Highlights from a talk on Writing College Essays

Your Essay Needs To Tell Admissions Readers

• Who you are
• What you are passionate about
• Why you should be in that class, what distinctive elements you will contribute
• Cardinal rule of college essays: admissions committee should hear your voice, know more about your history, interests, values and goals.
• “Add clarity, richness and meaning to other parts of application… The personal statement is your interview with the University of California.”
• Also used to evaluate your communication and writing skills: “ability to make a point in easy-to- understand and clearly stated manner.” (U Texas)

Getting Started / Brainstorming Ideas

Familiarize yourself with the form: 

Personal essay

• This I Believe
• http://thisibelieve.org/essay
• After reading each one, answer two questions:
  What did I learn about the writer?
  Why did that piece work? Technique? Voice?
• Successful college essays
  • http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays/
  • http://www.conncoll.edu/admission/apply/essays-that-worked/

Keep a Journal: Record ideas for short prompts and major prompts weekly

• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content.
• Rite of passage, formal or informal, within your culture or family.

Do writing exercises

• Make a Timeline w/20 significant life events
• Identify and describe objects in your room
• "Value Search"- Define your top ten values in two sentences
• Elevator Speech/Pitch to Admissions

How Do You Know When You Are Done? Ask….

• Did I answer the prompt?
• Does it have a strong intro and powerful conclusion?
• Does it expand on presentation of who I am? Add info of value?
• Is it written in my voice? Would someone who knows you well identify essay as yours?
• Is it logical, grammatically correct?
• Is it developed beyond chronology to reflection? Does it state why topic matters to you?
• Does it complement other pieces of application?
• Did I let it rest? Have someone else proofread, comment?
• Did it meet word limit?
• Did I give them a good reason to admit me?