| - Instant Student Loan Comparisons! Nifty! |
|
|
|
 Links Site Map Click here to refer a friend to this page!
|
As an opportunity to flex your academic and literary might, the college admissions essay is perhaps the most important part of college applications. Often you have a lot of latitude in deciding what to write. In fact, most colleges allow you several choices of topics including such broad questions as "Tell Us Something About Yourself." However, in addition to a broadly themed essay, colleges may also ask you to answer one or two specific questions. Often these essays are shorter, but this does not mean they are less difficult. Since the admissions officers are reviewing your entire application, you don’t want to skimp on these essays. In this article, we look at two of the most common questions you may encounter. All of the rules of general essays apply to these more specific questions. You should always dazzle your audience with creativity and honesty, rewrite and edit continuously, and seek the help of editors. However, because of the more narrow topic guidelines, there are techniques that apply specifically to these essays. The most important thing to keep in mind is that there are no wrong answers to these questions. The reality is that admissions officers are not very interested in what your answer literally is. They don’t care what subject in school or which book you like best. But they do care about what your attraction to organic chemistry or Tolstoy says about you. Throughout all of your essays, keep in mind that your primary goal is to tell the admissions officers about you, your thoughts and opinions, and your growth. Secondary is your actual answer to the question. Here are some tips on how to answer two of the more common specific essay questions: Your Favorite Book Don’t write a book report. No matter how interesting it may be, the admissions officers are not interested in the plot, characters, or literary analysis of your favorite book. Instead, write about how your favorite book relates to you. Write about how you have applied the lessons from the work in your daily life, detail why it is your favorite, or explain how it has affected you personally. Through this essay, the admissions officers want to learn less about the actual book-—they can browse through it at a library any time-—and more about you. Your Greatest Achievement When colleges ask this question, the truth is that they are not solely interested in what it is that you have accomplished. Rather, colleges ask this question because they want to know how you view your own accomplishments and what has motivated you to do the things that you have. Don’t just give facts and statistics. It is not enough for you to merely describe what you have done. Admissions officers are not interested in reading an expanded form of your resume. This all appears in your application form anyway. They will be interested, however, in what your description of your accomplishment says about you. They want to know why you think it was your most outstanding achievement, what standard you measure it by, what your motivations were, and how you felt. They want to understand not only what you did but why you did it. They also want to know how your accomplishment has affected your life and how it has changed your perspectives. Ask yourself what your answer says about you since this is the question admissions officers will be asking themselves. Finally, since we’re talking about a presumably significant achievement that you are proud of, be careful of going overboard on the bragging. You want to be honest but you also want to keep some humility, and you certainly want to avoid appearing arrogant. As a general rule, whenever you are answering any question, be sure to ask yourself what the essay says about you. In the course of answering any question, you need to make sure that you also reveal something about yourself. Ultimately, you want the admissions officers to be enamored with the author not the essay.
|
