College Admission Essays

My friends and I are all currently going through this painful process. I want to open a thread about it for numerous reasons. Discuss what was hard for you, what made things easier, who helped. In addition, I'm curious if there is any free online reviewing of essays anyone knows of. I found a few and posted my essay, but they were so inactive that I've been the latest post for a few days. Any writers that could give feedback via PM? Any tips guys? Give your knowledge to the rest of us who haven't gone through this process yet!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

What kind of college are we talking about?

I mean, unless you are wanting a top school or are applying to schools where your grades pale in comparison to the average, or something like law or med school, these essays are more or less a test to make sure you can complete a sentence and a coherent couple of paragraphs.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by BlueMikey

What kind of college are we talking about?

I mean, unless you are wanting a top school or are applying to schools where your grades pale in comparison to the average, or something like law or med school, these essays are more or less a test to make sure you can complete a sentence and a coherent couple of paragraphs.

Personally, I'm applying to upper-division schools, not Yale or anything, but good schools. I have heard that in some colleges the essay is quite important, not just a tie-breaker for same/similar GPA's.

P.S. BlueMikey - Brandy by Looking Glass is one of my favorite songs!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm helping my little sister with this same problem. It's bad with her... this is a girl who, as a sophomore in high school, spelled the word 'nap' as 'nape', asking for help from a picky English major. Editing for her has been HELL.

Anyways, be creative. Don't just stick to 'I did this in high school, and this... and this...' Grab the reader's attention by starting with a story. Don't limit yourself to academic and work related things.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Ender

Personally, I'm applying to upper-division schools, not Yale or anything, but good schools. I have heard that in some colleges the essay is quite important, not just a tie-breaker for same/similar GPA's.

P.S. BlueMikey - Brandy by Looking Glass is one of my favorite songs!

One of the best.

It really depends on all the circumstances. I mean, you don't want a shit essay, but as long as it is proofed, readable, and semi-decent, you can't have that much of a problem. Remember that for every over-achiever there's some guy like me who doesn't give a fuck and will rely on the rest of the application: grades, extra-curriculars, residency.

It is wholly possible that it could be the tie-breaker between you getting in and not. Yes. But chances are that it won't matter much, if at all.

Also: You don't want to say you're applying to be, like, an English major and have a crap essay. If you want to be a biologist, it probably isn't as important. And, yeah, different colleges probably look at it differently. Swarthmore, probably yes, Penn State, probably not so much.

My essay to get into grad school for computer science was absolute shit, but I still got in. I put a lot more work into law school. I mean...if you want to put a lot of work into it, you can. It's not a bad thing, certainly. But since you're already trying to take shortcuts by posting it to Internet sites to have people doing work you should be doing, I'm assuming how much you want to put in isn't much, and it's likely whatever you have is going to be good enough 90% of the time.

I was speaking idiomatically.

The essays I did when I was a senior in high school to get into university were not too bad. The prompts were manageable. One of them asked to describe a personal event that highlighted something about my character that proved that I could contribute something to the university setting. I ended up describing an experience that I knew was unique, but I kept the essay concise and avoided too much emotion. I managed to get into all the universities I applied to just by making sure my essays did not have errors and that I tried to come up with something original.

It also depends on other things as well. Your grades, activities, and letters of recommendation are the other obvious factors.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

My biggest piece of advice is do them early, not the week after Christmas when they have to be postmarked by January first.

(I did most of my grad school applications a week or two in advance of each deadline and it made it so much more manageable. I imagine they also made a difference for me since I'm currently attending a school where both my GPA and GRE scores (SAT for grad school) are lower than what they usually take.)

FELIPE NO

My biggest problem is that I feel insecure about my writing as I'm sure other do as well, and it would make me much less stressed if someone would read/critique one of my short essays, or direct us to a site that will critique.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I really think what's important about admission essays is to let it say something about your personality. From what I understand most admission officers don't look too much for proper grammar, conventions and such since most essays (if not all, if they want to be considered) has to be passable in the technical sense. Follow the prompts, make sure you answer all the parts of the question and when you read it back, make sure it reflects some part of you that you want them to see (eg some bullshit over glorified persona that has a knack for saving kittens or something, not how much you like halo)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Ender

My biggest problem is that I feel insecure about my writing as I'm sure other do as well, and it would make me much less stressed if someone would read/critique one of my short essays, or direct us to a site that will critique.

Your English teacher might be happy enough to read it and give you constructive criticisms for free. It would probably be a lot more beneficial in the long run, as well.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Reaver has given 2 good pieces of advice 1) Get it in early before everybody else and 2) Get a suitable Teacher/lecturer to read through it.

Unfortunately when I applied to university I probably could of done it a bit earlier, but I remember I wrote out 5 pages of drivel took it to the head of Sixth Form (Also my Law Teacher) to read through who crossed out a bucket load of paragraphs and handed it back. I went back researched what others had wrote about on their personal statements picked a few new points refined and rewrote what he had left me and took it back for him to see, and he said it was one of the best he'd ever seen. To be honest the few tips from people who had posted ideas on things to write about online were very helpful especially as I was applying to study Law in London, for example one gave me an excellent idea to introduced how I first got interested in Law of course I modified it but damn it was good.

(This is not exactly how I started mine but) For example I remember (a while ago this) I began by saying I was watching a TV program called Question Time here in the Uk were they were having this topical debate on the Terrorism act 2000 and about the House of Lords, and how both of these subjects had wildly caught my attention and as a result I would debate on this subject with my Law teachers and students alot with neither of us giving a inch or budge both wanting to be right. And as such then I wrote it was this ability to debate and twist arguments to a particular viewpoint was why I loved law so much, there is never a right answer only an answer which you manufacture even though you could come to 2 opposite conclusions; from that I hopped to the fact that I had this skill in abudance and that it gave me a certain rigor and passion for the subject coupled with my excellent research skills blah blah blah, I made mine really interesting though. Wheras my friend wrote the standard boring answer or what I call the 'I like Criminal Law'. Who do you think got the place?

So the one word of advice do not be boring like about the other thousand or so applicants of which the admissions tutor will probably have to read as well as yours, make them personal as its that personal touch and ambition you put in will get you that place; don't flat out copy and write a standard boring answer, like I said go online and for certain points e.g why you became interested in X, how would you contribute X; you can get great tips on how not to be boring and lighten them up, plus they will give you great ideas of your own. And of course be concise do not drivel like I did the first time on my draft.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I don't remember too much about my small essay to get into school. Apparently I just had to write one small paragraph or two about my life and schoolwork.

What else can I say than what has been said is minimal but I would like to say that it doesn't hurt to leave out key things and put in some other key things to make it look good.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I'm currently at the University of Florida, and the admissions essay didn't really factor highly into selection. They mostly look at grades/SAT's (albeit they better be 3.8+ and over 1200) along with extracurricular activities.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm fairly certain that my essays got me in. I had below average GPA and SAT scores, and the college of engineering wasn't the easiest to get into. At UT-Austin, your essays matter unless you are top %10.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

i'm an ivy league student, and at this level, essays are a very important aspect of the application, since most applicants are of similarly high academic caliber and chock-full of extracurriculars...

aim for uniqueness and distinctiveness, but above all, sell yourself the best way you can.

FELIPE NO

In terms of the essay, my advice would be to write about an experience you've had that is unique so that you can stand out and get the interest of the person reading it. Essays are more important than people think - to admissions staff, grades and SAT scores are just numbers to show you're not an idiot; your essay gives them a peek at your personaliy and that is very important. There will always be people out there that have grades and scores that kill yours but any given person can beatout any other person by writing a captivating essay.

To be honest, my guidance counselor in high school told me that she had spoken to many admissions officers from many different colleges and she found that sometimes there is no specific reason why some people get accepted and some get rejected. As surprising as it sounds, she said sometimes they just admit whoever their gut feeling tells them to admit. This is why the impression you give from an essay is important.

(And for the love of God do not write anything related to sports.)

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Originally Posted by PKO

In terms of the essay, my advice would be to write about an experience you've had that is unique so that you can stand out and get the interest of the person reading it. Essays are more important than people think - to admissions staff, grades and SAT scores are just numbers to show you're not an idiot; your essay gives them a peek at your personaliy and that is very important. There will always be people out there that have grades and scores that kill yours but any given person can beatout any other person by writing a captivating essay.

To be honest, my guidance counselor in high school told me that she had spoken to many admissions officers from many different colleges and she found that sometimes there is no specific reason why some people get accepted and some get rejected. As surprising as it sounds, she said sometimes they just admit whoever their gut feeling tells them to admit. This is why the impression you give from an essay is important.

(And for the love of God do not write anything related to sports.)

I completely agree that essays are much more important than people think. But sorry Ender, I do not know of any websites that provide help, and I'm not a good enough writer to critique your essay myself!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Essays are important. I had a friend who ended up with a 2.8 in community college. But he was a good writer, but just did some stupid things while he was in community. He applied for U.C. Davis and he knew his GPA wouldn't get him in, so he spent time on his essay, and the result was that he got accepted.

And what PKO mentioned..my friend wrote something personal/unique that happened in his life. This is the only thing that will set you apart from the rest.

There's nowhere I can't reach.