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A college admission essay is an essay written as part of the college admission application process. Many colleges and universities require applicants to write an essay as part of their application. In addition, many scholarships require students to write application essays. These essays differ, in many ways, from traditional academic essays. First, they often allow students to choose from a selection of prompts. Second, while they may not be personal narratives, they are generally written in the first-person perspective. Third, their purpose is for the student to tell the admissions officers more about them as individuals, rather than showing off academic skills or knowledge.
In the introduction of your college admission essay, the most important thing for you to do is to make it clear what question you are answering. If the prompt you have selected is not clear in your introduction, then it is unlikely that the rest of your essay will actually be a well-written response to that prompt. Therefore, take a few sentences to describe the prompt, your reason for answering it, and preview what your response will contain.
The body of your college admission essay is going to be your actual response to the prompt. It should be written from a first-person perspective and give the college admissions officer an insight into what special experience or character trait you have will make you a good addition to their school or the best candidate for their scholarship. This part can be tricky. Most people have a difficult time thinking about experiences, events, or traits that set them apart from the crowd. This can lead people to think that they need to lie, or at least exaggerate, in an admission essay. However, it is better to focus the body of your essay on an actual experience you had.
Finally, the conclusion of your college admission essay needs to tie together the prompt with the body of your essay. Then, it needs to take it a step further and explain why your answer means that you are an ideal candidate for admission or for a scholarship.