12th Grade Summer Assignments
AP:
College essay
Orwell essay
Read How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Suggested Reading:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Honors:
College essay
Orwell essay
Read How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Suggested Reading:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
CP:
College essay
Orwell essay
Suggested Reading:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
ORWELL ESSAY: Due first day of English class in September (this will also be part of
your summer reading and writing assignment—which will be graded in your senior
English class)
LENGTH: 2-5 PAGES, DEPENDING ON THE EXPERIENCE DESCRIBED
(TYPICALLY, COLLEGES PREFER ESSAYS NO MORE THAN TWO PAGES,
DOUBLE-SPACED, OR ABOUT 650 WORDS, WHEN WRITTEN IN TIMES,
NEW ROMAN 12)
Everyone of you will write personal essays come next September—and periodically afterwards
as you apply for jobs, apply to schools, and enter the workplace. Many of these essays will take
the form of something like the following: (1) describe an incident in your life that helps convey
your values and priorities or (2) describe a time when you had to overcome some adversity.
Questions like these are meant to help potential schools or employers probe beneath the surface
and see whether you have the qualities a particular college or company is looking for.
Students who use personal essays only to brag about their accomplishments waste precious
space, since most of these are already listed on your application. Rather, the school or firm is
interested in seeing whether an applicant possesses qualities like self-reliance, awareness of the
world, risk-taking, honesty, and sensitivity to others to be a good colleague or the sort of student
faculty members would like to have in their classes—and the school would be proud to number
among its alumni.
George Orwell is often considered the very finest 20th-century English essayist. His honesty,
eloquence, and clarity of vision about himself and the world make him an excellent model for
students about to write personal essays. Select from the choices below one that would convey a
good sense of you—and write a loose imitation of George Orwell, both to demonstrate your
stylistic maturity and to provide you with a model essay you can revise for the personal essays
you will be expected to write in the fall.
As you compose your essay, try to echo some of the typical qualities of his prose, such as
sentence rhythm, massiveness of impression, use of literary devices (metaphors, similes,
analogies), emphasis on the senses (especially sight and smell), and honesty about his
limitations as a person and an observer. You might even try to parallel his startling openings,
which catch our attention and hold us in suspense about what is to come next.
1. Describe a childhood incident (or one from your more recent past) that continues to stir
your imagination, or has helped define your ethical values. You might want to dwell on
sensual imagery as it helps evoke your past thoughts and emotions—as Orwell does in
“Such, Such Were the Joys.”*
(http://www.george-orwell.org/Such,_Such_Were_The_Joys/0.html)*
2. Describe an incident in which you were forced to do something against your will, or
where social expectations made you uncomfortable, in the manner of George Orwell in
“Shooting an Elephant”* or “Marrakech.”** Notice the precise, powerful way Orwell
uses similes, metaphors, analogies, and other devices to make the scene vivid and
compelling to the reader. Try to achieve some of the same massiveness of perception.
(http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/)*
(http://www.george-orwell.org/Marrakech/0.html)**
3. Using “Such, Such Were the Joys” as a thematic frame, write an essay in which you
discuss some of the fears and joys of growing up or of being a student and the importance
of family and friends in helping you handle these emotions. You might want to discuss
the changes that have occurred in your relationship with school (or with others) as you
have matured, or you might want to explain how your goals have been refined over the
years.
4. Describe an incident that has helped you come to some important realization about
yourself, the world, or your interaction with the world. For example, in “Such, Such
Were the Joys,” Orwell came to realize the moral dilemma presented to the weak in a
“world governed by the strong: break the rules or perish.” What have you learned about
growing up as you make the transition from innocence to experience—and perhaps to
“organized innocence?”
*In the interest of saving paper, I have provided web addresses for “Such, Such Were the Joys,”
“Shooting and Elephant,” and “Marrakech.”
COLLEGE ESSAY SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
Due on your first day of English class in September.
Assignment: Write the rough draft of an essay on one of the following topics. The common
application asks for an essay of at least 250 words. There is no formal limit in terms of length,
but essays rarely go over 750 words (approximately 2-3 typed, double-spaced, 12 point font
pages).
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical
dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its
importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that
influence.
4. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much
to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates
what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated
the importance of diversity to you.
5. Topic of your choice.
Rule #1 of college essay writing: SHOW, don’t TELL.
Rule #2: Admissions counselors read hundreds of these essays. Avoid sounding like
everyone else. For instance, the Rudy sports essay (how I practiced and practiced until I
earned my day in the sun), though a reflection of personal development, has been so used
that it has become trite. If you are going to use a common experience, develop it in a
unique way. Your choice of essay and the unique perspective of your voice may be the
deciding factors for admissions counselors.