College Essay Review Services: Why You Need Them

What exactly is a college essay?

There are several different types of college essays, but the most common college admissions essay is the personal statement or common app essay. This is a short document that is supposed to tell the admissions board about who you are as a candidate and why you are a good fit for their college or university. 

Some schools provide a specific word count for the essays, but it should be between 400 and 650 words unless otherwise stated. It also doesn't follow the same structure as an academic essay. Even though it has an introduction, body, and conclusion, it is not about presenting and supporting an argument. Rather, it is supposed to tell a story that illustrates who you are as a person.

You can think of it as a cover letter for your college application. When you are applying for a job, your resume shows your work history and academic background in the same way that your school transcript and other application components show your GPA and grades for your college application. Your cover letter ( and personal statement) is a bit more personal. They communicate the soft skills and strengths that can't be easily quantified.

College essays also give you a chance to humanize your application and tell the admissions board about the person behind the grades and GPA. Many colleges, like Columbia University for example, have a holistic admissions process. This means that they care about your academic background and who are outside of your studies. Your personal statement allows them to learn more about your interests and what you could contribute to your future campus community. 

It should be noted that not all schools require college essays. Some institutions only require personal statements and other essays for their most competitive programs. So, for example, if you were applying to McGill university, whether or not you have to write a personal statement would depend on o your chosen program of study. If you opted to pursue a Bachelor of Arts, you wouldn't need to write any college essays, but if you're applying to their nursing faculty, which is more competitive and more selective, you would need to write and submit a personal statement.

Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, there are different types of college admissions essays. Many colleges ask for a supplemental college essay in addition to a personal statement. These secondary essays can take on many forms. Let's take a look at the most popular types of secondary essays for undergrad application:

How important are college essays?

College essays are an essential part of the college application process. According to the National Association for college admission counseling, college essays are an important part of the decision-making process for most institutions in the united states. This information is not surprising considering the amount of information that the admission board can learn about a student from their personal statement and other supplemental essays.

Additionally, it is important to remember that college essays also give students an opportunity to talk to the admissions board. You get to share your story and tell the admissions board why you are a good fit for their school in your own words. You also get to address some of the weaker points of your overall application. For example, if you are trying to get into college with a low GPA, you can use your college essay to explain the circumstances that led to your subpar grades and the steps you have taken to improve your grades.

That said, the fact that college essays are such a critical application component means that they significantly impact your application. An applicant with a low GPA can improve their chances of getting into college with a strong personal statement. On the other hand, an applicant with excellent grades could get rejected because of poorly written college essays. There is even more pressure to have a great essay when you consider the fact that most colleges in the United States have a rolling admission system.  

In other words, if you want to beat the competition and get into college, you need a flawless college essay. This is especially true if you are applying to highly selective schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Princeton University, for example. This is why college essay review services are such a valuable tool.

Want to learn how to write a college essay?

How do college essay review services help applicants?

College essay review services do a lot more than highlight grammatical inconsistencies in your writing (although this is one of the many things they can help with). They are actual human experts who can have a significant impact on the overall quality of applicants' college essays, thus increasing their chances of getting into college. College essay review services are typically offered by admission experts, such as college essay advisors, who know the college application process inside and out. They review students' college essays and use their knowledge and training to provide personalized feedback and guidance to help students edit and polish their essays. The aim is to draft a final essay that will be more compelling, making the student a more attractive candidate to colleges.

Working with college essay review services has several benefits for students. Specifically, it helps students by providing the following:

Proofreading & editing

Your college essays are a representation of you to the admission board. Except for college interviews, this is your only chance to talk to the admission board in your own words. This means that is also the first impression they will have of you. If you submit an essay with grammatical errors and typos, it tells the board that you either did not care enough to review your work or that you did not notice those errors when you did. Either way, it is not a good look for you.

This is where college essay review services come in. College essay advisors can thoroughly verify the grammatical syntax of your sentences, check that your essay is coherent and easy to follow and that it is free of grammatical or spelling errors. 

Highlighting relevant skills

Since college essay review services are run by admission experts, they have an in-depth understanding of the world of college admissions. These essay advisors have not only gone through the process themselves, but they have also helped other students go through it multiple times. Additionally, they are also trained to decipher all the "admissions talk" on college websites so they can actually help you figure out what values and traits specific colleges are looking for.

Furthermore, because they are an objective third party looking at the details of your academic background and experiences, they can easily see which activities and skills can make you a better candidate. For example, if you are applying for a philosophy major, you might think that your love for nature or hiking is irrelevant information to your application. College essay review services can help you understand how you can showcase your experience as a hiker in a way that will appeal to your chosen faculty.

Writing strategies

Writing college essays is not an easy task, and the truth is that most applicants aren't aware that their essay writing skills may be lacking. Unfortunately, high school classes rarely include lessons about writing academic admission essays or personal statements, so even gifted writers or A+ English students don't have the tools needed to write an essay that will impress the college admissions committee.

Without guidance, students often end up writing very generic essays that do not add to their overall application, or they simply go through the details of their high school resume without providing any new information. By working with college essay review services, students have someone at their disposal who can give them the tools and strategies necessary to brainstorm and write great, original college essays.

Developing skills

Most college students start improving their research and writing skills as they write essays in college. However, when you work with a college essay review service, you start with stronger skills than most in that department. Good college essay review services have advisors who will not write the students' essays for them. Instead, they will guide them through the entire process – from brainstorming to drafting and editing- and teach them how to research, write and edit. 

In other words, working with college essay review services allows students to not only improve the quality of their college essays, but also improve their research, writing, and critical thinking skills. All of which are skills that will serve them well during college and beyond.

Reducing stress and anxiety 

Preparing college applications is a stressful process, and one of the most anxiety-inducing aspects of it for students is writing college essays. Not only is it time-consuming, but it can get quickly get overwhelming for applicants and those around them. Furthermore, because students do not have access to as much information about the college admissions process, they simply have to trust that the topic they chose and the tips they found online are not leading them astray. 

Working with a professional college essay review service can remove that extra layer of anxiety. Because you are working with an expert, you can rely on the tips and advice they give you because you know it comes from a good source.

Conclusion

College essays are a crucial part of the college application process, so if you want to maximize your chances of getting into a top college in this increasingly competitive climate, you need to do everything you can to ensure that you are submitting top-notch essays. The key to doing that is working with college essay review services. The college advisors who run these services can help you highlight your strengths and address any potential red flags in a way that still makes you look good. Furthermore, working with them will help you improve your research and writing skills, which you will definitely need when you get into college.

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Your friends at BeMo

BeMo Academic Consulting

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