One of the few chances you have to attract the attention of an Admissions panel is through your admission essay. This being the case, it should not be written in an hour or two. Give it a lot of thought and planning, because the essay can make or break your acceptance to the school of your choice. The essay serves to tell something about you that your grades, extracurricular activities, and recommendation letters cannot.

Unlike writing an essay for an exam, you have the luxury of time when writing your admission essay. Take advantage of this by carefully planning its parts, its theme, and doing a bit of research if necessary.

Step one: Brainstorm. To stimulate your creative juices, try elaborating on these thoughts and write all your ideas down on a sheet of paper (or type away on your computer, if you feel more comfortable with it). At this point, you don’t have to worry about sentence structure, syntax, or cohesion – you only need to bring to fore all the possible options for topics. Write down:

• Your most stellar accomplishments. Don’t bother listing down what you think the rest of the applicants are also going to include. You need to mention something that makes you stand out from the crowd. It can be as simple as spearheading a fundraising campaign for your club, as long as qualities such as leadership, creativity, or perseverance are highlighted.

• Your extracurricular activities, both in and out of the school. You may be part of the cheerleading team or President of the Debate Club, but what civic organizations have you joined in your community, and what activities have you led or participated in? School officials would be inclined to have students who are civic-minded and can look beyond the walls of their school.

• Your ambitions. Ask yourself what you would like to do 5, 10 years hence. Is it in line with the program you are applying for? What sorts of accomplishments, equipment, or people do you need in order to consider your successful? How does this particular university figure into your future plans?

• Your challenges. Was there a point in your life when you found yourself so challenged that it made a big difference in your perspective in life? Mention how this particular event has made you a better person, and the lessons you learned from it.

• Your biggest influence/s. Is there a particular person who has impacted you in a positive way? Don’t be afraid to go into detail if need be. This can expose your “human” side which can make your essay special.

• Your favorite works. Whether they’re books, works of art, plays, or movies, you must have some favorites. Again, this highlights your human side, so let the readers know how these works influence your life and what they motivate you to do.

• Your strengths and weaknesses. We all write about our strengths, but during the interview, you’ll mostly be asked about your weaknesses. You don’t have to write about them in the essay unless you need to explain away, but keep it in mind as you are composing just so there won’t be any conflict between what you write down and what you reveal in the interview. If you decide on including it, remember that it must always end in a positive note, such as how this particular weakness has helped you strive even harder or what coping skills you have developed to manage that weakness.

Step two: Choose a topic. Some universities give a prod, such as, “Name a person, living or dead, who has been the greatest influence on your life, and explain why.” Others give you a free hand, such as Yale University’s “In the past, candidates have used this space in a great variety of ways. There is no ‘correct’ way to respond to this essay request…” and when you come across an instruction like this, then it’s time to buckle up and do some serious planning on which topic to home in on.

First, decide on the general category:

• Backgrounds/Accomplishment

• Character/Values/Leadership

• Extracurricular Activities

• Personal Statement

• Influences (Family/Friends/Mentors/Other People)

• Personal Experiences

• Degree Choice/Ambition/Goals

Each category can give you a wealth of possibilities, so list them down and choose one that you feel can help you most tell about yourself, and one you’re passionate about. The second point is extremely important because if you don’t feel any emotional connection towards your topic, your essay will read like the thousands of boring admission essays which get chucked into the trash bin every year.

Make sure to avoid repeating what you have already written someplace else in your application. For instance, if you have already listed down all your extracurricular activities in some part of the form, you need not enumerate the same stuff in your essay.

Similarly, if you want to write about your trip to Africa, you shouldn’t give your itinerary. Instead, focus on a particular experience you’ve had during the trip – a visit to a rural school, a safari, or spending an afternoon talking to a local.

Step three: Write the essay. Writer’s block is a universal phenomenon. Don’t write the essay during a time you’re not feeling up to it, or right after you’ve read a sample (your tendency would be to adopt that writer’s style or worse, you might even end up plagiarizing some lines).

You can choose to first write down all your thoughts in a free-flowing style, such as when you’re writing on your journal, and edit for cohesiveness later. You can use an anecdote in the opening paragraph to catch the reader’s attention. The first few sentences should be interesting enough, but refrain from cliches and quotations.

Make a smooth transition from the introduction to the body of the essay and develop the topic, making sure not to thesaurusize. You should also go for the active voice instead of the passive voice, which when overused tends to be awkward and boring. “The lessons in perseverance that I would need for college were taught to me by my coach,” sounds better when written as, “My coach taught me the lessons in perseverance that I would need for college.”

Use personal detail, don’t write sentences that are too long, and keep away from slang (unless there’s a point to using it). Lastly, devote time to revise it. Set the essay aside and re-read it after about three days. By then, you’ll have a different perspective and you might be able to spot flawed sentences.

Have friends or family members read the essay through. Be open to criticism. Ask them to honestly tell you which parts should be excised and which need further elaboration. Lastly, have someone edit/proofread your essay. If you don’t know a professional editor, you can always ask a teacher to help you out – they would only be too glad to help you succeed.