A Final Bit of Good News
The essential elements of a good paper for any school assignment? You know. We just talked about having a claim, an idea to present. And evidence to support your claim (see September 3 post). I suspect someone has mentioned the idea of organization to you—a beginning, a middle, and an end. And last of all, there is “correctness.” All four of these elements figure into almost everything you write and they are all important for an application essay. They’re all things your teachers have demanded and all things you’ve strived to put into your writing in the past.

So do focus on having an idea you want Admissions to know about. And evidence to support it. Tell your story with some kind of plan—intro/body/conclusion or story/meaning are both workable options.

But don’t forget this is one time that correctness is really going to matter. Show that you’ve put in the time to do a good job. The applicant who said the one word that would best describe him was “profectionist” blew up his claim in that first typo. And trust me, Spellcheck isn’t enough. Otherwise, they might have admitted the kid who swore that “from that day on, Daniel was my best fried.” Don’t be that kid.