Pocket Essay Editor

1) Answer the question. (And, if you're soliciting feedback on a draft at some point, tell your reader what question you think you're answering.)

2) Stick to the limits. Admissions officers love clear and concise writing. If you were reading thousands of essays every winter, you would, too.

3) Know yourself. Most long college essay prompts are a variation on the theme of "If we accept you, who do we get?" The more you understand yourself as a community member, learner, and human being, the better prepared you'll be to write.

4) Know your schools. Take the time to learn about the schools you're applying to. Visit whenever possible. Let your application reflect your sense of "fit" in a way that makes it clear that they need to accept you!

5) Invite them in. Let the people who will be reading your essays in on the real you... at your best.

6) Be you from the beginning. Start being you from the first sentence of your essays. Not, "It has sometimes been said that.." or "Webster's dictionary defines diversity as..."

7) Take your pulse. Are you interested in what you're writing about? Truly? Do you care? Because if you don't, you can't really expect anyone else to.

8) Read your essays out loud. It's a fast, free, fantastic way to catch things that sound weird, wooden, or just don't make sense.

9) Grow some wings. Imagine that you're 30,000 feet over this essay looking down, and that the main ideas of your essays are searchlights, like the kind they use to call Batman. What lights have you got turned on?

10) Lose the straw man. Don't artificially inflate your case by positing an alternative that no one actually believes, e.g. "Most students wouldn't sign up for an AP course as a sophomore..."

11) Imagine Aunt Esther. If anything you're writing would make your imaginary great-aunt Esther wince, it's time to rewrite.

12) Who wrote this? Read every sentence of your work and ask yourself if anyone other than you could have written it. If you answer yes, that sentence represents a missed opportunity.

13) Give yourself the gift of time. Create a writing schedule that will allow you to toss drafts in a drawer for while... you'll be amazed at the mistakes that jump out at you when you approach your work with fresh eyes.