Michelle Hiskey On Helping College Applicants Write Their Essays

Michelle Hiskey On Helping College Applicants Write Their Essays Instead, write about a person who truly has impacted your life. It doesn’t matter if it’s a third cousin, your boss at the local pizzeria or your French teacher. Just be sure that the essay isn’t merely a biographical sketch. You must write about what they taught you and how it relates to your own outlook on life. You should relate your opinions and arguments to your own life and experiences. It’s okay if you haven’t won the Nobel Peace Prize. Or built a school brick by brick, with your bare hands. We read essays about the most mundane things - solving a crossword puzzle, taking a walk with a sibling, collecting zany socks - but the way the applicant writes the piece makes it effective. When we begin evaluating your application, everything can seem pretty standard - grades, test scores, activities, lists of AP classes. Schools aren’t interested in fantasy versions of their applicants. You are a unique individual; be truthful with your answers and the admissions committee will appreciate your point-of-view. And if they have even the slightest suspicion, the answer will always be just a Google search away. We help every applicant, no matter their prior comfort level with writing, compose a powerful personal essay that transmits who they are in the most important ways. We work with students at our labs in small-group workshops, private sessions, and also at schools and partner CBOs. Regardless of the topic about which you choose to write, be sure the essay reveals more about you than the other characters or places in the story. Similar to the questions above, the emphasis should not be on who you choose. If you choose a person in the hopes of merely impressing the admissions committee, it will likely make your essay appear disingenuous. But pirating someone else’s writing is plagiarism, and every college I can think of would frown on an applicant who steals other people’s work without crediting the source. There’s always that chance that your reader could recognize what you’re sharing. The college essay may be your only opportunity to show your personality to the admission office. If you are witty, show the reader your sense of humor (But be cautious. What you think is funny, someone else may not.). If you are more thoughtful, take on a slightly more serious tone. When it comes to writing a successful college essay, you must realize that honesty trumps everything (except possibly good grammar/a typo-free piece). Describe your feelings when you found your career or major goals. The admissions department at UC Berkeley will read about 20,000 application essays and Stanford will read about 16,000. Yes, your letters of recommendation tell us about you, but they’re written from someone else’s perspective. Thus, the college essay is an invaluable component of your application because you're able to speak to us directly. You have the space tell us what you’re thinking about and how you’re thinking about it. You might think you’ve read or heard the perfect opening someplace elseâ€"a book of sample essays, a speech, a line in your favorite movie, etc. As with many of these questions, the issue/cause you select is not nearly as important as your explanation. Though you can certainly demonstrate passion and fervor for your argument, it’s vital you don’t come across as dogmatic. You want to reveal that you can think logically and objectively; the reader shouldn’t come away thinking you’re myopic. Additionally, you must remember that, ultimately, admissions officers are using these essays to gain insight into you. The college essay is not a test to see if you can read minds or anticipate what the admission office wants to hear. Plain and simple, they want to know about you, how well you write and how self-aware you are.