The College Essay
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Source
• http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/
applications/essay
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Purpose
• This essay is your opportunity to reveal
your best qualities and to show an
admissions committee what makes you
stand out from other applicants.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Purpose
• A 2006 report published by the National
Association of College Admission Counseling
(NACAC) found that while grades, admission
tests, and class rank remain the top factors in
the college admission decision, a majority of
colleges and universities consider the essay to
be a key factor in determining which
academically qualified students they would
choose.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Purpose
• In other words, when all else is equal
between competing applicants, a
compelling essay can make the difference.
A powerful, well-written essay can also tip
the balance for a marginal applicant.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
What Are Colleges
Looking For?
• Can you write well?
• Can you support your ideas with logical
arguments?
• Can you tell something about your
personality?
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Different Types of Essays
• The “You” Question
• The “Why Us” Question
• The “Creative” Question
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “You” Question
• This question boils down to "Tell us about
yourself." The school wants to know the
student better and to see how she will
introduce herself.
• Example: "UVM values a diverse student
body. What contributions might you make
to our campus community outside of
academic achievement?" (University of
Vermont, 2005)
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “You” Question
• Plus: This type of direct question offers
students a chance to reveal something
about themselves other than grades and
test scores.
• Danger: The open-ended nature of these
questions can lead to an essay that's all
over the place.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “You” Question
• Tips
• Encourage students to focus on just a few things and
avoid the urge to "spill everything" at once.
• Advise students not to simply write out their resume
in paragraph form. It's better to develop one small
event, person, place, or feeling with a lot of narrative
and specifics.
• Explain to students that this is a "tell us a story"
question. Students should tell a story that only they
can tell.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “Why Us” Question
• Some schools ask for an essay about a
student's choice of a school or career.
They're looking for information about the
applicant's goals, and about how serious
his or her commitment is to this particular
school.
• Example: "How did you become
interested in American University?"
(American University, 2007)
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “Why Us” Question
• Plus: This type of question provides a focus for
the essay; that is, why the student chose this
particular school or path—and the answer to that
will (hopefully) be clear to her.
• Danger: Any factual errors in the essay will
reveal that the student really hasn't thought
deeply about her choice. For example, writing
that she wants to attend Carleton College to
major in agriculture would be a blunder.
(Carleton doesn't have an agriculture major.)
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “Why Us” Question
• Tips
• Advise students to make absolutely
sure they know their subject well.
• Warn students not to go overboard with
flattery. They should sound sincere but
not ingratiating.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “Creative” Question
• The goals of the "creative" question are to
evaluate a candidate's ability to think
and write creatively and to assess the
breadth of her knowledge and education.
• Example: "Sharing intellectual interests is
an important aspect of university life.
Describe an experience or idea that you
find intellectually exciting, and explain
why." (Stanford University, 2007)
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “Creative” Question
• Plus: This kind of question gives students
an opportunity to convey their
personalities and views.
• Danger: Some students may take the
"creative" aspect of the question as
license to be obscure, pretentious, or
undisciplined in their writing.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The “Creative” Question
• Tips
• Emphasize to students the importance of writing an
informed essay. For example, they should not write
about a fantasy meeting with a famous artist and get
the titles of his paintings wrong.
• Advise students to use common sense ("creative"
doesn't mean eccentric or self-indulgent).
• Warn students not to write about high-minded topics
or exotic locales simply to impress the reader.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Essay Writing Tips
• Write simply.
• Keep your focus narrow and personal.
• Provide specific evidence (facts, events,
quotations, examples) to support your
main idea.
• Use vivid, compelling details (show, don't
tell).
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Essay Writing Tips
• Address the topic squarely. For example, if
an application asks you to explain any
deficiencies in records (e.g., a low grade
or bad semester), provide a
straightforward, reasonable response.
• Don’t repeat information that is found
elsewhere in the application, such as lists
of courses or extracurricular activities.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Essay Writing Tips
• Write about something unique and
different—not just what you think the
admissions officer wants to hear (they
read many essays about the charms of
their university, for example).
• Apply principles of good composition (e.g.,
organize the essay with a beginning,
middle, and end).
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Essay Writing Tips
• Structure your writing in a way that allows
the reader to draw his or her own
conclusions.
• Revise and proofread to make sure there
are no typographical, spelling, or
grammatical errors.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
One Way To Compose a Draft
• Step 1: Think about yourself
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What are your best qualities? Are you an
intellectual? A creative type? Curious?
Passionate? Determined?
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
One Way To Compose a Draft
• Step 2: Choose a positive quality you'd
like to convey to the admissions
committee
• Don't pick an event or something you've done.
President of the Nuclear Awareness Club is not
a personal quality. Focus on a quality of your
mind or of your character. Complete this
sentence: "I am a very _________ person."
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
One Way To Compose a Draft
• Step 3: Tell a story
• Set a timer for 20 minutes. Pretend you're taking
an exam at high school and responding to, "Tell
a story about an experience or time when you
showed you were a very _________ person."
Use the characteristic you identified in Step 2.
Write or type non-stop for 20 minutes; force
yourself to keep telling the story and what it
reveals until the timer goes off.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The Parts of the Essay
• The introduction gives your reader an idea
of your essay's content. It can shrink when
you need to be concise. One vivid
sentence might do: "The favorite science
project was a complete failure."
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The Parts of the Essay
• The body presents the evidence that
supports your main idea. Use narration
and incident to show rather than tell.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
The Parts of the Essay
• The conclusion can be brief as well, a few
sentences to nail down the meaning of the
events and incidents you've described.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Three Basic Essay Styles
• Standard Essay: Take two or three points
from your self-outline, give a paragraph to
each, and make sure you provide plenty of
evidence. Choose things not apparent
from the rest of your application or light up
some of the activities and experiences
listed there.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Three Basic Essay Styles
• Less-Is-More Essay: In this format, you
focus on a single interesting point about
yourself. It works well for brief essays of a
paragraph or half a page.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Three Basic Essay Styles
• Narrative Essay: A narrative essay tells a
short and vivid story. Omit the introduction,
write one or two narrative paragraphs that
grab and engage the reader's attention,
then explain what this little tale reveals
about you.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Editing
• Let It Cool: Take a break from your work
and come back to it in a few days. Does
your main idea come across clearly? Do
you prove your points with specific details?
Is your essay easy to read aloud?
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Editing
• Feedback Time: Have someone you like
and trust (but someone likely to tell you
the truth) read your essay. Ask them to tell
you what they think you're trying to
convey. Did they get it right?
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Editing
• Edit Down: Your language should be
simple, direct, and clear. This is a personal
essay, not a term paper. Make every word
count (e.g., if you wrote "in society today,"
consider changing that to "now").
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay
Editing
• Proofread Two More Times: Careless
spelling or grammatical errors, awkward
language, or fuzzy logic will make your
essay memorable—in a bad way.
Geschke/English IV
The College Essay