Applicants to college who are in their 50s are often concerned about how they should approach writing their admission essay. This type of apprehension is normal, considering that you may feel a little awkward about applying to college or graduate school when you are over 50. The truth is, your age shouldn’t discourage you at all and, if anything, you should use your age and experience as your leverage in writing an excellent admission essay. In this article, you will find some advice on how to write a great admission essay to get you into school – no matter how old you are.
Think of your age as a positive thing
It is only human to think of age as something of a burden. If you prescribe to this thinking, then it’s important to try and change your perspective. Think of this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, The years teach much which the days never knew. The many years that you have lived are a great advantage because with years come experience, reflection, and, ultimately, wisdom. Try to reflect this in your essay. Write about significant, life-changing experiences or simply write about how you feel as a person in your 50s, applying to college. Are you chasing a dream that you don’t what to let die? Express this in your essay to let your personality come through in your writing.
Stick to the fundamental rules
Aside from using your experience and age to your advantage, you should also remember to stick to the rules when writing your admission essay. In other words, take time to pay attention to the rules of formatting, minimums or maximums in essay length, and other guidelines. Also, make sure that you keep your objectives in mind when writing your essay. Your main objective is to engage your readers with your personality and persuade them to accept you to their educational institution. Stick to the rules and with the right perspective, you’ll have an excellent essay in no time.
The introduction is one of the most important parts of any admission essay. This is because the intro has a strong influence on how the admissions panel will think about your essay. Knewton has some interesting things to say about your personal statement’s introduction.
Repeating the question is a boring personal statement intro
Accepted editors discussed a client’s response to the question, “How have you experienced culture shock?” The applicant began her response with “I experienced culture shock when” How many applicants responding to this question start similarly? Too many. However, if the applicant from the first word contrasted the culture she comes from with the one that engendered the shock, she would be immediately painting a picture of the situation, differentiating herself from her competition, and making maximal use of each word in an essay with a tight word count.
This is a good tip on how to be creative by starting your essay with a scene or an anecdote. Repeating the questions seems like a grade schooler’s essay writing style, so better look for a more effective approach. Make sure that you hook the readers right from the beginning.
Cliche opening
Another common opening: “I want to be a lawyer because” or “I was born in” or “I come from” Start with an opening that portrays your vision for the future, reveals your preparation for your chosen path, or depicts an illustrative and impressive experience from your background. Then swing back and tie this opening to your desire for a legal education or the theme of your personal statement.
Admission essay readers are looking for something fresh, inspiring, and interesting. Cliches only make your essay less creative and half-heartedly written, without much enthusiasm or creativity coming from you.
According to this excerpt from another article:
Your introduction conveys a lot of information to your readers. You can let them know what your topic is why it is important and how you plan to proceed with your discussion. It should contain a thesis that will assert your main argument. It will also ideally give the reader a sense of the kinds of information you will use to make that argument and the general organization of the paragraphs and pages that will follow. After reading your introduction your readers should not have any major surprises in store when they read the main body of your paper.
You have to be consistent until the end of your essay. You should also work on your body and conclusion and write them with the same quality as your introduction.
Your personal statement introduction must be creative and interesting. You have to ensure that your intro is not just paraphrasing the question. It will also do you well if you avoid openings that are cliches.
