According to College Board, a college essay presents "a vivid, personal and compelling view of you to the admissions staff." The staff wants to learn about you. They want to know if you are a good addition to their campus. Your essay is your last chance to convince staff members you deserve an acceptance letter.
Write about something that makes you feel passionate. Focus on how you feel about a certain topic. For instance, do not just say you are an animal rights activist. Provide details about why you are passionate about caring for animals. Discuss how animal cruelty affects you and how it makes you feel when you help an animal.
Breathe life into a mundane subject by approaching it differently. Take the question "What did you do last summer?" for example. If writing about your favorite summer job, find a compelling or entertaining way to convey the information. Instead of saying you spent the entire summer working on a car lot, find a way to pull readers into your essay. For instance, discuss why you were working at the car lot.
Write something such as, "I worked at my uncle's car lot because it's the family business. I didn't enjoy selling cars as much as I enjoyed interacting with customers." You could also say something like, "I worked at a car lot to earn money for my senior class trip to the Bahamas. My parents offered to pay, but I didn't want to burden them with the cost." A boring story becomes interesting when you provide intimate details.
Some students think big, complicated words make them sound smart. Flexing your vocabulary skills is fine when the situation calls for it. A college essay is not one of those situations. You never know who is going to read your essay. The person reading your essay should not need a thesaurus to decipher the essay's meaning.
Extensive grammar and spelling errors ruin your essay. You are applying for college and should have at least a college-level grasp of the English language. If your essay is unreadable, you certainly will not receive an acceptance letter.