College Essay Assignment : Due Friday, September 6th
Directions: Respond to ONE of the following prompts as if you were submitting an essay to a college or university for a
scholarship. Plan and write an essay in which you develop your points of view on this issue. Support your position with
reasoning and examples taken from your studies, life experiences, or personal observations.
 PROMPT 1
Loyalty is a virtue that is encouraged and rewarded in every aspect of our lives. We are, therefore, loyal to our families,
our teams, our schools, and our countries. But too often loyalty is blind: by automatically identifying ourselves with a
group and accepting its values as our own, we avoid taking responsibility for our own thoughts and actions.
Assignment: Does accepting the values of a group allow people to avoid taking responsibility for their own thoughts and
actions?
 PROMPT 2
A requirement for membership in any group is conformity. Members must agree on such vital issues as how decisions will
be made, who will serve as leaders, and how much freedom group members will have. The quality of decision making,
however, is better when groups encourage nonconformity and disagreement among their members. Although it sometimes
creates disorder and conflict, disagreement may prevent powerful majorities from making mistakes.
Assignment: Do groups that encourage nonconformity and disagreement function better than those that discourage it?
 PROMPT 3
Many societies believe that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human right. But it is also true that attainment of
happiness remains elusive. Perhaps Bertrand Russell had it right when he said, “To be without some of the things you
want is an indispensable part of happiness.”
Assignment: What gives us more pleasure and satisfaction: the pursuit of our desires or the attainment of them?
 PROMPT 4
Bernard Shaw once said, “Independence? That’s middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul
of us on earth.” Shaw expected to provoke controversy with these words, but I would agree with him that these days there
is too much emphasis on independence. While it is certainly true that excessive dependence on others is not a sign of
maturity, total independence of others is neither attainable nor desirable: we need to be mature, and unselfish enough to
recognize our interdependence.
Assignment: Do we put too much emphasis on self-reliance and independence, and are we afraid of admitting that we
need other people in our lives?
Requirements
-Your essay must have a creative title that clearly links
to the topic/theme of your essay.
-Essay must be written in MLA format.
-Essay must be a minimum of ONE page and a
maximum of TWO pages.
-Your essay may contain ONE quote that does not
exceed TWO full lines. The source/author of the quote
should be indicated within the essay. No citation or
Works Cited page is necessary.
-Your essay must have an introduction, conclusion, and
at least TWO body paragraphs.
-Your response to the prompt, the position you are
taking on the issue, should be explicitly stated in the
introductory paragraph.
-Your essay is due on Friday, September 6th.