DO NOW: 1.What are your post-secondary plans? Will you begin your career? Will you go to a 2 year college? Will you go to a 4 year university? What will you study? 2.List 5 steps you have to take between now and graduation in order to reach that goal. Do you have to take the SATs? Ask for letters of recommendation? Take any other tests? Fill out any forms?

THE PERSONAL ESSAY AND COLLEGE ESSAY WRITING

THE PURPOSE OF THE COLLEGE ESSAY College Essays allow colleges to get to know who you are past the SAT scores and the transcripts. This is your opportunity to show them who you are as a student and as a person. Word count is often 500-1,000 words

SAMPLE COLLEGE ESSAY PROMPTS Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

SAMPLE PROMPTS Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

WHAT QUALITIES ARE ALL THESE PROMPTS LOOKING FOR?

ADVICE FROM PEOPLE WHO READ YOUR ESSAY “Tell us who you are” Perspective Structure Take a risk “We need to hear your voice” Humor “Something I am not looking for is a well-all” Understand what the question is asking Dramatic elements

2 MAIN PARTS Part 1: Describe what happened using descriptive language. Part 2: Reflection and Analysis Explain what you were thinking or feeling at the time this was taking place Explain what you thought or felt about it after Explain what you think or feel about it now Explain why this event is important and what larger understanding have you come to by having been through this experience

THESIS STATEMENT Thesis statements in personal essays/college essays: Should briefly explain the point of your essay. Why are you writing about this person, place, or thing, and how will you analyze it in order to show us its importance? How will you go about showing us the significance of this event?

DO NOW: DISSECT YOUR PROMPT Identify the following: The purpose of your prompt: Identify Key terms and explain what these key terms mean.

EXAMPLE Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Identity: This is the pivot of the prompt. However you address this prompt, you are being asked about your identity. You are asked to address the fundamental nature of how you see yourself as a person. Who are you? What are you? What makes you, well, you? Admissions officers want to be able to say, “hey, I understand who this kid is and where he came from, because the kid understands this about himself and is able to communicate it in a clear, compelling fashion.” So, this essay must address your identity, however you define it.

Background: College admissions people know that some people have an interesting background that is the source of their identity. This background can be cultural, ethnic, familial, medical, physical, economic, or just about any other set of circumstances that defines who you are as a person. Story: Some students have a story that helps define who they are. A story, by definition, is a narrative, an account of events in one’s life that may help to shape your identity. A background is something that is not really fixed in time: it’s a circumstance. A story, on the other hand, exists in time, and has a beginning, middle, and end. Do you have a story that helps to explain the way you see yourself, that has helped to form you as a person? If so, this is the story at the core of this prompt. Incomplete: This word is also important. If your background or story does not really help to shape your identity, then perhaps your application

INTRODUCTION Introduction: The introduction is when you begin describing the significant event/ experience using descriptive language. This is where you want to captivate the reader. Refrain from doing any complex analysis or reflection in the introduction. This is what the rest of the essay is for. Aim to describe this significant even in an objective as well as interesting way. A good personal essay is descriptive. You must paint a scene for your viewer. Ways in which you can accomplish this is through dialogue, sensory details (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound), Metaphorical language.

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION “On the verge of losing consciousness, I asked myself: "Why am I doing this?" Why was I punishing my body? I had no answer; my mind blanked out from exhaustion and terror. I had no time to second-guess myself with a terrifying man leaning over my shoulder yelling: "You can break six minutes!" As flecks of spit flew from his mouth and landed on the handle bar of the ergometer, I longed to be finished with my first Saturday rowing practice and my first fifteen-hundred-meter "erg test."”

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION I promised God I would eat all my peas, but He didn’t care. A confused eleven-year-old girl, I sat and listened to my father pace. With each heavy step echoing loudly throughout the silent house, my family’s anxiety and anticipation mounted while awaiting news of my grandfather's health. My heart racing, I watched the clock, amazed that time could crawl so slowly. Finally, the telephone interrupted the house’s solemn silence. I heard my father repeating the words "yes, yes, of course." He then hung up the receiver and announced my grandfather's death and cancer's victory.

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION "You must stop seeing that Russian girl, " I ordered my brother when he returned home last summer from the University of Indianapolis. Echoing the prejudiced, ignorant sentiment that I had grown up with, I believed it was wrong to become seriously involved with a person who does not follow the Hindu religion and is not a member of the Indian race.”

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION “The bright blue eyes that alight with unfettered curiosity on the burgeoning bulletin board are not only my own. Nor are the ears that listen raptly to the hum of student life and the gentle sing- song of our tour guide’s voice. Almost in tandem, my companion and I tear ourselves from the vivid vignette of college life and return with unmatched strides to the vast expanses of the campus. As the tour continues, I am neither surprised by the eager questions my companion poses - “Where’s the baseball field?” - nor by the heightened interest painted so clearly across his face. Wandering amongst the tall stone buildings, I appreciate for the first time how much this visit means to my constant companion, my father.”

BODY PARAGRAPHS After describing this significant event in a detailed and descriptive manner, the body paragraphs are now meant for reflection. This is where you will convince the reader of the importance of your event. You will constantly refer back to this one event as you show the reader that you have learned from it.

CONCLUSION The purpose of your essay should be clear at this point. Instead of summarizing your essay, take it a step further. Why is this topic important in the larger sense?

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: 1.Is the introduction engaging? Does it hook the reader? 1.Does the writer use appropriate examples to illustrate his or her identity? 1.Does the writer have a thesis statement? 1.Does the writer sufficiently reflect and analyze? 1.What did you like? 1.What did you not like?

10 OPENING LINES FROM STANFORD ADMISSION ESSAYS 1.I change my name each time I place an order at Starbucks. 2.When I was in the eighth grade I couldn't read. 3.While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of the universe? 4.I have old hands. 5.I was paralyzed from the waist down. I would try to move my leg or even shift an ankle but I never got a response. This was the first time thoughts of death ever cross my mind. 6.I almost didn't live through September 11th, The spaghetti burbled and slushed around the pan, and as I stirred it, the noises it gave off began to sound increasingly like bodily functions. 8.I have been surfing Lake Michigan since I was 3 years old. 9.I stand on the riverbank surveying this rippled range like some riparian cowboy -instead of chaps, I wear vinyl, thigh-high waders and a lasso of measuring tape and twine is slung over my arm. 10.I had never seen anyone get so excited about mitochondria.

BRAINSTORMING EXERCISE Make a list for each of the following topics: 1. List your three favorite foods (be specific --not just cereal, but “Cap’n Crunch before it gets soggy”). 2. List your top five favorite places. They can be exotic or local—Tahiti or your favorite coffee shop. 3. List your top three favorite high school memories (things that happened during high school years). 4. List five things you have accomplished in your life that you are really proud of. 5. List three people who have been influential to you.