| Importance
of a College Application Essay (Most important part of your
application) |
-
the bulk of content
- one of the 2 ways that colleges can get to know you first-hand
as a person (the other way is thru interviews)
- Communicates essential qualities of yours that are probably
equally if not more important than your academic grades to an
admissions decision-maker |
| What
is a college essay |
Statement
of yourself
- Personality
- Values
- Interests
- Achievements
Can almost be considered a marketing document for yourself
- Purpose of the essay is to convince the admissions officer
that you would enhance their college freshman community, whether
by way of academic excellence or other aspects of your personality |
|
|
|
Steps
taken before you actually compose your essay
Read
the given topic/ pick a topic of your choice carefully
Give yourself ample time to think of what to write (in case
you get writer's block when you are under time crunch)
Brainstorm list of personality traits, values & interests
Decide what are the traits, values and interests of yourself
that you think are the most important for admissions officers
Qualities that US admissions officers like to see from an
applicant
- leadership
- creativity/ originality
- ability to work under pressure
- confidence
- determination
- energy
- curiosity/ zest for new knowledge, people and environment
- strong presentation skills (verbal & written)
- impressive extra-curricular achievements (sports, music,
etc)
- adaptability
- versatile & balanced life
- integrity
- international experience (i.e. diversity)
Find & analyse connections among qualities & achievements
Recall experiences that effectively demonstrate these qualities
Write an outline for the essay
|
| Components
of a college essay |
|
Introduction
- Not a summary of the whole essay, but a paragraph that is
thought-provoking enough so that the reader should read the
entire essay with interest
- Can be an interesting anecdote, inspiring quote or a creative
statement
Body
- Must be well-organized & flow smoothly
- Need to demonstrate aspects of your personality that are outstanding,
such as leadership, confidence and creativity
- Should be able to show your values e.g. integrity
- Should be able to show your interests/ hobbies
- Do not exaggerate your experiences/ stories unless the essay
topic calls for fictional content since most admissions officer
can tell whether you are lying (sincerity is very important
too)
- Be creative and yet not overly creative (A US admissions officer
had once received an essay that she could not help but immediately
discard it in the "Reject" bin when she saw it - instead
of composing the essay using the normal format, the text of
the essay was written in a circular fashion, starting from the
center of a circle!! What's more, the words were written the
other way round so that one can only read it with ease when
it is put in front of a mirror!!! The US admission officer commented,
"This is the best example of an applicant who tries too
hard!")
Conclusion/ Ending
- End with a powerful paragraph that reminds readers of the
most important message you want to leave them with, often that
is a particular aspect of yourself (your values, personality,
interests, etc) that you want to impress upon the admissions
officers |
| Other
issues |
|
-
Grammer (Be sure to check your grammer thoroughly or else it
gives a very bad impression)
- Work on a clear and easy-to-read format
- Clear and concise language
- Have your teacher(s) or friend(s) read it for you for grammatical
mistakes or other comments |
| A
note on proof of extra-curricular achievements that applicants
send in |
|
-
A lot of students like to send in video/ audio tapes of their
extra-curricular activities, such as a tape of a song that
you played or a drama that you participated in
-
Be careful with the materials you send in because often the
quality is discounted by the recording or that one thinks
it is good but it is actually not that good (e.g. a song played
on a piano is good enough for home entertainment but very
mediocre for the admissions officer)
|
