In this article, I'll walk you through exactly how to start a college essay. We'll cover what makes a great personal statement introduction and how the first part of your essay should be structured. We'll also look at several great examples of essay beginnings and explain why they work, how they work, and what you can learn from them.
how to start off a personal essay about yourself
Before we talk about how to start a college essay, let's discuss the role of the introduction. Just as your college essay is your chance to introduce yourself to the admissions office of your target college, your essay's beginning is your chance to introduce your writing.
You're not writing for yourself but for a very specific kind of reader. Picture it: your audience is an admissions officer who has read thousands and thousands of essays. This person is disposed to be friendly and curious, but if she hasn't already seen it all she's probably seen a good portion of it.
Now, let's zero in on the first part of the college essay. What are the ingredients of a great personal statement introduction? I'll list them here and then dissect them one by one in the next section:
So my suggestion is to work in reverse order! Writing your essay will be much easier if you can figure out the entirety of it first and then go back and work out exactly how it should start.
If you're having trouble coming up with a topic, check out our guide on brainstorming college essay ideas. It might also be helpful to read our guides to specific application essays, such as picking your best Common App prompt and writing a perfect University of California personal statement.
In the next sections of this article, I'll talk about how to work backwards on the introduction, moving from bigger to smaller elements: starting with the first section of the essay in general and then honing your pivot sentence and your first sentence.
In a 500-word essay, this section will take up about the first half of the essay and will mostly consist of a brief story that illuminates a key experience, an important character trait, a moment of transition or transformation, or a step toward maturity.
After you've done this storyteller exercise, write down the salient points of what you learned. What is the story your essay will tell? What is the point about your life, point of view, or personality it will make? What tone will you tell it with? Sketch out a detailed outline so that you can start filling in the pieces as we work through how to write the introductory sections.
This is a thorny opening, raising questions about the difference between being an ethnic Jew and practicing the religion of Judaism, and the obligations of Jews who live outside of Israel to those who live in Israel and vice versa. There's a lot of meat to this question, setting up a philosophically interesting, politically important, and personally meaningful essay.
Typically, the pivot sentence will come at the end of your introductory section, about halfway through the essay. I say sentence, but this section could be more than one sentence (though ideally no longer than two or three).
In this tongue-in-cheek essay in which Michaela writes about Stanley, a beloved cactus, as if "he" has human qualities and is her child, the pivot explains what makes this plant so meaningful to its owner. Without having to "take care of him," Michaela "would never have invested so much time learning" about plant biology. She has a deep affinity for the natural sciences and attributes her interest at least partly to her cactus.
In Olivia's essay about her father's role in her life, the pivot discusses his importance by explaining his deep impact on her values. Olivia has spent the story part of her essay describing her father's background and their relationship. Now, she is free to show how without his influence, she would not be so strongly committed to "personal responsibilities, priorities and commitments."
Start from structuring your introduction and crafting a meaningful thesis statement. Think about what your readers need to know about you, and in what sequence. Here are some approaches you can take for your college essay introduction:
There are many ways to engage your reader, but the elements of mystery and surprise are perhaps the most effective. With admissions officers pouring over as many as fifty essays in a day, they begin to scan applicant statements, stopping to read only those that are written extremely well and are out of the ordinary. There is perhaps no better way to get your readers to finish reading your personal statement than to make them guess what you are writing about through the element of mystery.
You do not need to limit yourself to far-reaching global issues. You could state a general problem common to the lives of most people and then go on to personalize it for yourself, relating how it affects you and what you are doing or will do to address it. There are many possibilities here, but what unites them is the element of drama, and you should use that to your advantage in creating a strong introduction.
After having a lot of information about writing the essays, you may think that you need a successful essay example to understand how it works. It may help you to understand the structure of the text better. Also, you can find inspiration while reading. It is even possible that a college admission essay example can influence your opinion on some points of life.
If you wonder where you can read about how to start a college essay example, here is the answer. You can find it in different blogs and articles. Admitted students have the pleasure to share their successful application stories. Sometimes they do it in a funny way. Though you will spend time not only having fun but also gaining knowledge and useful insights.
Many scholarship providers also feature previous scholarship winners on their website, sometimes with the essay (or an excerpt from it) that won. Study what the scholarship provider says about those previous winners to get an idea of which of your qualities to highlight in your essay.
From our simple internal research, all the students who get a task to write an essay about themselves face similar challenges. As simple as an essay about yourself might sound, it can be the toughest nut to crack by all means.
That said, when writing an essay about yourself, it is a chance to reflect on who you are. Naturally, it is like writing a personal essay, and it is always a common type of academic paper. It is still one that you write without being too egocentric or egoistic. As such, taking a descriptive and reflective stance is inevitable.
And when writing, you have to ask yourself some questions. But still, nothing is tough than writing about yourself unbiased. If it is a college admission essay about yourself or a personal statement, you have to stick to the thorough writing rules.
Students often ask why writing an essay about themselves matters. There are various essays about yourself and thus reasons for writing one. First off, such essays test your understanding of the college essay writing process. The tutors or instructors use the essays to test your grasp of grammar, coherent writing, language, and the use of punctuation. Besides, they also assess whether you know how to start an essay about yourself and if you can write an outstanding body and conclusion.
Second, quality essays about yourself can be admission essays, personal statements, reflective papers, or application papers for college. Therefore, they determine or define your destiny in the higher education system.
Third, these essays are also a prerequisite when applying for scholarships or grants. The committee can ask you to write an essay describing yourself. Sometimes, it could be about your academic qualifications, failures, problem-solving skills, analytical skills, or leadership experience. So, they can be used to eliminate candidates and get a suitable number.
Finally, essays about yourself can be a requirement when applying for a job. Sometimes, even when moving into a new position, you must write an essay about yourself. It is usually a chance to carefully introduce your skills, capacity, knowledge, and abilities.
Thanks to an organized higher education assignment system, your instructor, institution, or college registrar will give you a personal essay prompt. You can always choose a relevant topic for the essay about yourself from the prompt alone.
If you fail to generate the best ideas for your essay, your plain essay can turn into an awfully dry autobiography. So, there are certain conventions, recommendations, and approaches to make a glittering essay about yourself.
How to start an essay about yourself can be a tough deliberation from within. Not anymore, stay tuned and read between the lines. Now, even a person of eloquence and excellent oratory skills to express his or her thoughts through writing can experience difficulties starting an essay.
A good opening sentence invites the readers and having an essay hook keeps them to the last dot. Now, having recalled the importance of introductions in essays, we have compiled a list of some essay hooks for personal statements. Here are some ideas:
Most essays about yourself are anything between 500 words to 1000 words. Sometimes, you can be asked to write about yourself in 100, 200, 300, 600, 700, or 900w words, the rules of writing essays about yourself apply in equal measure. Only that this time you have to sieve garbage and alone leave what answers the asked questions.
We call these the no-go zones when writing profile essays about yourself. Your my life essay or who you are essay should only focus on some areas. There are dark areas that can be avoided when writing a short story about yourself:
Only make sure the story fits the essay prompt and use simple words to describe yourself in the essay. Our guide on how to write a five-paragraph essay can come in handy when planning essays about yourself. 2ff7e9595c
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