Ending The Essay

Ending The Essay If you want to write about a personal challenge, emphasize what you learned and how you grewâ€"if you dwell on the details, the essay will not achieve its purpose. The best way to move forward is to see a college essay as a conversation. If they could, colleges would welcome you to campus and ask you questions for hoursâ€"but if they did that, no one would be admitted to college until they were 43. To accelerate the process, they want you to talk on paper; let them get to know you by giving them a guided tour of your heart, your brain, and your life. I didn’t want to be labelled as just another Asian immigrant by college admissions. The other subject to handle delicately is loss or tragedy. If you don't plan on using the Common App, these prompts can still offer insight into a topic you'll likely be writing on for your school of choice. So whether you’re seeking flexibility in your college admission essay or you’re just doing a little preliminary research on likely essay prompts, the Common App is a good place to start. Experts say supplemental essays tend to be short, but St. John’s College bucks that trend, requiring a minimum of 400 words. That’s because the school is interested in seeing students write at length on a chosen topic. Some colleges require a supplemental essay in addition to the personal essay. Typically, admissions pros note, these essays are shorter and focus on answering a specific question posed by the college. Throughout the process, I also had several close friends read my drafts. It told a story of the struggle between two cultures that many immigrant students experience, and furthermore, it didn’t reveal anything about me that felt unique or essential to my personality. When I first began, I had my counselor and history teacher read my draft because I felt very unsure about the intention and content of my essay. However, neither of them have ever seen my final draft. If you fall into the excited category, consider this a complimentary resource. We’ll spotlight some of the essay prompts you’re likely to see, and we provide a few examples of essays that have actually earned students passage into the colleges and universities of their choice. Consider this a good set of references as you hammer out your ideas, and work through your essay drafts. As a college essay coach at MEK Review, I encounter many students who have difficulty writing about their hardship effectively. I work with them closely to create an engaging essay that reveals the student’s core character traits and personal growth. Reflect on personal memories and break them down into the most descriptive terms possibleâ€"sights, sounds, and smells can all serve as unique starting points. Does, say, the smell of blueberry scones baking in the oven remind you of growing up with your British grandmother? Alternatively, some of my friends who were successful in the college admissions process met with their English teachers frequently to review their college essays. This allowed them to constantly have someone to bounce ideas off of and to receive assurance if they were going in the right direction and advice if they weren’t. Colleges want to admit students who are ready to be successful members of their community. Many local students want to write about growing up in a diverse environment and how they have been enriched by that environment. While celebrating diversity is great, the problem is that these essays risk falling into truisms. Students write about the diversity of their schools or their city, but not enough about who they are. Essays on negative life events can be very tricky. Unless enough time has passed since the experience, the essay can be too personal, too much of a rant, or just too hard to read. One rep said the general rule of thumb was no essays on the Four Dsâ€"Drugs, dating, death, and divorceâ€"but you get the idea. “You can think of the essay as the soul of the application. No college application is complete without the personal essay, which can be daunting for many students to write. The Common Application also gives you the option of responding to one of 7 different essay prompts. If you will be using the Common App, you’ll be able to choose, and write about, one of these prompts.