“In war, numbers
alone confer no advantage.”
~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The application essay is meant to go beyond your numbers (GPA, grades,
test scores, lists of your achievements).
Essay topics range from the goofy and obscure, to the straightforward
spotlight on your personality. It is
your time to stand out. Above all, your essay must be personal, meaningful, and, of course, well-written! (Also, hint, hint, while colleges sometimes give
you set topics to choose from, they may let you submit an essay of your choice
that reflects you…so…polish this up and use it again!) J
Requirements: 300-650 words (unless otherwise noted on prompt). ALWAYS look at the length requirement.
Due Dates:
·
Final copy is due: ________________ and will count as an ESSAY grade.
Rubric:
·
Content: organization,
creativity, *addressing the prompt*,
descriptive vocabulary and details, etc.
·
Grammar: word choice
errors, fragments, run-ons, punctuations, spelling, subject-verb agreement,
etc.
The first step to writing a stellar personal essay on your college
application is to understand your
options. Below is a discussion of the three essay options from the Texas Common Application, the five
topics from the national Common Application,
as well as some more creative options.
Texas Common Application Essay Topics:
1. What was the environment in which you were raised? Describe your
family, home, neighborhood, or community, and explain how it has shaped you as
a person.
There are several ways you can approach this essay. Is there something
unique about your living situation that has affected your outlook on life (i.e.
inclusion of extended family members, military family, occasional homelessness,
etc.)? Also consider: you live in a small town that is close to the 4th
largest city in the country Рhow has that affected you? Avoid clich̩ statements about all the values
your parents instilled in you.
2. Most students
have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential
way. Tell us about yourself.
This can get very cliché very quickly. If you have a talent or interest
that you are highly invested in (i.e. something you have focused much of your
energy on), here is your opportunity to discuss how that defines you as a
person. Again, admissions counselors are constantly looking for students who
can engage in self-reflection and analysis (i.e. how does what I do shape me as
a person, and so what?).
3. You’ve got a
ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen
when you get there?
This is a highly creative essay prompt! This essay is meant to show a
college something about your personality that has not been reflected in any of
the other paperwork thus far. WHERE you choose to go says something about you.
WHAT you choose to do says something about you. To be interesting for your
reader, it should feel like a story you are telling someone. THINK CAREFULLY
about your interests, passions, and goals in life on this one.
Common Application Essay Topics
1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent is so meaningful
they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds
like you, then please share your story.
“Identity” is at the heart of this prompt.
What is it that makes you, you? The prompt gives you a lot of latitude for
answering the question since you can write about your "background or
story." Your "background" can be a broad environmental factor
that contributed to your development such as growing up in a military family,
living in an interesting place, or dealing with an unusual family situation.
Your "story" could be an event or series of events that had a
profound impact on your identity. However you approach the prompt, make sure
you are inward looking and explain how and why your identity was influenced by your
background or story.
2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success.
Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect
you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Wait, what?
They want me to talk about my failures?
While it's far more comfortable in an application to celebrate successes
and accomplishments than it is to discuss failure, at the same time, you'll
impress the college admissions folks greatly if you can show your ability to
learn from your failures and mistakes. Be sure to devote significant space to
the second half of the question--what was your response to failure, and how did
you learn and grow from the experience? Introspection and honesty is key with
this prompt.
3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted
you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
Keep in mind how open-ended this prompt truly
is. The "belief or idea" you explore could be your own, someone
else's, or that of a group. The best essays will be honest as they explore the
difficulty of working against the status quo or a firmly held belief, and the
answer to the final question--would you make the same decision again--need not
be "yes." Sometimes in retrospection we discover that the cost of an
action was perhaps too great. However you approach this prompt, your essay
needs to reveal one of your core personal values.
4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It
can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma –
anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its
significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a
solution.
Here again the Common Application gives you a
lot of options for approaching the question.
An “intellectual challenge” could be a time you were challenged with
school work or a certain subject area. An “ethical dilemma” could be a time you
were presented with a choice/option that challenged your ethical views. Keep in
mind that the “scale” of your problem.
While the prompt states it is unimportant, still probably is. Dig deep.
Don’t be shallow here. This essay
prompt, like all of the options, is asking you to be introspective and share
with the admissions folks what it is that you value and how you react when your
values are challenged.
5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal that marked
your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or
family.
This prompt is tricky because a single event
or accomplishment is rarely so transformative that one becomes an adult
overnight. Maturity comes as the result of a long train of events and
accomplishments (and failures). That said, this prompt is an excellent choice
if you want to explore a single event or achievement that marked a clear
milestone in your personal development. Be careful to avoid the
"hero" essay -- admissions offices are often overrun with essays
about the season-winning touchdown or brilliant performance in the school play.
Other Creative Options:
These are a few examples of options you could use should you be given the
option “topic of your choice.”
7. You have just completed your 300-page
autobiography. Please submit page 217. (University of Pennsylvania) *400 words
maximum
Consider when you are writing this in your life and how far into your
life page 217 would be (hint: you should be writing about your adult life by
that point!) Also, balance creativity
with realism.
8. What invention would the world be better off
without, and why? (Kalamazoo College)
Be careful to avoid a political lecture.
Show your understanding of the invention, how its usage might have
changed since it was first created, etc.
9. Create a
metaphor for yourself using something you would find in your kitchen or your
garage. List as many similarities or relationships between yourself and this
object as you can think of, then elaborate on this comparison in an essay. Why
is this object a good representation of you? (Adapted from U. of Chicago)
Think outside the box, literally.
Demonstrate an understanding of what the item does and clearly
illustrate what you have in common with it.
Remember, this is an opportunity to show qualities of your personality
that aren’t obvious from your “data.” (They already can see you are
hard-working through your GPA, sports, etc.)
10. If you were a Crayola crayon, what color
would you be and why?
Seriously, find one of the 96-color boxes. Choose a funky/weird crayon. Choose multiple colors (oooh you are
complex!), but not too many or you seem schizophrenic. Don’t choose one of the most common colors
(e.g. blue, green, red) unless you can very creatively demonstrate why you are
plain old green. The best essays for this
prompt use a unique/weird color!
