A Truth about Application Essays

Today's entry is mainly directed at my many SAT students, bright young people who are on their way from high-school to college. Many of you ask me about your college application essays, and in reviewing them over the years I've noted trends in successful essays, and in those less successful.


There are two principal, consistent components to good application essays: They are interesting, and they tell admissions administrators that you can work independently, outside your comfort-zone. Interesting essays are those that tell the reader something about your personality, what "makes you tick," as the saying goes.


This is a problem for some students, who feel like they're not interesting people, or who just feel that--since they're so young--they haven't had any life-experiences that might interest the old folks who evaluate their essays. It's certainly true that not all people are equally interesting, or equally able to make themselves sound interesting. Some of us just have a way with a story; we can make mundane events sound amusing. But remember that this essay is your best chance to really communicate directly with the people who are making the decisions about your future. Also, remember that you're not writing "Gone with the Wind," you're just telling some people (who ARE interested in helping bright young people to succeed) what makes you an individual.


So, to make your essays interesting, try thinking of an anecdote (a story about yourself) that defines your character. For instance, I would write about how I decided to go skydiving before I began studying for the bar exam. I figured that if I spent all of that time studying, and then my parachute didn't open, I'd be really upset. But, on the other hand, if I was falling toward earth and certain death and hadn't started studying yet, at least I could think "Well, that's one more annoying thing I won't have to do." That story tells you something about me; I'm an optimist, and I try to live in a way that allows me to enjoy myself, and take risks while still seeing the positive side of things.


The other thing your essay should do--and this is just as important--is to let the application administrators know that you can function with minimal supervision in a new, diverse environment. See, colleges know what kind of grades you got, and they know how you scored on the SAT, but what they don't know is whether you're responsible and adaptable. As high-school students, most of us didn't have much freedom; our parents and teachers watched out for us and made sure we did our work, and punished us if we didn't.


But in college, no one is going to care if you don't work; they'll just flunk you out, and that will be the end of it. If they let you in and you don't work hard, the college really loses TWO students: you, and the person whose application they had to reject in order to let you in. Remember, colleges only have so many openings for each class, so if they let you in they have to reject someone else.


So write an essay that tells administrators that you can work without supervision, and that you understand that you have to be independent and self-motivated. That's the reason that so many of the essay questions ask things like "Tell us about a time you went outside your comfort zone," or "Tell us about a time you had to be a leader." Young people who have shown those skills before are more likely to adapt well to college.




▼▽▼▼Douglasの過去の記事を読む━━━━━━━━━━━
・【Smoke and Makuuchi】2008.10.01(Wed)
･【It's Always Something】2008.10.22 (Wed)
・【Working the Corners】2008.11.12 (Wed)
・【Logic Games】2008.12.03 (Wed)

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