I want to first thank everyone for their kind words and thoughts this past few days. When I wrote my blog about rejection, my intentions were twofold: one, understand my complex and painful feelings of watching all that hard work slip away. Two, I wanted to inform everyone I had talked to about the results of the scholarship in one fell swoop, instead of having to face each person separately and explaining the outcome. I never anticipated the impact I would have on people, and it brings me to tears thinking that I had helped people understand their own feelings. So again, thank you, everyone.
So, let's continue talking applications, eh?
The one part of the application process that seems to freak so many people out is the essay section. Basically, they want to know about you as a person. Honestly though, explicating one's existence seems to be a monumental task. I will draw upon my own experience, but also that of fellow seniors, who gave me excellent pieces of advice.
First, the Common App has about six topics you can choose from. They might change for next year, but only slightly. These are pretty stock questions.
Topics
1)Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2)Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3)Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
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.
5)A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. 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.
6)Topic of your choice.
I asked Seniors about their experience, and here are some of their tips!
Isaac Joy: Start early, so you won't be too stressed late into first semester. Also, relax while writing them! If you are too wound up, you won't write accurately and will end up sounding like a robot.
Amrutha Kumaran: I would say the personal essay is very different from any essay that students have written before. This essay is dedicated to illustrating who you are as a person- not how smart you are or how much you have achieved. All the answers for this question are in your own head. The only requirement for writing the personal essay is being interested in something in your life, anything from a funny story to a favorite activity. As long as you express yourself genuinely, the personal essay is not a challenge.
Lilli Pearson: Only rash souls like me write their essays the weekend before they are due. (Blogger Celinda note: this is definitely quotable and incredibly amusing :] )
Heather Lin: So basically, once you decide a topic, just write. Write every single thought and feeling you have about that topic. Random thoughts, insightful ideas, or just rants.
Kahlilah Cooke:
1) First just answer the question out loud speaking for a few minutes (like go on and on) and then write what you said down. After you do that, simply clean it up a bit. It keeps you sounding natural and not too formal or fake.
2) Have someone (like your parents or a friend) read it and let you know whether you need to make a statement more/less formal.
3) write your first draft during commercial breaks while you are watching TV or something. Then when you want to make a more stuctured version, you already have some loosely formed ideas out there and it doesn't feel as if you have to pull ideas from out of nowhere.
4) Sit down, grit your teeth, and get it over with during the summer. No matter how sucky it is to do it during your break, it will be ten times worse trying to fit it in during the school year.
5) it's usually only 500 words or less. people make it sound like you are writing a 5 page research paper when it's really only a few paragraphs. CHILL OUT....
Chris Mathy: Give yourself three hours to write for a total of one hour (procrastination is inevitable, so don't fight it). If you let the ideas flow naturally for a while, soon a full fledged essay will come gushing out.
These are just a few tips, and I will add more in the coming posts.
My own tips: If you get a spontaneous burst of creativity, WRITE IT DOWN. In the shower? Get out and write it. Half asleep? Wake up and write it. Think of a story or thought that is uniquely you. Be wary of game-winning goals and community service UNLESS you have a unique spin on it. Lisa also told me that you want to generally avoid topic of choice because it might suggest you can't come up with ANYTHING for the other topics.
Anyway, I will add more tips and my personal story of writing soon. Looking ahead, for the B's we are going to do an incredibly quick blog looking at Bachelors and the other degree programs (hey, give me a break, it's hard to think of a good one for every letter). On that same blog I am going to give my super duper pep talk to pull yourself through the end of semester/a detailed list of why burning the school down might not be the best plan (I hear it's rough in juvie...).
Check back soon!
-Celinda!
(PS, thanks seniors who responded to my email/fb chats/pleading status! :] )
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