College Essay AP Lit

Your College Essay Your essay is a natural place to distinguish yourself from your classmates. Your essay is often read before the transcripts, so the “you” of your essay is in the mind of the dean.

Your College Essay Here’s what many deans are looking for in your essay: –The quality of your thinking –Your questioning nature –Your openness to ideas –Your unique way of expressing your ideas

College Essays: Do and Don’t Do –Show your personality –Unite your essay –Plan ideas –Use concrete examples –Write what interests you –Grab reader –Revise at least three times –Proofread Don’t –Start with “I was born” or “My parents are from” –Write an autobiography or resume in prose –Try to be a clown (gentle humor is ok) –Try to impress with vocabulary –Rely on computer to edit –Give excuses for GPA or SAT scores –Make things up

Prewriting Ideas Draw timeline of your life. Draw outline of your hand: –Thumb (3-4 adjectives to describe you) –Index (3-4 adjectives friends would use to describe you) –Middle (3-4 adjectives parents would use to describe you) –Ring (3-4 adjectives teachers would use to describe you) –Little (3-4 adjectives others/groups)

Prewriting Ideas Draw blueprint of place you have lived Answer any of the sentence stubs: –My favorite childhood memory… –Every New Year’s Eve I resolve… –Nobody knows… –My room is…and it shows about me –If I could have dinner with any 3 people… –One of the best conversations I’ve ever had was…