college essay

joelav128 · #1 09-23-2007, 10:06 PM

i'm in the process of writing mine. it's hard to put yourself on paper, to describe the "real you" in 500 words or less. is anybody else also writing their essay right now? anybody want to tell 2p2 what you wrote in your essay or share any funny stories?

jackfaust · #2 09-26-2007, 04:14 PM

Go for something unusual. My grades were ok, my SAT's were great, my extracurriculars were good, but my essay sucked a**, which resulted in me not getting into a college of my choice. My essay was a very generic stupid essay which pretty said,"I try my best. I'm a good student. I do this and that." It was pretty boring and didn't really say anything about me.

My friend, on the other hand, wrote an essay about how he asked this one girl out and how this illustrated his resourcefulness etc. etc. and now this guy's in stanford.

Going over some of my friend's essays, I get the impression that you should write an essay that's different from everyone else's. Talk about something you really care about, an unusual experience. You can't write out your whole life or who you are in 500 words and even if you did it'll end up just being a list of I did this and this, which they'll see anyway on your application. So I would like focus more on a certain aspect or an interesting experience, one thing that makes you different. Remember these guys read just about a million essays so try to stand out.

willw9 · #3 09-26-2007, 04:36 PM

Wrote about what my Jewish education meant to me.

hbsolhb · #4 09-26-2007, 05:12 PM

As a transfer student, I wrote about getting kicked out of high school because of alcohol problems and Im at UCLA now. Go figure.

LetsHugItOut · #5 09-26-2007, 05:36 PM

[ QUOTE ]
My friend, on the other hand, wrote an essay about how he asked this one girl out and how this illustrated his resourcefulness etc. etc. and now this guy's in stanford.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a perfect essay topic IMO. It's entertaining, it stands out, and it reveals something about the student. Not everything about him, but something. The quoted poster made a lot of good points about how the essay must stand out -- and it must. But it also must, must reveal something about your interests, character, etc.

FWIW, my essay was about games of snow football I used to organize with my friends in high school.

I_teach_writing · #6 09-26-2007, 06:14 PM

It is application essay season at my campus. I work in the writing center and coach 15-20 people through their essay applications per week. Most of them are for law and med school and grad school. It's amazing how much they all sound like each other--even if the topics are different, and how easy it is to change that, if you stick to concrete illustration as opposed to abstract adjectives.

Consider getting yourself a coach. Maybe your high school can recommend one? They can get pretty pricey though, but they can be worth it.

I_teach_writing · #7 09-26-2007, 06:19 PM

PS. See this thread if you want to know who I am and why my advice might be decent.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...=1#Post12178225

Artdogg · #8 09-26-2007, 08:13 PM

so do you want to be as emo as possible?

xSCWx · #9 09-26-2007, 09:01 PM

I wrote about volunteer work I did in Mexico. It was pretty generic but well written and I got into my school.

joelav128 · #10 09-26-2007, 09:10 PM

thanks for the responses...
i wrote about how i needed to get into college so i didn't have to work at mcdonalds anymore (i worked there when i was in 9th grade-then i found poker and bought myself a car) i wrote a pretty funny essay and my teacher laughed when she read it but told me i should start from scratch as she doesnt think my experience with mcdonalds defines me (although it wasnt just a story of me working towards a goal towards a car-i wrote about my perseverance and dedication)