Your College Admission Thumbprint: Your Essay

Don’t Let Someone Else Write Your Essay

Your college application essay can be your thumbprint to uniquely identify you. The savvy admissions officer who reviews stacks of applications will scrutinize the essays to evaluate the applicant’s character, intelligence, intellectual capacity, perspective, perseverance, and ability to respond effectively to an open-ended essay prompt.

5 Critical Questions

After 19 years of editing admission essays for ambitious college-bound students, CPSi’s editing team and I have compiled a few questions that an admissions officer or committee can answer on the basis of your application essay.

• Does the essay adequately respond to the essay prompt? Is the essay well written and error-free?
• Do the writing and critical thinking in the essay match the academic rigor reflected on the student’s transcript?
• Do all of the essays in an application make sense together? Do they share a common writing pattern and voice, and do they belong to the same person?
• Is there stylistic and voice consistency between the applicant’s multiple essays?
• In the context of the applicant’s resume and demonstrated priorities at school and in the community, does the perspective communicated in the essay make sense?

Making It Your Thumbprint

We recommend that you take time to prepare consistent and honest application essays that answer these five questions in your favor. Brainstorming to produce your best essay topic in its best presentation – your unique thumbprint – is paramount to admission success in this competitive college admission environment.