There are several ways to begin your essay’s ending.


The length of your conclusion will be determined by the amount of detail or reflection you’ll need to wrap up your essay and reflect on its meaning.
Remember that once you accomplish these tasks, unless otherwise directed by your instructor, you are finished. Done. Complete. Don't try to bring in new points or end with a whiz bang(!) conclusion or try to solve world hunger in the final sentence of your conclusion. Simplicity is best for a clear, convincing message. Recall a scene, image or quotation that you mentioned early in the essay. This could be material that you used for your opener, or it could be an example that you analyzed in an early body paragraph. How does the evidence appear different or more complicated, in light of your evolved thesis? This is a common strategy in journalism. Writers will often open and close a piece by putting a human face on the topic or problem. In addition to what everyone advised above, I tell my students to end on a final, thought-provoking note. In other words, write a last sentence that you feel will leave the reader thinking for an extra moment or more about some angle of your essay's subject. Before we jump into some good ways to end your college essay, let’s briefly go through some bad ways. The following four approaches are common ways students choose to end their college essays, but they don’t work very effectively because they don’t serve the ultimate purpose of a conclusion. Instead, they’re quick-fix conclusions that actually end up detracting from the essay. Conclusions are not the place for in-depth close reading, nor — at this stage in the essay — should you present evidence that further complicates or changes the argument. However, you can incorporate one small piece of evidence that allows you to recapitulate your argument — essentially offer a thumbnail sketch of your thesis. In other words, you can repeat your argument without sounding repetitive by filtering the thesis through one last striking image or quotation. Argumentative essays frequently encourage you to embrace complexity — to a look at a situation from multiple angles and consider different interpretations. Nevertheless, after demonstrating your willingness to engage multiple perspectives, it can be immensely powerful to end with a clear and confident prescription. Doing so shows that you can not only take a situation apart and analyze its many facets but put that situation back together and recommend the best path forward.

So, here’s how to write a conclusion for your essay.

If you read the entire essay (at link above), you’ll see the author touches on a few different themes in his essay—heritage, community, moral behavior, etc.—but he doesn’t make them super explicit until the end. Once he names them at the end, we (as readers) go, “Ah, that’s what we thought you were talking about.”

This can be a very engaging way to start an essay.

We’re talking about The Sixth Sense, Inception, or Titanic. And totally j/k re: Titanic because that was a TERRIBLE ending—both Jack and Rose could’ve totally fit on that door. The boat sinking was a shocker, though, right?
Does every great movie have both those qualities? No. And must you have both those qualities to get into a great college? No. But these are two good qualities to keep in mind as you read this post and write your essay.

So how exactly do you think outside your essay?

Ending with values is also a pretty good idea because a) it shows your ability to self-reflect, and b) highlights some qualities that, oh, by the way, will be useful in college and beyond.

How to write the middle part of the essay?

Heads-up that this doesn’t work quite as well if you’ve already clearly named the values earlier in the essay—in fact, it can feel repetitive. So, if you’re trying this approach, a) make sure you didn’t already explicitly name the values earlier and, if you did, b) delete or rephrase those parts of your essay so that when you name the values at the end, it won’t feel as repetitive.

Here’s how to brainstorm possible essays:

Reading an essay without a conclusion is like having the power go out mid-binge watch. Admissions officers are left wondering what happened and why. They wonder what you wanted them to get from your essay, what you see as your most important takeaways, and why they should admit you.

How to End an Essay: Writing a Strong Conclusion - wikiHow

These strategies are good ways to end any personal essay, but they are especially good in college essays because they maintain sight of the purpose of a personal statement. They encourage you to write creatively, reflect meaningfully, and convey your strengths with purpose.