College Admission Essays A Quick How To Guide

Types of Essays The Personal Experience The “My Coach…” or “My Parents/Granparents…” Essay The Humor Essay The “Sitting Under a Tree” Essay The Transformative Experience

The Personal/Tragic Experience Can be very powerful but don’t invent an experience or dramatize just to make the essay work

The “My Coach…” Essay Very common Danger is they want to know you; sometimes these essays focus more on the coach or parent

The Humorous Essay Rare and risky Can show how talented a writer is

The “Sitting Under a Tree” Essay Describe moments of profound realization Key is not to use clichés (sunsets, rain- storms, starry nights, etc.

The Transformative Experience The “I went to France and grew as a person” essay Common, but can be successful if they are specific and well written

Common App questions 2013 https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/EssayAnnouncementFinal.pdf Here are the schools that use the Common Application Essay Questions https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Members.aspx

Five Secrets 1. Reveal Your Self 2. Explain any Glitches that Appear in your Application 3. Limit Yourself 4. Don’t put the Reader to Sleep 5. Know your audience

Reveal Yourself Colleges don’t expect you to be wiser than your years Write in a straightforward, interesting way which says something honest about yourself Pick a topic that is unique to you

Explain any Glitches Is there anything in your application that would mislead admission officers? Don’t have to defend yourself, but provide correct context for what the officers have seen. Did you have a bad semester which brought your gpa down? Tell your side of the story

Limit Yourself to One Strong Point Focus on one aspect of who your are that is specific Pick between 1 and 3 examples that are colorful, unique, and support the claim you are making about yourself.

Don’t Put the Reader to Sleep The best writing is direct and to the point. Use big words, but don’t use more than you would in an average conversation. Keep it organized.

Know your Audience Real people Nice, smart admission officers who will read thousands of essays Tina Fey stars as an admission officer in an upcoming move called “Admission” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W7TaF9l6s

Helpful Websites http://uwhelp.wisconsin.edu/publications/byline_winter13.pdf Helpful tips for UW schools www.essayedge.com Helpful tips, general information www.ivyessays.com/undergrad/index.html Email your essay and get a letter back offering criticism and suggestions ($75)