| If you're concerned about getting started on your | | | | constructed take an inordinate amount of time and |
| college essay, you can relax - if you've followed the | | | | energy to read. The word used by the college |
| preliminary planning process laid out in previous | | | | administrator may be something more along the lines |
| articles. This plan for your college essay helps | | | | of decipher as he or she will have to decode your |
| establish the logic of your paper and helps you write | | | | rambling writing and figure out what you're trying to |
| in a clear, concise and orderly manner. You'll want to | | | | say. An irritated and annoyed college admissions |
| follow this process on all the papers you write, not | | | | officer is not likely to rate your college essay highly |
| just for college essays. | | | | and that doesn't bode well for the rest of your |
| Let's talk about structuring your college essay for | | | | application either. |
| busy readers. When you consider the importance of | | | | College admissions officers are human too. They're |
| making a good first impression combined with the | | | | job is to be neutral but considering the volume of |
| tired eyes of the college administrators who must | | | | college applications and essay they have to process, |
| read all the applications that come pouring in you get | | | | it's likely that a poorly written college essay will shift |
| an idea of why you need to grab the attention of | | | | them from neutral to negative and worse than that |
| the reader and get your points across quickly and | | | | you'll lose their goodwill and they're likely to carry |
| clearly. | | | | over that negativity when rating your college |
| With the right structure, your college essay will lead | | | | application as a whole. |
| its readers from point to point and at the same time | | | | For students who prefer to write an essay about a |
| you make it easy for the reader to follow you from | | | | single experience here is a good diagram to follow. |
| point to point as you develop your main theme. | | | | Start with an introductory statement followed by a |
| Without any structure, the reader can easily become | | | | thesis statement. Next comes a preview statement |
| confused by the wandering nature of the essay and | | | | and a topic sentence. Now you'll develop the topic |
| may even stop reading it completely due to lack of | | | | and transition to the next topic sentence. Repeat this |
| interest. This cannot be good for you chances of | | | | process until you've covered all the topics you have |
| being admitted to the college or university of your | | | | to discuss in the college essay. Finally, end with a |
| choice. | | | | concluding statement that ties the whole essay |
| Let's do a little demonstration from the college | | | | together. That's the type of well-written cohesive |
| administrator's perspective as he or she reads and | | | | essay that impresses college admissions officers. |
| essay. Essays that are poorly written and | | | | |