essays

acadmful

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Mar 30, 2016
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I was wondering if there was anyone on here who could give a few tips on how to stand apart when writing an essay for a service academy. Also if there is anybody who works in admissions who might share what are some of the most overused stuff in essays that they read, I would appreciate it.
 
I was wondering if there was anyone on here who could give a few tips on how to stand apart when writing an essay for a service academy. Also if there is anybody who works in admissions who might share what are some of the most overused stuff in essays that they read, I would appreciate it.
Speak from the heart...Your essay should reflect who you are .
 
Also, you should try to make it stand out from others. Something unique about you, or something you did. Make sure you have it proofread by someone else. Maybe an English teacher or a parent can help with the proofreading.
 
For the first essay I believe it asks you about why you want to be in the coast guard. Personally I started my essay with an experience that changed the way I saw the world and pushed me towards the coast guard and military but it doesn't have to be super heavy. This creates an opening hook. I used the time when I was watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with my dad and Clark Griswold worked a white collar job to create or engineer cereal varnish and this seemed like the most boring thing in the world so I asked my dad if people really had jobs like that and he said most people do and would consider having that job to be lucky. For college essays you want to balance "show" and "tell". So you should tell them why you want to be a coast guardsmen and save lives but that alone isn't enough. You should also include personal experiences that are touching and show how those affected you and build evidence for your "tell".

There is no one way to write a college essay and you shouldn't try too hard to be unique but you also shouldn't force yourself to "check all the boxes" and "cover your bases". I'm not an expert on this but I was generally successful in my college applications so take this with a grain of salt.
 
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