Essay For College Application

[Feralpeg]

My daughter is getting ready to apply for college. The college suggests the student write an essay to accompany their application. Approximately how long should the essay be? Thank you!

 

[Megster]

Mine was a page, 12 font single spaced. I took a college writing class in high school and this is what my english teacher told me that most colleges want/look for and like. It also ensures that a page doesn't get lost leaving admissions wondering what your conclusion is going to say.

A few other tips she gave me...don't write about anything sad/depressing. Tons of kids right about these kind of things and it is refreshing to read something other than what a death in the family taught me. If you do decide to write about something like this don't look for sympathy, keep it to the point.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Mine was a page, 12 font single spaced. I took a college writing class in high school and this is what my english teacher told me that most colleges want/look for and like. It also ensures that a page doesn't get lost leaving admissions wondering what your conclusion is going to say.

A few other tips she gave me...don't write about anything sad/depressing. Tons of kids right about these kind of things and it is refreshing to read something other than what a death in the family taught me. If you do decide to write about something like this don't look for sympathy, keep it to the point.

My guidance counselor also told me to write them about a page in length. I did write one of mine sort of about death, but it was more from the point of terrorism. Not what I had learned from it (what can you really learn from that hell?) but the question was what I felt the most pressing problem in the world was. So that's what I wrote about. Terrorism is a pretty common topic, so it's normally recommended you don't use it (too cliche) but because of the unfortunate family connection mine was different.
Pretty much steer clear of cliche topics. And don't write more than a page, because each page you write is one more that they could possibly lose. They want to see the strength of the writing, while keeping it concise. And boring an admissions officer is bad: another reason to keep it short.