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January 05, 2006
Application Essays - the Agony and the Ecstasy
As a writer, former English teacher and student of psychology, one of my favorite parts of application review is reading each applicant's writing sample, or as they are more commonly called, "the application essay". When I speak with prospective students and families about what we are looking for in this piece, I always say that the essay is an opportunity to share something about yourself with the reviewer or reviewers. Here are some tips:
1) The essay should sound like you, not like you on some kind of crazy Thesaurus steroids. Those essays are painful to read, as the multisyllabic words used "almost" correctly are strewn about without mercy like thumbtacks on a locker room floor. Nobody sounds like that!
2) Remember your audience. Let's say that again together: "REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE." Presumably you would like to be admitted to the university for which you are writing the essay. So when you select a topic, know that the reader will not be familiar with your somewhat macabre sense of humor and refrain from writing about a cat being run over by a car - written from the cat's perspective. I know you think I made that up - but you would be wrong.
3)Don't take yourself too seriously. Yes, the application is a time to highlight all of your achievements and we provide many opportunities within the application for you to list your activities and awards. We also offer you the opportunity to attach a resume. We actually read all of those pages so when we get to the essay and you have written a paragraph detailing each extracurricular activity, we feel a bit let down. We were hoping to learn something else about you! We understand that it was a huge honor to be inducted/admitted/appointed/elected/crowned or to make the goal/finish the race/lead the piece/design the website, but tell us MORE. How did you feel? What did your best friend say to you about it? Did the experience live up to your expectations? Did you learn anything surprising in the process? Was there a pet involved? (Preferably one that wasn't run over....) Try writing something for yourself to capture a memory and then edit it a bit for mainstream consumption. You may find that "the essay" is not as dreadful as you thought!
4) Be funny. I could just kiss the applicants who inject some humor into their writing! I promise I won't, but instead I will do things like write in my notes, "Eureka! An applicant with a sense of humor. Great essay about lessons learned from having canker sores." This really happened.
I have read as many as 50 essays in a day and in a review season I read portions of thousands of them. I recognize that writing is not everyone's strength and that everyone is not Jon Stewart (even he has professional writers to assist him.) But we all have stories to share, and the best essays are simply that - stories about the authors, their trials and their triumphs and yes, their canker sores.
Posted by kas45 at January 5, 2006 08:19 PM
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