She gazed into his eyes, and he back in hers. She reached out and touched the photograph, flushed and wishing she could feel her hand stroke his cheek...CUT!
OK, your college essays don’t have to read like a romance novel to grab attention. But hear us out: The concept is exactly the same. Get the reader with a hook, and write your college essays from the heart, from your gut, from enough of you to make it genuine—not trite, fabricated and formatted.
You see, though an essay’s theme is set in stone, the method in which you communicate its meaning is your own.
Make it as original as you are, and use these tips to make yours an award-winning essay.
Money-winning tip: Pick someone unexpected
TextbookX.com sponsors an annual themed essay scholarship with a $2,000 prize.
The 2006 theme was, “What role, if any, should entertainment celebrities play in American public life? Write an essay only 250 to 750 words long.” Do you know how many people must have talked about sports figures and actors? Pick someone different who has done charitable work, like Bono of U2 or Tiger Woods.
Sample:
A 15-month-old child stares with wide blue eyes through the rungs of a crib, one of 15 in an orphanage to which Tiger Woods supplied a grant. When a celebrity is the key to a child’s future, how can you not let him play a role in public life?
Money-winning tip: Treat your essay like a short story
Launch into your thesis after capturing the reader’s heart and interest. Make sure yours reads like a short story by capturing the reader with the first words.
Even in nonfiction, readers prefer tight stories with beginnings, middles, endings and characters that breathe.
Include iron-clad examples that maintain suspense and continue to intrigue. If you mention characters, make them outstanding.
In a college entrance essay, for example, you might write something about your plans to positively impact the school throughout your tenure. You might talk about how you would aid incoming freshmen. Give them personality.
Once you grab their attention, make your point and offer the perfect solution.
You’ve used the senses and solved a problem. That’s feel-good stuff.
Sample:
The naïve nest of new faces stumble through opening weeks feigning college sophistication while inwardly wishing mom was back at the dorm welcoming them home with hugs and warm cookies.
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