Editing Your Essay

Class Location: The Internet.

Description: This class will help you in the tedious process of editing and proofreading your essay. 

Requirements: A friend, or anyone who you can trust to proofread your essay.

Objective: Ensure your essay is the best it can possibly be.

Even if you know you are a talented proofreader, make sure to have someone else look at your essays. It always helps to have another pair of eyes look at your work, especially if you know they are a good editor. Have them focus on content first and proofread for grammar at the end of the process. Remember when focusing on the message of your essay, make sure it answers the main question posed on the college application.

Admissions Essays Content Editing

The following are five questions to focus on while editing your essays.

1. Does each essay specifically answer the question that was asked? Erase anything that is not relevant to the exact question asked on the admissions form.

2. Is your essay original? This does not mean you have to say something that has never been said before. Make sure you are using your ideas, with fresh language giving admissions officers an idea of your thinking, life experience, and values. It is better to be an independent mind in the sea of voices the admissions committee will be reviewing.

3. Will the essay help the admissions committee picture you as an individual?

4. Does your writing use a proper tone? Is it stiff or informal? Does it sound boastful, or self-deprecating? What is the tone you want to consider? This may depend on the question posed or the school you are applying to.

5. Could anyone on the admissions committee read your essay and understand it the way you mean them to? Do you need to add information, or explain any unusual words or references? Would it be helpful if you changed the order in which you present information, or used more precise wording to explain an idea?

Admission Essays Grammar Editing

The best way to make sure that your essays are grammatically correct is to have someone with a good eye for grammar proofread them. Maybe you can ask your favorite English teacher to look at them or a peer who excels in writing. Even professional writers have a hard time proofing their own writing. It becomes more difficult to edit essays independently as you write more content. When you write something, you spend so much time thinking about what you are trying to say that it becomes embedded in your mind – and what you 'read' when you review your text is what you have memorized instead of what you actually have put on paper. This makes it easy to miss seeing even the simplest grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Keep in mind that, even if you do not care that much about grammar, chances are that someone on the admissions staff or committee does. They may overlook or excuse one small mistake, but a pattern of grammatical errors and misspellings will make even an outstanding applicant look like a dud. You want to look like the most ideal candidate. A great way to do that is to illustrate your mastery of the English language.