Studying abroad can be an incredible experience, giving you the opportunity to live and learn in an entirely different place and culture. But, the first thing you’ll have to do is be accepted to study abroad. This application process will almost certainly include an application essay. Before you sit down to write your application essay, you’ll want to review these 7 common mistakes EDUopinions found in order to avoid them in your own application and boost your chances of acceptance into a study abroad programme.
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1. Not Really Thinking About Your Answers
Sometimes the answers to questions seem so obvious that we just want to jump right into answering. But, if you sit back and do some brainstorming, perhaps there’s a much better answer that you can compose. Jotting down some ideas can help you see all of the different things you can talk about and can help branch out to other ideas. When you’re limited for space in your responses, you’ll want to get the most relevant information included and provide the best answer possible. Doing some brainstorming before answering can help you do exactly that.
2. Not Knowing Where the Essay is Going
If there’s no structure to your essay and no plan on how it will flow, it may be confusing, disjointed or even repetitive. Putting together an outline for how your essay will be structured can help you organise what you’re saying, and will let you see the overall picture of your essay laid out. Sites like EliteAssignmentHelp and StateOfWriting may help with this.
3. Missing Out on A Great First Impression
Admissions officials will be reading a lot of essays, so you’ve got to make yours stand out in a positive way by creating a positive first impression. Getting personal and letting yourself shine through is a great way to stand out to those admissions officials. Including personal stories or experiences that have created your interest in studying abroad can really catch the eye of the reader and make your essay stand out among the rest.
4. Not Proofreading and Formatting Your Essay Properly
After putting so much time and effort into writing your application essay, you won’t want to send it off before first proofreading it and ensuring it’s properly formatted. Careless mistakes in your spelling, grammar and overall structure of your writing can seriously impact how your essay is received by the admissions officials. Use these online resources to check for any errors in your written work:
- Academized and Via Writing – Helpful online writing guides
- Write my essay and Big Assignments – Have your essay edited online
- Study demic – Check your grammar before sending your essay off
- Ox Essays – Properly format your work using this tool, as mentioned at UKTopWriters
- MyWritingWay and WritingPopulist – Great online proofreading tools to get errors out of your writing
- Paper Fellows and Australian Help – Create subheadings and titles within your work to make your essay easier to read.
5. Not Backing Up Your Statements
Not only will admissions officials want to know what you’re looking to gain from your experiences studying abroad, but they’ll be interested in knowing why. The brainstorming session and outline you created for your essay will help out largely here, helping you to structure your answers to include not only the ‘what’ but also the ‘why.’
6. Hiding Your True Self
You’ll always want to remain professional and sound intelligent when writing your admissions essay, but you shouldn’t be afraid to let your personality be seen. It gives the admissions officials a better idea of who you are and helps set you apart from the rest of the applicants.
7. Forgetting That This Works Both Ways
You’ll be gaining a lot through your study abroad in terms of knowledge and experiences. But, also don’t forget to mention how can contribute to the programme you’re interested in. Having something to give back to the programme shows that you are interested in the programme succeeding overall.
Officials also want to know that the applicants they are accepting will be great ambassadors of their programme and will contribute towards elevating the programme’s reputation. Be sure to include within your application essay all of the things you are able to offer the programme and how you can contribute towards its continued success.
While you may be excited to get started and send off your admissions essays, you should keep in mind that writing is a process that takes time and needs to be well thought out. Give yourself the best chance for acceptance into the study abroad programme you’ve got your eyes set on, by avoiding these common mistakes and presenting the best possible admissions essay you can create.
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