When working with TKG clients, most come to us with an idea of what a traditional high school essay should look like. You’re probably familiar with a structure that looks something like this:

Introductory Paragraph
Three body paragraphs, all of which are comprised of evidence that supports the claims you’re making in your essay.
Conclusion paragraph

You’ve probably been taught that the conclusion paragraph is where you restate your thesis statement and finalize your argument with a persuasive call to action.

And while this structure might jive with most high school graded papers, it simply doesn’t work for a college essay. Your common app essay is a piece of creative non-fiction. It is not an argumentative piece of writing.

Before we move on to our tips for writing a conclusion to your college essay, there is one more thing that you need to unlearn. We are often taught that bigger words are best and that we should “save” the “gotcha” moment for the end of the essay. For the record, we are not trying to shade high school English and writing curriculum. We’re trying to outline the process of working with new TKG clients for our blog readers. Here are two reasons why the **BIG** conclusion at the end won’t work.

You’ll come off as defensive. If you’re trying to show your dream college that you’re a supportive friend, simply tell them a story of you being a supportive friend. If you’ve properly told the story, your qualities and traits will be made clear throughout the essay.
You’ll have a break form. You should know by now that your common app essay should read like a story with a beginning, middle, and end. A great essay is a great essay because it simply tells a story. So here’s what you shouldn’t do: use 600 words to tell an awesome story, and then allocate the remaining 50 words to telling the reader what the essay says about you. If at any point in your essay you use the words “From this experience, I learned that I am……,” stop writing immediately and go back and flesh out the story.

So how do you write a solid conclusion? We’ve found it helpful to reframe the phrase itself. So instead of writing a conclusion, write the end of your story. If you wrote your common app essay about last Saturday morning, tell the admissions team how the morning ended. If you wrote about your favorite recipe, tell them the final step.

If you get to the “end” of your essay, and you feel that your personality trait hasn’t been made clear, we suggest going back into the story and beefing it up with some details. A well fleshed out story will always work to your advantage, and painting a more vivid picture will make the essay feel complete.

We completely understand how daunting it can feel to distill your entire personality into one essay. It should feel daunting because it’s impossible. Everyone has just 650 words to work with, and you will not be able to show every single one of your unique personality traits in one essay. Rather than trying to accomplish that impossible task, focus on one story that speaks to who you are. Then use your supplements as opportunities to flesh out your other interests, hobbies, and traits.

When it comes to editing the end of your story, treat it like the rest of your essay. You’ll know that you’re on the right track if it doesn’t feel like the conclusions that you’ve written in the past.

We love helping students tell creative stories. Contact us here if you want to work with one of our writers.