wasted time.
1) Consider the prompt. What is the reviewer asking for? What key words to do you see? Pick the prompt apart and review each phrase. Now leave the prompt for a day or so. When you come back, consider again, what is the reviewer wanting to know.
2) Organize your thoughts. Create an outline and establish all the important points that you want to address. Make sure that your outline will lead to answering the question in the prompt.
3) Adhere to essay requirements including page limitations, character limitations, spacing, margins, etc. Do not give your reviewer a reason to set your essay aside.
4) Consider the language of the prompt. You should consider using similar words and similar syntax in your response.
5) Take time writing your essay. Look over it for several days as you write and after it is complete. You will see areas that need to be improved, deleted or expounded upon. This means, of course, you should provide yourself a week or more to compose a well written essay. Make sure you answer the question.
6) Identify an excellent editor and give them plenty of time to make recommendations. Ask them to make sure you have answered the question.
7) Show the reviewer why you are good at something or why you are passionate about something. You need to provide succinct examples that show the reviewer who you are. Telling a reviewer that you have lots of community service is not unique.
8) Show the reviewer that you have command of the college-level vocabulary. Do not use advanced vocabulary incorrectly. Use all resources available to make sure you get this right. Using too much advanced vocabulary can come across as arrogant.
9) Do not use too much flowery language. Construct your thoughts in succinct, but sophisticated sentence structures. Your essay should have a combination of both compound and complex sentences. Be precise. Be conscious of the reviewer’s time.
Our Success Coach can work privately with you to help with essay development and to provide critical feedback on essay drafts.
Contact us to discuss our essay review services. Click on the Contact Us button and enter “Essay Review” in the subject line.