Elizabeth Wissner-Gross - Write Your College Essay in Less Than a Day: Stop Procrastinating and Get It Done to Perfection!

As the creator of innovative workshops on how to write your college essay in less than a day and as an author and educational strategist who has advised thousands of students seeking (and obtaining) admission into even the most competitive colleges, I am frequently asked if I know any formulas or tricks to make college application essay writing faster, better, and less painful (or even fun). The answer is, I do. Over the years, my students have produced some of the most appealing essays that have gotten them into all of the top colleges.

Whats the trick? people ask. This book reveals my unique methodboth for students able to attend my workshops, and for those who cannot. I have transformed my popular workshops for students (and teachers and counselors) into a bookthis book.

My approach is based on the essays required in the Common Application, the standardized admission document that is used by almost 350 American colleges and universities. (In fact, most of the essays written for the Common Application can be used to support anapplication for practically any American college that requests a personal statement or essay.) In addition to requesting short fill-in answers, the Common App requires that the applicant write a main essay based on his or her response to one of six essay prompts:

1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

6. Topic of your choice.

Write Your College Essay in Less than a Day shows you how to respond to each of these essay prompts, to choose the subjects and wording that best represent you. Unlike other books that just show you a collection of successful essays and leave you saying to yourself, Wow, these people have had much more exciting lives than I have had, this book helps you to see what is so intriguing and special about your life. And it helps you to communicate that in your essay.

I wrote this book to share my unique and easy-to-follow process that has gotten thousands of students admitted into their dream schools. Here is the gist. We are treating college essay writing like introducing you to a new sport:

1. Start with the rules: As in any sport, before you start, youll need to know how the game is played. So before you even think about your essay topic, youll learn some of the guidelines of application essay writing (Chapter 1). These rules are different from the regular persuasive essay-writing rules that youve likely learned in your English classes, because in addition to being convincing, these essays need to be strategic and memorable (to admissions officers). These essays need to stand out from the pack to help you reach your goal. So this book shares with you some of the lesser-known guidelines to help you write an essay thats a winner.

2. Criteria and scoring points: Once youve learned the rules, youll want to know how to score points. In Chapter 2, youll learn how to think like a refereeor in this case, a college admissions officer. Could you imagine playing a sport without knowing what you need to do to score points? Well, thats the approach that most students take when writing their college essays; they try to write a few things that they hope might impress the admissions officers, but they have no clear idea of what scores points. In my years of working with students, I have found that one of the most handicapping aspects of essay writing is not knowing what the college admissions officers expect of you and how youre being judged. Chapter 2 clues you in. Using an innovative and one-of-a-kind score-card system that shows you what kinds of statements win points with admissions officers, youll get to simulate the experience of being an admissions officer. My students have found this simulation to be both entertaining and extremely constructive. Youll read some (shortened) essays, grade them based on a unique scoring method, and choose which students get in based on the points theyve earned. This will get you into the admissions-officer mind-set, so that when you write your own essay, youll be able to write with much more confidence, knowing how youre being perceived (and also knowing how to avoid the usual pitfalls that the vast majority of students fall into).