Ten Steps to a Successful Essay

• Start early. Give yourself plenty of time to develop an outline, write your essay and have someone review it.
• Read the instructions carefully and pay attention to details. Do the instructions specify a certain font size or ink color? Are you supposed to put your name and address on each page?
• Grab the reader's interest with the introduction. Don't summarize the entire essay in the first paragraph. Create some intrigue with your first sentence that makes the reviewer want to read the entire essay. Appeal to their emotions to make them relate to your subject matter.
• Be yourself. The review committee wants to learn about you. Write about something meaningful and describe your feelings, not necessarily your actions.
• Write about your accomplishments. Don't limit yourself to accomplishments that received formal recognition. Think about those that didn't seem so important at the time, but ended up impacting your life or the lives of others.
• Don't just list an activity; explain how it made a difference. A statement like "During my senior year, I was editor of the school paper" doesn't tell the review committee much. But if you explain how your newspaper impacted students (perhaps through a series of in-depth articles), you'll impress the committee.
• Be clear, concise and understandable. Using big words will not impress the review committee (for example, instead of "utilize", say "use".) Rework your essay until you cut all unnecessary words, and use active voice to give the essay more punch.
• Explain acronyms. Spell out acronyms the first time you reference them. You may know what DECA or FCA means, but the review committee may not.
• Ask an English instructor to proofread your essay. Besides checking for spelling and grammatical errors, ask the proofreader to make sure you answered all the questions, and that you were clear and concise.
• Use high-quality paper. It will help make your essay look neat and crisp and is less likely to dog-ear or wrinkle than standard printer paper.