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Admissions Essay Strategies |
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Question-Specific
Strategies
Admissions officers will often emphasize that they do not care what you choose
to write about in your essay. They stress this because most writers err on
the side of unoriginality, having tried too hard to meet the expectations of
their imagined readers and discarding all of their own personality in the process.
Of course, there is truth in their advice: You should write with the goal of
expressing your own values and conveying the qualities most important to you.
You should frame this discussion in a way that highlights your unique character.
However, you must exercise your creativity with a definite eye toward the themes
and points that will justify your suitability for college. Your ultimate goal
is not just to stand out as a likeable person, but also to obtain admission
to your college or university of choice.
As
a guide, we discuss common essay topics.
Personal Growth
This is perhaps
the most popular essay topic, since it delves into the heart of what the
admissions essay is all about:
helping the college gain better insight into an applicant's personality and
character. Some schools ask targeted questions, such as "What was the most
challenging event you have ever faced, and how have you grown from it?" Others
leave the topic open: "Describe an event that has had great meaning for you.
Explain why and how it has affected you."
One of the most successful strategies is to use
a past event as a lens through which you can assess who you were and who
you have become. Most children are inquisitive, but were you the one who
asked your kindergarten teacher what caused the seasons of the year, and
then proceeded to create a model of the solar system and explain the concept
to your fellow classmates? Though you may think that you need to write about
something more grandiose, you do not. Success lies in painting an accurate
and vivid picture of yourself--one that will show admissions officers that
you have much to offer their school.
The most important
advice we can give is to be honest, refrain from employing cliché,
and show maturity. College is a radical change from high school, and you
want your reader to realize
that you are more than ready to take the next major step in your life.
Sample Essays And Comments
1. Well
Done "Personal Growth" Essay
2. Poorly
Done "Personal Growth" Essay
Role Models and Influences
Admissions officers will want to know if there
is more to you than your SAT scores and GPA. Therefore, it is important for
you to find a way to differentiate yourself from the other qualified applicants.
You can demonstrate that you are not just another pretty transcript by showing
a completely different side of yourself through the role models and influences
that shaped the person you are today.
The key here is to personalize: Do not go off
on tangents, focusing on someone else instead of the most important element--why
your topic is significant to you. Focus on what these influences have meant
to you and how you have grown, tying in relevant aspects of your personal
or family life when appropriate. Show your strengths in new ways without
restating the obvious.
However, do not feel that you need to write about
famous people or impress admissions officers by noting your family's ties
to an influential member of the government or movie star. Writing about a
teacher who sparked your interest in archaeology by taking your third-grade
class to a local museum to see a dinosaur exhibit is far more effective than
name-dropping in the hopes of impressing admissions officers.
If you can demonstrate unusual maturity, sensitivity,
and direction in your essay, you will be ahead of the game.
Sample Essays
And Comments
1. Well
Done "Role Models and Influences" Essay
2. Poorly
Done "Role Models and Influences" Essay
Hobbies and Interests
This topic is very wide open. You could choose
to write about an extracurricular activity, job, hobby, or just about anything
that involves a high level of interest and dedication. Remember, refrain
from repeating information found elsewhere in your application or simply
writing a laundry list of academic, extracurricular, and work successes.
Focus on why the interest is important you, making
sure to highlight its relevance to other areas of your life and what you
have learned from it. Demonstrate passion, devotion, and leadership skills,
as these are all character traits admissions officers seek in future college
students. Most of all, be genuine--admissions officers will know if you are
only telling them what you think they want to hear.
Sample Essays And Comments
1. Well
Done "Hobbies and Interests" Essay
2. Poorly
Done "Hobbies and Interests" Essay
Favorites
Usually a topic of short-answer essays, Favorites
questions ask you to write about books, songs, art, people, and just about
anything else you can think of, focusing on how the topic of choice has made
an impact upon your life. As mentioned before, do not pick a subject because
you believe it will impress admissions officers. Instead, choose something
special to you, something that you can use to relate who you are in a unique
fashion.
If you choose a popular subject, be prepared for
the challenge. You will have to work harder to stand out from other applicants
who are also writing about, for example, Albert Einstein as the most influential
person of the twentieth century. Choosing a topic closer to home could prove
more successful, since you will be able to provide more personal insights.
Be personal. Be specific. Be yourself.
Sample Essays
And Comments
1. Well
Done "Favorites" Essay
2. Poorly
Done "Favorites" Essay
School Target
Surprisingly, most students find this topic difficult
to write about. If you have chosen to apply to an institution based upon
its ranking in a popular magazine or because your parents told you to, you
may have to spend some time thinking deeply about exactly what it is that
makes this particular institution right for you.
A main point of these questions is to see if you
care enough about the college or university to have researched it beyond
what anyone could have read in its marketing literature or on its web page.
Knowing yourself--your passions, skills, and goals--can go a long way in
helping you answer School Target questions. If you see yourself as an aspiring
journalist and are applying to a school that can help you land a coveted
internship writing for the Washington Post, you can discuss how you
plan to make it as the editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. If you want
to be a social worker and are applying to a university in a large urban area,
you can talk about how the geographic location will provide ample opportunity
for your involvement in community outreach programs. However, make sure to
show how that particular school offers something others do not.
Sample Essays
And Comments
1. Well
Done "School Target" Essay
2. Poorly
Done "School Target" Essay
International Experience
Students applying to U.S. schools from overseas
will already have a wealth of experience from which to choose a topic. For
those who have only ventured beyond U.S. borders, think about the significance
of your international experience: What did you learn about another culture?
What did you learn about yourself and your fellow travelers? How has your
experience shaped your views?
Another effective way to tackle the question is
to explain how the experience has moved you to develop new goals. For example,
did your trip to France with your French class during spring vacation solidify
your goal of studying eighteenth-century French literature in original manuscript
form? If so, you could discuss how your college of choice fits in with your
aspirations--how its top-notch French department and liberal policy on studying
abroad will help you discover the literary wonders of Rousseau.
When brainstorming for a theme to provide coherence
to your piece, remember to visualize the experience so that you can include
precise details that will help the reader imagine he was actually there with
you. Follow the general guidelines we have provided for other question topics,
making sure to personalize the experience as much as possible.
Sample Essays
And Comments
1. Well
Done "International Experience" Essay
2. Poorly
Done "International Experience" Essay
Explaining Blemishes
''Every applicant
has made some mistakes along the way--taken the wrong course, performed poorly
in a course, or overloaded on extracurriculars. While these mistakes have their
consequences, be confident in the choices you have made up to this point in life
and in rendering the sum total of those choices to us in the form of an admission
application.''
-- Admissions Officer, Amherst
College
Certain aspects of your application may call for
an explanation. Such aspects might include any of the following:
- Grades
- Standardized examination scores
- Deficiency in the number of letters of recommendation
submitted
- Lack of work experience or extracurricular
activities
- Why you are applying again after being denied
previously
- Gaps in the chronological account of your previous
education or employment
- Disciplinary action
- Criminal record
Under what circumstances should you use your personal
statement to explain a particular deficiency, weakness, or other blemish?
First of all, the application might explicitly invite you to explain deficiencies,
weaknesses, aberrations, or any other aspect of your candidacy that might
not accurately reflect your abilities or potential and fitness for college
study. Virtually all schools ask specifically about the last two items above.
For the other items, where applications do not explicitly provide for such
explanations, the schools nevertheless permit and generally encourage applicants
to provide brief explanations. Most schools suggest that you attach an addendum
to your personal statement for this purpose while reserving the personal
statement itself for positive information about yourself. If you are in doubt
about the policy and preferred procedure of a particular school, contact
the school directly.
Another point you should keep in mind is whether
you have a valid reason. Staying up late the night before the SAT is not
a legitimate reason for a bad performance, while documented sickness could
be. A particularly bad semester could be explained by a death or illness
in the family. If you lack extracurricular activities, you might point out
the number of hours you had to work to help your family or save for college.
There are many more gray areas. For example, is
it worth noting that you simply have a bad history of standardized testing?
Doing so tactfully (in other words, do not rail against the arbitrariness
of tests or demand the right to be considered for your grades alone) can
help the schools understand your exact situation, but it most likely will
not have a substantial effect on their perspective, since they know to take
into account the imprecision of standardized tests. What about the class
for which you simply did not grasp the material, or a sub-par GPA during
your freshman year? Again, what you have to say will not constitute an extenuating
circumstance, since everyone has weaknesses. Your best approach might be
to try to transform such blemishes into something positive by pointing out
particular classes in which you performed well, especially those that were
more advanced, more relevant to your intended career path, or more recent.
Finally, make sure that you do not take a contentious
tone. Do not accuse your teachers of unfair grading standards or complain
about lack of extracurricular opportunities at your school. Be clear that
you are not trying to excuse yourself of responsibility, but emphasize that
you simply want the schools to have the complete picture.
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