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Questions-Specific Strategies |
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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.
a. 'Personal Growth' Essays
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 clichés, 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
b. 'Role Models and Influences'
Essay
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
c. 'Hobbies and Interests' Essays
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
d. 'Favorites' Essays
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
e. 'School Target' Essays
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
f. 'International Experience'
Essays
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
g. 'Explaining Blemishes' Essays
''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.
Next Topic:
'Personal Growth' Essays
