How To Write An Incredible Admissions Essay
By Sherri Hoffman-Hoye
It’s important to work with your college counselor in creating
a plan that works for you. Sit down with the college counselor
to create a calendar of advantageous due dates for various pieces
of college information. Include scheduled visits from college admissions
representatives, college fairs, financial aid information meetings
and testing dates.
Common Application Essay #1:
Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken,
or an ethical dilemma you have faced, and its impact on you.
Common Application Essay #2:
Discuss some issue of personal, local, national or international concern
and its importance to you.
This topic offers an opportunity to read the newspaper every day,
watch the evening news or develop reading habits that include news
magazines.
Common Application Essay #3:
Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you and describe
that influence.
Many will want to simply write a biographical sketch of a significant
person in their lives. This essay topic requires applicants to write
about the influence a person has had on his or her life. Remember to
answer the question.
Common Application Essay #4:
Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure or a creative
work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on
you and explain that influence.
Write paragraphs that address the impact of specific writers, artists,
moments in history, events in math or science and a personal event.
Most of these paragraphs begin with surface commentary, but with revision
become pointed comments about the gravity of a specific painting done
by an artist and its wider impact in the world.
Common Application Essay #5:
Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates
what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an
encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
A range of academic interests, personal perspectives and life experiences
adds much to the educational mix.
Common Application Essay #6:
Topic of your choice.
Many students mistakenly choose a topic of their choice and then
write essays that address one of the other topics. Students
who choose this essay option should have some quality or experience
that cannot be shared through one of the other topics. Students need
to use good judgment because this topic is not an invitation to enter
a dark and anonymous confessional. Remember that the content of the
essay should always result in a favorable impression.
Sherri Hoffman-Hoye has been teaching high school English since
1985. She earned her A.A. from Marshalltown Community College, B.A.
from Loras College and M.A in English from the University of Notre
Dame. She currently teaches at Santa Clara Catholic High School in
Oxnard, California. |
