How to Write Your Best College Essays

Applying to college can be a difficult process, but VaiLocal is here to help you! Below you will find four pieces of advice for putting your best foot forward on your college essays:

Start early

It’s important to start writing your essays early so that you can brainstorm, get rid of bad ideas, and write multiple drafts. For some prompts, it will be easy to come up with a cookie cutter essay that you can easily copy and paste. However, for essays such as the “Why come to this school?” prompt, you will need to tell a unique story and do plenty of research on what attracts you to the school.

Show, don’t tell

When sifting through your essay, the reader should be able to hear your voice and story being transmitted through the writing. If you are writing a descriptive essay, make sure to use sensory details that take your reader into the scene with you. Thoughts, feelings, and senses should take priority over simply summarizing what happened.

Prove your point

Ensure that your essay responds to the question being asked in the most direct way possible. In many cases, by the end of the first paragraph, it should be known what your answer to the prompt is. Ideally, every sentence in your essay should be a progression to proving your point.

Be polished

There should be absolutely no grammar mistakes in your college essays. You should read them over as many times as possible to fix errors. Importantly, you should also solicit edits from trusted reviewers (i.e. siblings, parents, teachers, college students, mentors, etc.) who will give you honest feedback.

You got this!

Good luck, and feel free to reach out to VaiLocal if you need help!