College essays can be a great opportunity to express who you are in a creative way. They give you the opportunity to “paint a picture” of who you are, what your personality is like and what you value. They are an important component of your college application, so it is important to give yourself plenty of time to devote to the writing process.

Here are a few points you should consider as you work on your college essays:

• Is the topic you chose really important to YOU? Is it something you think about? Does it bring emotion? If it’s not important to you, it won’t sound convincing to the reader.
• How strong is your introduction? Don’t wait until the end of your essay to get your point across or to make your point.
• Did you include an anecdote? A funny statement? Did you omit somebody else ´s quote? Unless the quote is really pertinent to the point you are trying to make, use your own words.
• Does your essay give a news report on Honduras? Certainly write about your country, but don’t include information that an admissions representative can easily look up or is already aware of.
• Is your essay too wordy? Get to the point! Take out extra words if you think you ´re trying to explain too much.
• Be critical about word choices! Can you use a more appropriate word in place of another?
• What is the message that you are trying to convey about yourself? Can the reader clearly determine that?
• If your essay is about an organization that you volunteer for or a person you admire, then have you still made it clear what you want the reader to learn about you?
• Did you answer each part of the essay question?
• Did you limit the number of people reading over your essay? Choose who will edit your essay wisely. Don’t assume that by having ten people read it over, your essay will improve. Sometimes the more people who read your essay, the less it is yours.
• Did you use a lot of adjectives to describe yourself OR did you use anecdotes or examples to show your qualities?
• Most importantly, out of the hundreds or possibly the thousands of application essays, what about your essay makes it memorable?