Writing Your College Application Essay Introduction Your essay is like a window into your mind and personality Unlike your grades and activities,

Writing Your College Application Essay

Introduction

Your essay is like a window into your mind and personality

Unlike your grades and activities, your essay reveals the things that make you unique from other students

It also demonstrates your writing ability

What the Colleges Look For

This essay should be less about “what” you have done, and more about “why” you have done it

A good essay can help tip the scales and a poor essay can shut the door in your face

Some college officials claim that fewer than half of applicants put forth real, honest effort

At least 2 college admissions reps will read your essay when you submit it

Colleges Want to Know What Makes You Tick The primary rule in writing these essays is

to BE YOURSELF Pick a subject that you care about

(something significant and familiar to you) You should focus on showing PERSONAL

COMMITMENT and INVOLVEMENT in whatever you write about

The Questions that Colleges Ask

1. Why go to college, and why here?

2. Who are you? 3. Would you tell us a story about yourself?

4. What is important to you?

5. What would you like to tell us about yourself?

Why Go to College? Why Here?

DO Answer the question Learn what the school has to

offer before you write Think hard about why you

want to go to college (not “I want to get a good job)

Figure out why this college appeals to you

Focus on educational or personal reasons for going to college (not social, economic..)

DON’T Don’t flatter the college Don’t focus on size,

location, appearance Don’t admit that it’s your

“safe” school Don’t write that you’re

going to college b/c you don’t know what else to do

Why do you want to go to college? What are your career goals?How will this college help you fulfill your goals and aspirations?

Who Are You?

DO Answer the question Be as honest as you can Emphasize specific,

observable qualities that show your distinctive personality

Use specific examples Ask people who know you

well if they agree with what you write

DON’T Don’t be vague Don’t be too cute Don’t try to impress Don’t write everything

about yourself Don’t spill everything

about yourself

WhWhat is important to you? How would you describe yourself? Write your own recommendation to college. Whatmakes you different from other people?

Would You Tell Us a Story About Yourself?

DO Choose an experience that

you remember well (details!)

Pick an experience you can dramatize

Focus on a specific incident or event

Make yourself the central character of the story

DON’T Don’t think that something

ordinary can’t make a good story

Don’t choose a complicated event

Don’t lie Don’t ramble Don’t explain the point (let

the story make the point)

Should entertain and inform…suggests your values, clarifies your attitudes… ex) Describe a challenging situation and howyou responded.

What Is Important to You?

DO Choose a subject you care

about Let your head/heart be

your ‘source’ Think of 3 very good

personal reasons for your choice

Try out more than one answer

DON’T Don’t choose a topic

merely to look good Don’t be self-

conscious about your choice

Don’t choose a subject that requires research

Your preferences define you… What is your favorite quotation?What have you read that has had special significance for you?Identify a person who has had a significant influence on you.

What is your favorite noun?

What Would You Like to Tell Us About Yourself?

DO Choose something that

matters to you Consider explaining

something ‘unusual’ Use a style of writing that

sounds like you Write a piece that you

have written successfully in class

DON’T Don’t turn down the

opportunity to write more

Don’t try to impress Don’t repeat other

aspects of application

You may submit a poem, story or paper you have written in school. Choose a writing style that is familiar/ comfortable.

PITFALLS TO AVOID

Trying to Impress

Don’t state a ‘passion’ of yours that is not found elsewhere on your application

Almost any topic will do as long as it portrays the true ‘you’

Trying to Include Everything

Don’t try to write an entire autobiography

Avoid the “what-I-did-in-high school” approach

Focus on one topic that will set you apart

The “Jock” Essay

Don’t tell the typical story of how you won the race or what you learned by being the captain of the football team

You may write about sports if you can focus it around one specific lesson etc.

The Travelogue Do not write a

“common” essay about a certain trip

Do not list the places you visited, etc.

If you do write about a trip, focus on one insight or a particular moment that affected you

Straining to Be Funny

Cleverness might tarnish an otherwise perfect application

You can use playful, satirical language, but don’t overdo it

If you’re not usually funny, don’t try to be in your essay

Being Too Creative

If you get a strange question (“Write your own question and answer it”)… you don’t have to give a strange answer

Be sensitive and sincere in whatever you write

Being Too Ordinary Choose a unique

personal experience rather than typical ideas

Don’t follow the crowd and write the obvious

Most people will play it safe and write about school

Remember to Ask Yourself…

What is unique about me?

What do I want my reader to think of me?

Here’s a good place to begin…

Write a list of adjectives that describe what you like about yourself.

Then make another list about what you dislike.

Look for patterns or contradictions (and unusual combinations)

Choose one of the following topics…What are you good at? What has been your

greatest success? Your greatest failure?

What three words would you like engraved on your tombstone?

What is your strongest conviction?

What would you do with a million dollars?

If the world were to end one year from today, how would you spend your remaining time?

Composing Your Essay

The Introduction: Grab the Reader’s Interest

The Body: Putting the Pieces Together

The Conclusion: Giving a Farewell Gift

Introduction: Grab Your Reader’s Attention

(Begin with a “hook”… something catchy to lure them in)

1. Start with an incident

2. State an idea

3. Use a quotation

4. Define a word in a new way

5. Ask an interesting question that you will answer

The Body: Putting the Pieces Together Arrange ideas in an

orderly fashion (not random)

Save your strongest point for last

Good idea to have 3 sections

Consider your purpose as you write

The Conclusion: Give a Farewell Gift Rather than just ‘ending’ your essay, give

your reader something to remember you (idea, quotation, memorable phrase)

Sense of humor End with quotation Recall something from earlier Ask rhetorical question Speculate on what might occur in the future Avoid summarizing