Although the admissions essay is becoming more important every year, it still is NOT the most important part of your application packet. For the vast majority of colleges and universities, the admissions office will use the essay as a tiebreaker. If two students are very close in grades, character, recommendations, and test scores, the student with the better essay has a better chance of being admitted. The admission official is looking for something that will push the applications over into the pile he or she will recommend for acceptance.

However, rarely, if ever is an admissions essay going to gain admittance with a weak academic record, lack of participation in high school activities, and poor test scores. So don’t bank on your admissions essay to carry the ball for you. A well-written essay that isn’t backed by academic records and test scores indicate that someone else wrote the student’s admission essay.

Take a moment and think about how the admissions official will use your essay and what he or she wants. He or she wants to know something about you. He or she wants to know what makes you more worthy of admission than someone else.When you are writing your essay make it personal. Make it about you!

For example suppose you are asked about a person who has affected you, a common question. Think of a person, say your high school German teacher and write about the important things he or she did that influenced you. Note, it doesn’t really have to be true, it just has to make the admissions staff believe that it is true and the teacher has influenced you positively. Try to indicate some growth due to the persons influence. Consider the following essay:

On my first day of German class in my freshman year, I almost walked out of the class. Like many of my classmates, I felt confused by the new larger school with the new larger schoolmates and I felt intimidated. When I arrived late to German class, the instructor, Mr. Garrison lectured me in front of the other members of the class. I felt humiliated and was ready to change my schedule. I’m still not sure why, but for some reason I stuck it out. It turned out to be a good thing that I did.

Mr. Garrison challenged me. When I didn’t do well on a quiz or mispronounced a word, I could feel Mr. Garrison’s disapproval. When I did well, I didn’t receive overt praise, but I felt proud I had met my teacher’s challenge. It wasn’t easy, but I worked as hard as I could. I ended up getting a C+ my first quarter; less than I had hoped for, but better than many of my friends. I continued to work and got a A- for the semester. I increased my efforts, determined to get a better grade. At the end of the year, I am almost positive there was a twinkle in Mr. Garrison’s eye as he handed me my grade report.

I ended up taking four years of German from Mr. Garrison. He taught me a lot, and not just German. He taught me to push myself, he taught me how to learn, most importantly, he taught me never to give up.

If I’d run out of Mr. Garrison’s classroom that first day, I don’t know if I would have ever learned these important lessons. I doubt if I would have worked so hard in high school. I doubt if many universities would even consider me for enrollment. Fortunately I didn’t drop out that first day, I have Mr. Garrison to thank for much of my success as a student and my growth as a person. I’ll always remember him and be grateful.

Notice that the essay shows progress from a poorer, immature student to one who has gained skills and has grown into a responsible young adult who wants to continue using the tools Mr. Garrison taught him while attending the university.

Thought there is no guaranteed way to write a breathtaking piece, below, I am enumerating a few tips that will prove valuable when you write college admission essays:

1. Solve the problem: Whatever your topic, look for the underlying question, problem or issue and present a solution.
2. Invent a prose: Forget all about what you ever read about good writing. Chances are your evaluator knows it. Go with your own style, get inventive with words.
3. Feel the words: Every competition has many winners but for each one of them, winning means a different feeling, a different high. Choose your topic carefully so you can share your experience in your own words, with your personal feelings. A whole new perspective to even a mundane happening is appreciated by the admissions officers.
4. Put the Thesaurus away: Life is beautiful when it is simple. Throw the idea that big words are beautiful out of your head and use simple language. If you can weave an image around your experiences, if you can illustrate your thoughts as vibrantly as Van Gogh used colors, your essay will certainly appeal to the basic senses of the evaluator.
5. Introduce smartly: Typically 2-3 minutes are all Admissions officers spend on an essay. Hence you would do well to make a great first impression. Spin a yarn in the introduction which induces curiosity in the reader to read the entire essay. Don’t try to write a summary of your essay in the introduction- you would not want the officer to skip reading your entire essay!
6. Conclude convincingly: Consider your conclusion as a logical flow to the introduction. Avoid a summary of your essay- that is the admissions officer’s job. If you can present your subject matter as one with universal appeal, you have a winner at hand.
7. Change for the better: Revise your essay after writing it down. Not once, but as many times as possible. Ask a few experts, if possible. Change sentences, use more simple words, and bring out the points that seemed trivial initially but now demand more importance. Make separate sheets for each of these changes and then compare all your essays for one final piece of brilliance that evokes intense emotions.

College admissions essays are typically used to measure a person’s outlook, his way of thinking and probable point of view in times of crucial judgments. These 500 words are more decisive than many arguments you may have had or will have in your life. A judicious selection of words will take you a long way ahead in your career. 500 words.

I am Manish Pahuja, running a successful SEO services firm in New Delhi, India. As a writer, I remember my days when I desperately wanted admission to a good college but was turned down due to my abysmal writing. This prodded me to learn the art of writing- and share it with future successes.

Ask any admissions officer and you will learn that one third the time spent in evaluating an application is spent evaluating the admissions treatise. Remember high SAT scores, high grades and other qualifying activities are often achieved by hundreds, if not thousands of aspiring candidates. When evaluating candidates with similar qualifications, it is the quality of the admissions paper that makes the big difference between acceptance and rejection.

Another important factor to keep in mind is that admissions officers have to evaluate mountains of applications. This means that they are busy people. And when they have to go through selfsame papers a sort of fatigue sets in that could inadvertently lead to rejection of the candidates who submit non-differentiated essays, even though these essay by themselves are of good quality. This means that not only will your essay have to be good; it has to be different enough to break the tedium and make the admission’s officer sit up and take notice.

At the time of submitting your application you have no control of the SAT scores or your earlier grades as they are consequences of the past. The only thing you can control is the admissions treatise. So make sure that in addition to being grammatically correct, your essay must also be an expression of your personality and character, and be compelling enough to make a busy admissions officer to accept your application.

What makes an admission paper so important? It happens to be the only living aspect of an otherwise mute application. It is this paper that tells the admissions officer about your personality, about your character and about what you think of yourself.

So do a little introspection before you begin your essay. Try and see what it is that makes you individualistic. Reflect on the way you view the world. Contemplate on the things that drive you, and on the people that have made a difference in your life. And finally what are your aspirations; what is that will make you feel that you have achieved your life’s fundamental objectives? This introspection will help to personalize your essay and literally speak to the reader in a voice that is all your’s: unique.

Admissions essays are more important than most candidates and their parents realize. Nearly four out of five rejected applications are rejected because of the poor quality of the treatise. A good composition can tip the odds in your favor. However do not be daunted by the significance of an admissions paper plays. There is ample material available that can help you prepare yourself to write a better essay; an essay that will ensure that your application is accepted. But remember the truism: practice makes perfect.