Students ask me all the time if their essays make a difference and the short answer is,
absolutely yes. I was extremely anxious about writing my college essay.I had a really hard
time thinking of a topic. At first I didn't know what to write about. The pressure was
definitely there. I was really nervous that maybe they wouldn't get to the essay, they
wouldn't pay attention to it. When I pick up an application the first thing I like to
read is the student's essay. Essays can really be a significant tip factor in our final decision.
The essay is something you can really bring yourself into and really let the admissions
directors know who you are. Who I am on paper is not who I am in person. The rest of my
application was a bunch of stuffy numbers and grades. It's really just a free space
to talk about yourself and what about you is different from everyone else. The one thing
I wanted to do was stand out. Every year I read about 2,000 essays. That's a lot of writing.
Now what makes an essay stand out? Some of the best essays I've read are essays where
people are just being themselves. It's about how much of you you can put into your essay.
How passionate are you about something. It's really going to make a difference in the whole
group of applications if you can make the person remember you. That was really the only
way they could see who I was as a person . We're looking for all those different kinds of people
to add to what Boston University is. Everyone has something unique about themselves. Everyone's
story is different. For me that actually was marching band. I ended up writing about why
I wanted to be a teacher. I actually wrote about one of my experiences playing hockey.
You don't need to have a story that's one in a million. You can have story that everyone
has but it's about making it yours. Once you find that topic, it's all about just writing
and re-writing. The main chunk of the work is actually in revising. Please proofread.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. As many people as you can get to read your essay, the better.
My dad edited all my essays and everything. I had my guidance councilor read my essay
and I had my English teacher read my essay. I had to cut out a bunch of awesome sentences
that I thought were great. Keep your story concise. When it says 500 words, you really
have to make sure it's actually 500 words. I think mine was 600 words, I cheated. That
is when you'll get that perfect essay and that's when you know you're ready to click
that submit button and enjoy that heavenly moment. It was pretty sweet.