Essay Writing Gloria Mueller

Why the Essay? Your Voice, Your Story, Your Skills

What’s Most Important? Courses, Grades, Transcript Talent, Recommendations, Activities Testing, Special Circumstances Portfolio, Supplemental Materials Audition, Interview

Do Colleges Look At Essays the Same Way? Not every college requires an essay If they do, it can be for the following reasons: a) to differentiate top candidates b) to look at borderline candidates c) used differently at large, small, private, public, selective and nonselective schools

What Are Colleges Looking For?

Don’t Sweat Over Things You Can’t Change Transcript is what it is Work on what you can change - the essay Colleges want the essay to show: a) your writing ability and thought process b) a sense of who you are c) your values, preferences and style Don’t sweat over the “C” you got in your Sophomore year, the numbers are behind you. Work on your senior year grades, they are important.

Can You Write? Tell your own story Get feedback Polish, spell check and proofread

Can You Think? Application can be flat without essay Can help judge a student’s understanding of social/intellectual issues Did he take it seriously or did the essay look predictable? Did he take risks? Did he buy it off the Internet? Brigham Young example - uniform response, thought process very important here, responses can vary and make it more interesting I chose college X because college X is committed to learning and I want to learn 4. “These are the voyages of the Starship Nussbaum”

What Can the Essay Do for You? Personalizes your self-presentation Shows your personality and writing ability Conveys your personal style under less pressure Should convey information not found elsewhere in the application Because you have more time to prepare than the interview, also counteracts the numbers and the anonymity of the application process Sieze the opportunity to stand out from the better numbers, the similar recommendations, the other kids!

No need to panic! You’ve done this before: It’s familiar (introduction, body, and conclusion) It’s about YOU! And…there is no wrong answer Beginning, middle, end You’ve done this for 12 years No essay will compete with yours, you’ve picked colleges that are appropriate for you Colleges are not looking for a single answer, colleges are not looking for a specific student

The Process Brainstorm |Organize | Write | Rewrite | Edit Avoid shotgun approach - telling everything you know about a subject - including yourself. Select one thing and illuminate that. Less is more Brainstorm - like cleaning your room, throw everything in the middle of the floor, organize piles from the central mess (like note cards organized). Patterns can emerge The Process Brainstorm |Organize | Write | Rewrite | Edit

Defined by Our Choices How you write - reveals your ability What you write about - reveals you Look at the list of questions required

Three Kinds of Questions The “You” Question The “Why Us” Question The “Creative” Question

The “You” Question Advantages: Disadvantages: It is direct Open opportunity to speak for yourself Disadvantages: Extremely open-ended Temptation to tell everything instead of focus Try to hard to sound academic and scholarly

The “Why Us” Question Advantages Disadvantages It is directly about you and your choices Disadvantages Might not know your subject Tone can be a problem

The “Creative” Question Advantages Form is provided It can be fun! Disadvantages Essay without substance Essay without sense

Other Essay Problems Only two inches of space Sending writing samples Start strong Start fast Should be approached with the same care and attention given the long essay. Same approach as a regular essay just reducing the # of lines. B+ or better paper with lots of teacher comments should be sent if school asks for one (shows how good your work was and how demanding your teacher is!) What might seem funny to one person may seem boring to another - get a second opinion from a disinterested adult: especially if you are submitting a funny essay - even Letterman has a staff of writers Quick start by editing is better than a slow stroll, in other words, edit, edit, edit for improvement in the first paragraph to grab attention

DEAD. ON. ARRIVAL. “In college I plan to continue to live a well-rounded life, meeting and working with people from a variety of backgrounds. I expect to prepare for a profession that permits me to be closely related to children as well as adults. I want to help people. I have gotten so much out of life through the love and guidance of my family, I feel that many individuals have not been as fortunate; therefore, I would like to expand the lives of others.” This is the kind of essay admissions folks read all day long, It is not the kind however, they remember, nor the kind that sends you as the “gray zone” applicant to the committee for reconsideration. Also referred to as a “Boy Scout” essay, eager, involved, loyal - colleges can’t use it.

Why Do Essays Fail? Too comprehensive Too general Autobiographies, travelogs Boy Scout essays

Start By Brainstorming Make a list | Ask questions | Focus | Prove Of accomplishments you are proud of, places you’ve been, things you’ve done. Set a timer until the page is full, the good, the bad, the special, the obvious, the habitual, the extraordinary. Don’t worry about the audience right now. Or take a look at the resume you are preparing for your counselor. What are my strengths, my weaknesses? Am I stubborn, do I like a challenge, do some soul searching at this point Make connections on some of the points or clusters of the brainstorm, focus on 3 or 4 points. Keep the unusual, the vivid, the positive Your purpose is to persuade, organize into an outline and make sure you can prove what u say. If u say you are concerned about the welfare of others but can’t think of more than 1 proof, omit it - you might think you ought to be and you think the college would like to hear that, but that’s an example of an institutional response-forget it.

Editing is Your Friend Focus and prove | Reread | Support | Reread | Rewrite/Revise Be yourself in your writing, admissions officers are reading hundreds of these and know what the college needs and wants. Avoid cliches that sound good but mean nothing I.e. I’ll bring as much to College X as X will give to me -what does that mean? Avoid vague and predictable conclusions: I learned a lot, I interacted with others different from myself, I benefited from the love and support of my family, I learned to work well with others. Proofread, proofread, proofread!!!

Making the Essay Yours All writers get help No live-in editors Don’t misrepresent yourself Believe in yourself and tell your story Counselors might help with subject, teachers/parents might help proofread a draft - all legitimate Colleges and universities have writing centers for you to get help, but ultimately the paper has to be your own, the same goes for your essay. If you are ready to go to college, you need to be ready to accept successes and failures, make it your own!

Last Minute Tips for Procrastinators Pick 3 things in your room Family photo album Talk to parents, coaches, teachers Think about something you used to believe in but don’t anymore Write about those 3 things, the chunk of rock, the photograph, explain the poster and its significance - see if any of them will generate an essay Look thru the album and see if time, place or event generate a thread for an essay - did a person or a place have a particular influence on you in your life and why? Parents especially (they have known you for 17 years, what do they see as your strengths, characteristics, talents, ask them to write something about you, they like u!) Ask teachers/coaches about what u have contributed and to remember a time/event that might peak and essay subject for you. Or something u thought was true, but turned out to be false, write a few sentences about before and after and what caused the changed - can reflect thoughtfulness and curiousity

Tips to Remember “Tell us about yourself” Familiar format with “you” as subject Chance to add to application All the questions in one way or another ask this - so that means you are an authority on this topic! This format is not unfamiliar, it’s a regular essay that you have been writing - the only difference is it’s about you This is not a punishment! It is your chance to add life to your application and to pitch yourself outside the “numbers”

5 Myths: Must write about something no one has ever written about There’s a right answer to every question Be funny, clever or wacky You have to write this essay alone Your essay can get you in Five Myths Unlikely and high risk to do this There’s only your right answer Only if you think they are looking for funny, clever or wacky applicants or you are a creative excellent writer and can do that Every writer should ask for feedback, especially in this high stakes setting Only if other credentials also make you an interesting candidate - it can help the gray zone candidate for sure

Common Mistakes Thinking of admissions committee as stuffy old people you need to impress Trying too hard to be memorable Writing a predictable or generic essay Forgetting that counselors/teachers/parents are your allies in this process Trying to hard to be memorable that it changes your writing that it becomes unnatural or eccentric and not you. That with fewer than 3 nouns (change my dad to my boss, change my summer at the beach to summer in the mountains, change the master singers to the varsity basketball team), the essay could work for most of the senior class. ****Cannot predict who will be reading your application-the dean with 30 years experience (he loves xx skiing, murder mysteries with culinary subplots and syndicated episodes of MASH) or the new hire who just graduated last May who loves spinning class, Nora Roberts and the Bachlorette. Forget about “What should I say, focus on “What don’t they know?” about me

Parent “Can’t Do” List Make guidance office your own personal support system Write essays Shield him from rejection Let inertia teach its lesson here Easy to say “Well, if he doesn’t get his act together, he’ll learn there won’t be any choices left.” Great for prom tickets or graduation gowns, but no appropriate for college selection process. Kids are already conflicted about wanting to stay and go. Don’t complicate the matter by letting their irresponsibility bring them down, let life do that later. Be helpful, inspire action and get to the end as friends.

Parent “Can Do” List Frame conversation about college selection Talk about essay, but not about essay questions Be there to lend a sympathetic ear Stay on the sidelines once the writing begins Choose times when noone can distract them Your role is to look at the “yourself” part of the essay question through your lens and help them decide what is worth talking about - you have 17years of experience with your child. Begin with talking about strengths and positives attributes. If they say they don’t know what they want to study - great you are clearly interested in everything! If they don’t want to talk, just lend a sympathetic ea