Essays That Gain Admissions

Let Your Reader Discover You

The college application essay that wins the “Admit” stamp is often a story written to show perspective or personal growth. A narrative story written honestly that engages multiple senses in the telling can captivate the reader (i.e., the admissions officer). More commonplace, however, are essays that tell what the student has done or experienced and leave little for the reader to discover or imagine about the student.

Such essays can be outright boring, as suggested by these tell-tale phrases found in many of them:

“Ever since I can remember . . .”

“[name the activity] is my life . . .”

“I have always . . .”

CPSi advises students to instead write about what happened naturally, in the story-telling tradition, to reveal the point as the tale unfolds. When done well, the essay will lead the reader to the desired conclusion through a warm, engaging and compelling story – exactly the sort of essay that wins an “Admit” stamp.