By Kelly Pethick

Starting to talk about the college admission process may be stressful for applicants, but it is the only way to have a chance! To get a better education and enroll in such respected schools as Harvard or Stanford, you need to prepare a memorable personal essay. Why is memorable a keyword while applying? Because of the high number of enrollees, it is hard to stand out if a personal essay is similar. 

Some people preparing for admissions find it valuable to read information from helpful services for students. Therefore, they buy book reports, analyze a large amount of information from various sources, and get acquainted with others’ stories to get inspiration for a personal essay. Among this chaos of preparation, it is always a prize to find a structured list of tips and get along with the personal essay writing process. 

1. Open archives.

Remember everything that you did in preschool. Sometimes you can remember the talent from childhood as the reason for your choice of profession today, including information about participating in scientific contests or events. 

Try to mention what had the most significant impact on you while you were studying in high school. Any volunteering experience or even a part-time job, your start-up ideas, or even social help you provided in your home city are excellent indicators of who you are as a person. 

2. Think outside of the GPA.

Instead of reading thousands of essays with numerous mentions of GPA scores, your admission officer wants to find something to like about you. Be open-minded to tell not only the situations that describe your positive sides but also the issues that you face. There is no better reason for an admission officer to argue for an enrollee to have a place in a desirable school than the human factor. 

Therefore, your marks in SAT, GPA, and AP matter no less than personal achievements. Surely, high grades and results from your tests are crucial signs of your credibility, thirst for knowledge, and hard work, but avoid making them a central part of your personal essay. 

3. Become a good writer.

College admission officers read so many texts that they don’t know how one differs from another. Sifting through thousands of different people is enormously complex, and if you want to be a likable character among them, show it in your essay. Therefore, invest in yourself by describing it in the text. It doesn’t mean you should be too offensive or too self-confident, but you should show from three to five key aspects of your personality. 

Being a great writer is not so easy, but you can write daily and improve your skills for the educational institution of your dreams. If you can’t find enough motivation, try to watch online lessons of Abbie Emmons. She shows why your story matters.

4. Remember, it is non-fiction.

Avoid pretending to be someone else. Save your fictional skills for a task on a creative essay when you pass the admission exams. At this time, try to concentrate on who you are in real life. Usually, students underestimate their possibilities and look skeptically at all their achievements. 

Don’t give up! Your decision to apply to the highest-ranked university is incredible itself! When you share your real experience with your admission officer, you give them a better understanding of your value systems. 

5. Check for corrections.

As the author of a personal essay, an extra pair of eyes is obligatory to show you things behind the “author’s blindness.” Ask for honest feedback from one of your friends or a professional editor. Believe it or not, but accurate writing with a lack of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation mistakes will help to share your message through a personal essay efficiently. 

6. Mention your hobbies.

Show in your essay your achievements in various fields and what makes you strive for better things in life. Indeed, you can add information about your hobbies that take your time as extracurricular activities. It doesn’t matter what you are passionate about – whether it’s knitting or wake surfing, it helps reveal your personality in the essay.

7. Structure.

Make sure your story in the personal essay is consistent. Try to move from one situation to another in a logical order. Describe a chain of events that had a great impact on you and your actions toward them. Your essay organization is vital and makes sure the narrative is not overwhelming. 

Wrapping Up

Stay courageous and let people understand your individuality! A memorable personal statement is a way to evaluate all your achievements and find out new things about yourself. Even if it is hard to get into the school of our dreams, it is not a reason to be passive. Any school can’t teach you how to gain the thirst for exploring new things in life, so why not address your proactive position through a memorable story and get that desirable acceptance letter?