Whether that’s a bad or a good thing, a first impression usually leaves the biggest impact on people. Although this might be a good thing for extroverts who know their way around with words, it can cause all sorts of issues for students who are timid and nervous.
“Leaving a positive first impression is especially important for the college admission process,” suggest premiere college consultants from H&C Education. Given that admission officers have limited insights into your character, every word in your essay can make or break the application.
So, if you wish to create a positive rapport with the college representatives, writing a technically solid essay isn’t enough. You need to understand the psychological impact of every word on a reader so you don’t come off cocky or indecisive.
First Impression Basics
When we talk about direct contact, another person will form their initial opinion about you in just 7 seconds. To make things even worse, it takes us about one-tenth of a second to decide whether someone can be trusted.
Forming the first impression is an evolutionary skill that helped humankind survive. Our forefathers had to think on their feet to determine if another person represented danger. After numerous millennia, this instinct still guides our actions. Among other things, we judge the following features:
- Body language
- Clothing
- Tone of voice
- Walking
- Facial expressions
It’s worth nothing that none of these things work in a vacuum. We use a totality of another individual’s presence to assess their personality. For example, if students arrive to interview well dressed, this means they’re fully committed to a college program. Nervousness, on the other hand, might indicate a desire to attend a college but also insecurity.
Assessing these features is a bit trickier when we write. Nevertheless, by rereading your essay, you can determine how the reader can potentially interpret each of your words and whether some of them can cause you issues.
4 Tips for Killer Introductory Letters
Your essay provides vital information about your persona. It tells admission officers how you perceive yourself but also how you perceive others. The essay goes well beyond the plain information, such as where you attended high school. Instead, it analyzes who you are as an individual and whether you would be a good college representative.
We can’t provide a universal format that would dazzle each and every college admissions office. However, we can give you a few valuable tips that will help you focus on the right things while avoiding negative and ambiguous statements.
1. Find Your Focus
You need to create a proper plan when writing your essay. Instead of listing all your achievements, focus on one or two main areas. Ideally, you should talk about your affinity for a particular field of science that you’re enrolling in.
Life stories can also be very powerful if packaged correctly. You can talk about situations where you were unsuccessful in accomplishing your goals. Showcase how these situations made you stronger and why this would be a major asset when enrolling into college.
In the end, admission officers are looking for someone who can finish the program and, potentially, become a researcher or a prominent school advocate.
2. Show Your Grit
Every school wants to enroll students who will definitely finish the program. Otherwise, they’ll just waste resources and time on someone who doesn’t want to study. Although you can’t give officers any guarantees, you can use several tricks to persuade them that you’re the right person.
You shouldn’t necessarily talk about your past academic accomplishments (although they do help). Instead, you should talk about situations where you were taken to the brink of your powers and managed to achieve your goals.
For example, you can talk about sports competitions where you were going against older or better players. You can also talk about personal hardships and how you avoid wavering, although the deck was stacked against you.
3. Moderate Yourself
People tend to talk about themselves in superlatives, especially if they’ve had a lot of academic accomplishments. If you were one of the best students in your school, there’s a good chance you’d use it for bragging. But be careful how you present this information.
Ideally, you should use a combination of victories and defeats. Talk about activities you were passionate about, but you simply couldn’t achieve better results. Most importantly, instead of talking about the results, you should focus on the process.
For example, mention how much time you’ve spent on a particular activity. Talk about how you adjusted to different roadblocks and what you learned in the process. However, don’t make it look as if you’ve quit or that you simply didn’t care enough.
4. Be Concise
Another thing students struggle with is being concise. In an attempt to leave a positive impression on admission officers, they’ll share just about any relevant information. This can be a major issue if an officer reading the essay can no longer focus on what you’re writing.
In this particular situation, less is more. Go through everything you’ve done in your life and focus on things that matter. The majority of your essay should revolve around scholastic accomplishment, with a sprinkle of other activities and voluntary work.
Your main objective is to stand out from the crowd without being too tedious. Admissions officers understand that you want to share as much info as possible, but they also won’t tolerate students who are overbearing. We recommend that you consult with a professional college admission mentor so you can hash out some of these things.
Last Thoughts
Writing essays is an art you probably won’t master on the first try. This is why we recommend you start writing your first pieces well before the deadline. That way, you will have ample time to go through the piece with your mentor and talk about potential improvements.
Read a bit about the psychology of writing. Learn how to package your sentences so the admissions office thinks you’re a balanced person and the right fit for their school.