College Essay

1. College Essay

2. A personal statement that reveals who you are can really set your application apart. • Honest, self-revealing ones are persuasive, BUT cute, smart, affected, phony ones are not. • A narrative, in which you tell a story, can often be the most engaging: think “show,” not “tell”

3. What's your subject? • Yourself! • Feel strongly about what you're saying, whether the topic is frivolous or serious. • Say it sensibly and grammatically.

4. Write for yourself...make it honest....not with an eye to "what do they want"? • They want to know who you are. You'll never be able to tell them if you're looking at them instead of yourself.

5. You'll probably have to redo this statement at least a couple of times to make it say what you want to. • Rewriting is key.

6. Purpose of the essays • A glimpse of you as a person • Insight objective data can't give. • Don’t repeat what is already on the other parts of your application

7. Prompts • The topics test your imagination, thinking, and writing ability. • Give you a chance to set yourself apart and make your application come alive.

8. Before Starting Your Essay, it may help to brainstorm by thinking about… • Why am I going to college in the first place? • What do I want most out of college? Least? • What about the trade-offs? (Big or small, city or country, more demanding or more friendly) • What do I want out of life, or in life – something tangible (status) or intangible (happiness)?

9. And when revising and editing… • Read the second and last sections of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Your essay will be better written if you do.

10. Keep in Mind… • Use the Whats (specific details) to hang the Whys onto. • Again: be specific; give details. • A general statement not supported is bad writing. • Focus on showing, not telling

11. After Writing a Draft • Read it aloud to see how it sounds. • If it sounds wordy, weird, and/or stiff, it is. • Rework it, then ask a friend to read it.

12. There are NO bad topics, but... • There are bad ways of handling topics. • Avoid emptiness, pretension, cuteness, by writing honestly and imaginatively about something that's important to you, no matter how trivial.

13. Don’t Generalize • Your essay must be something only YOU could write, because you're showing, with specific detail, what this event, activity, experience, etc. did to you. • Generalizations anyone could write are useless and boring.

14. Jeannette Hersey, former Connecticut College admissions director, says: • “95 percent of personal essays are simply travelogues.” • They tell where you've been and what you've done, but not why or what you got from it.

15. Other favorite topics that are dead without a specific message: • cutesy lists of things you like • stories of successes, athletic or other • death of a pet • autobiographies • statements of your wonderful qualities • pontifications on world peace or another pressing issue.

16. A sports essay that worked… • From College Applications: 50 Essays that Helped Students Get into the Nation’s Top Colleges. • Check it and/or Write Your Way Into College: College Admissions Essay out from the library

17. Searching for a Topic • Ask yourself lots of questions • Think about what's interesting or important to you. • Use your favorite brainstorming tool to create a list.

18. Write Your Own Essay • If an admissions officer suspects your statement isn't your own work, they'll almost certainly reject you. • Parental help pointing out bad grammar or unsupported themes is great. However, it’s often not helpful for parents to critique your topic itself, and it’s the kiss of death if they write it for you.

19. Are you an underachiever? • Be sure to answer the additional question, "What else would you like us to consider?"

20. How much does it count? • It will be a plus for your application if the essay is well thought out and well written. • It will be a minus for your application if it is sloppily handled

21. Don’t Kill Yourself… • You can make your essays do double (or triple) duty by tweaking or just re-using.

22. Prompts: UW • Personal Statement: The Personal Statement is our best means of getting to know you and your best means of creating a context for your academic performance. When you write your personal statement, tell us about those aspects of your life that are not apparent from your academic record: • a character-defining moment • the cultural awareness you've developed • a challenge faced • a personal hardship or barrier overcome • Directions: Choose either 1 or 2. Recommended length: 500-650 words • 1. Discuss how your family’s experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals. OR • 2. Tell us a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it. • Tips • Some of the best statements are written as personal stories. We welcome your imaginative interpretation. • You may define experience broadly. For example, in option 2, experience could be a meeting with an influential person, a news story that spurred you to action, a family event, or something that might be insignificant to someone else but had particular meaning for you. If you don’t think that any one experience shaped your character, simply choose an experience that tells us something about you.

23. Common App Please write an essay of 250 – 500 words on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below, and attach it to your application before submission. Please indicate your topic by checking the appropriate box. This personal essay helps us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself. NOTE: Your Common Application essay should be the same for all colleges. Do not customize it in any way for individual colleges. Colleges that want customized essay responses will ask for them on a supplement form. • Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you. • Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you. • Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence. • Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence. • A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you. • Topic of your choice.

24. WWU • We know that academics and activities tell only part of your story. Western values the diverse experiences and perspectives that make you unique. Your essay response will help the Admissions Committee learn what is important to you and what qualities you would bring to Western’s community. A response to one question is required, but you may respond to more than one if applicable. We recommend 300-500 words per question (this is not a firm limit but a recommended range). Suggestions for writing a strong application essay are available at admissions.wwu.edu/essay. • What are you looking for in a university? Why is Western a good fit? • Describe any special circumstances or hurdles that have challenged you personally or academically, and steps you have taken to move beyond those challenges. • Reflect on a meaningful family or multicultural experience that has enriched your life.