best intros for college essays

This college essay tip is by Abigail McFee, Admissions Counselor for Tufts University and Tufts '17 graduate. 2. Write like a journalist. "Don't bury the lede!" The first few sentences must capture the reader's attention, provide a gist of the story, and give a sense of where the essay is heading.

Unoriginal essay introductions are easily forgotten and don't demonstrate a high level of creative thinking. A college essay is intended to give insight into the personality and background of an applicant, so a standard, one-size-fits-all introduction may lead admissions officers to think they are dealing with a standard, unremarkable applicant.

Step 1: Hook your reader. Step 2: Give background information. Step 3: Present your thesis statement. Step 4: Map your essay's structure. Step 5: Check and revise. More examples of essay introductions. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.

College Essay Introduction Examples. I almost didn't live through September 11th, 2001. When I was 8 years old, I shocked my family and a local archaeologist by discovering artifacts dating back almost 3,500 years. When I was in eighth grade I couldn't read. While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a ...

Read the full essay. Cliche College Essay Introductions to Avoid Ambiguous Introduction It's best to avoid introductory sentences that don't seem to really say anything at all, such as "Science plays a large role in today's society," or "X has existed since the beginning of time."

Intro Paragraph Part 3: The Thesis. The final key part of how to write an intro paragraph is the thesis statement. The thesis statement is the backbone of your introduction: it conveys your argument or point of view on your topic in a clear, concise, and compelling way. The thesis is usually the last sentence of your intro paragraph.

Here's a list of what to include in your college essay introduction: "Hook" sentence. Road map of your essay. Transition sentence. Good flow. As we've said, the introduction can make or break your entire essay, since it is your chance to "hook" your reader. Therefore, your introduction should begin with your hook sentence.

A great pivot is like great parkour—sharp, fast, and coming on a slightly unexpected curve. (Peter Waterman/Flickr)College Essay Introduction Examples. We've collected many examples of college essays published by colleges and offered a breakdown of how several of them are put together.Now, let's check out a couple of examples of actual college essay beginnings to show you how and why they work.

Making an all-state team → outstanding achievement. Making an all-state team → counting the cost of saying "no" to other interests. Making a friend out of an enemy → finding common ground, forgiveness. Making a friend out of an enemy → confront toxic thinking and behavior in yourself.

A good essay introduction catches the reader's attention immediately, sets up your argument, and tells the reader what to expect. This video will walk you th...

Here are the key takeaways for how to write essay introduction: 3. Hook the Reader: Start with an engaging hook to grab the reader's attention. This could be a compelling question, a surprising fact, a relevant quote, or an anecdote. Provide Background: Give a brief overview of the topic, setting the context and stage for the discussion.

College essay example #7. This is a college essay that worked for Cornell University. (Suggested reading: How to Get Into Cornell) My fingers know instinctively, without a thought. They turn the dial, just as they have hundreds of times before, until a soft, metallic click echoes into my eardrum and triggers their unconscious stop.

Technique #1: humor. Notice Renner's gentle and relaxed humor that lightly mocks their younger self's grand ambitions (this is different from the more sarcastic kind of humor used by Stephen in the first essay—you could never mistake one writer for the other). My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver.

Colleges ask for a "personal" statement for a reason. The introduction paragraph of your essay sets the tone for the rest of the essay. So while the topic of your essay or personal statement needs to show depth and provide insight into the person behind the application, the introduction lays the blueprints for the reader on what to expect.

Example 3. [1] When the Lutz family moved into a new house in Amityville, New York, they found themselves terrorized by a vengeful ghost (Labianca, 2021). Since then, their famous tale has been debunked by scientists and the family themselves (Smith, 2005). [2]

Common App Essay Examples. Here are the current Common App prompts. Click the links to jump to the examples for a specific prompt, or keep reading to review the examples for all the prompts. Prompt #1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without ...

In this post, we'll share 16 college essay examples of many different topics. Most of the essay prompts fall into 8 different archetypes, and you can approach each prompt under that archetype in a similar way. We've grouped these examples by archetype so you can better structure your approach to college essays.

After all, your college essay introduction will set the tone for the rest of your essay, so you want to make sure that it is off to a great start. In this blog, we will go over some Dos and Donts for writing college essay introductions, a few strategies that'll help you stand out, and we will share some examples to help you get inspired.

Here are a couple of examples of eye-catching opening lines to help inspire your own intro: 1. Engaging Anecdote: "As I stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon, staring at the endless expanse before me, I couldn't help but think how my own life felt like standing at a precipice, just one misstep away from falling into the unknown." 2.

Here are samples from winning college essays courtesy of Stanford University. These are opening lines of admissions essays that the Stanford admission reps especially liked. All of the essay ...

Again, we'd recommend sticking with standard fonts and sizes—Times New Roman, 12-point is a standard workhorse. You can probably go with 1.5 or double spacing. Standard margins. Basically, show them you're ready to write in college by using the formatting you'll normally use in college.

Table of contents. Essay 1: Sharing an identity or background through a montage. Essay 2: Overcoming a challenge, a sports injury narrative. Essay 3: Showing the influence of an important person or thing. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Builds writing confidence through frequent informal writing, and introductions to key learning strategies. Includes user-friendly orientation to library and research documents, revision skills, and peer review work central to 100- and 200-level college writing assignments. ... Preparing for College Writing. Autumn 2024; View in MyPlan. View in ...

Teaching Assistants (T.A.) help to make Ithaca College's Summer Pre-College Programs successful. We are currently looking for T.A.s for the following courses in our Summer College for High School Students, which runs between July 15 and August 02, 2024.. Imaginative Writing (part of our Ithaca Young Writers Institute) - this course is like an Intro to Creative Writing course.

Take Intro to Poetry This Summer The Department of Literatures in English will offer an online section of ENGL 11300 Introduction to Poetry this upcoming summer. The course can count within the ICC "Themes and Perspectives" category as either a Humanities course or as a Creative Arts course. It is also themed both within "Identities" and "Inquiry, Imagination, and Innovation."The course ...

At first, the writing was just for himself and his younger son, Liam, who was 11 when Jake died. "I initially started writing to survive," Panus says. "And it was really a letter to Jake initially. And I would stop and start a lot because it really hurt.

Guest Essay. Why Biden Has a Narrower Path to the Presidency Than Trump, in 11 Maps. April 16, 2024. ... Our Electoral College maps below lay out the best scenarios for him and Mr. Trump.