Your College Admissions Essay Hook-Up
by Amourette Bradley
A student's feelings about Hitler, an analysis of a recurring dream, and tales of familial woe hardly seem like appropriate subjects for a university placement essay, especially considering the topic: "Describe a personal educational experience and explain how and what you learned." Yet, throughout my years as an essay rater, I have read compositions addressing all three of these unusual subjects. Take my advice: You don't want your essay to end up where these did.
The following tips will pump up your prose and make your college admissions essay stand out (in a good way). Hook yourself up ...
Just Answer the Question
As admissions essay raters, my colleagues and I have evaluated countless inappropriate, confusing and just plain bizarre essays written by aspiring college students. Some students blatantly ignore the topic at hand. Others briefly mention their learning experience and then digress into pet peeves, party politics or personal problems.
Other mistakes can occur for students when they must adhere to a word or page count, or are faced with a timed response as part of an on-campus admissions exam for more selective college programs. The most common error is believing that the more you write, the better. Countless pages that ramble on about family vacations and medical horror stories attest to this common misconception. Some students develop a complicated and verbose response only to discover halfway through the essay that they have veered way off course. The keys to writing a successful essay elude many individuals and yet remain surprisingly simple -- stay within topic guidelines and time the response.
So What's the Answer?
Addressing the question or staying on topic becomes the most important consideration in writing a successful essay. Remember, the blank paper is not an invitation for creative writing. Universities ask you to write an essay for two reasons.
First, they want to know if you can understand and appropriately respond to an assigned topic. Turning in a short story on Cleopatra when your professor assigned a scholarly essay on the Egyptian pyramids ruins your grade. Likewise, not responding to the assigned question will adversely affect your essay score.
Additionally, universities want to know something specific about you. Their goal is to select a student body that is representative of the college's programs. They try to determine both how well the college suits your needs and how well you suit the needs of the college. Questions addressing career goals and why you're applying to their university help determine if you're a good fit with the institution. When students ignore the question, essay raters remain unable to ascertain if admittance would prove beneficial or not. They mark the essay accordingly.
The Elusive Thesis Statement
Developing a thesis statement or theme sentence becomes the best strategy in assuring that you adequately answer the question without getting sidetracked or losing sight of the subject. Spending an initial five or 10 minutes developing this single organizational and summarizing sentence, whether you're in a timed question situation or for a much longer take-home response, proves invaluable.
In order to develop a thesis statement, first read the instructions several times. Make sure that you understand what is being asked of you. Then determine two or three points that will support your thesis statement. For instance, an admissions question might ask you to describe a challenging educational experience. Your gameplan will be to discuss its impact, and detail what you learned about yourself from it. In this case, the question contains three sections to discuss -- the experience, the impact, and the knowledge gained about yourself.
Once you have determined what the question requires, think of how you wish to respond. Ask yourself if the experience you chose to write about reflects the best of who you are as a student. A successful thesis statement answers all parts of the question and portrays you as an intelligent, coherent individual.
Take, for instance, a student who writes about learning to speak French as a foreign exchange student. Though it was challenging, through continued practice the writer became fluent and discovered a desire to major in French. In this thesis statement, the student answers all three sections of the question. Learning to speak French is the experience; becoming fluent through practice is the impact; and wishing to become a French major illustrates the self-knowledge that was gained.
The essay also proves that he or she has studied abroad, is fluent in another language, and is diligent when it comes to studying.
Tick-Tock
While most college admissions essays can be done at your leisure, with plenty of time for reflection, writing, and review, you should be aware that entry into some competitive or specialized schools, like the University of Texas' pharmacy program, may require you to write an admissions essay during an on-site exam. In other words, you'll have to rely on those same writing-under-pressure skills that are tested on the SAT writing exam. And, once you're in college, timed essay exams are a staple in many courses, so being prepared now will only benefit your future GPA.
How to deal? First off, timing your response becomes simple if you first develop an effective thesis statement. If the essay is timed, use your thesis divisions as a guide. For instance, if you have 50 minutes to complete the essay and you spend 10 minutes developing your introduction and thesis, divide the thesis sections into the remaining 40 minutes. If you have two sections to discuss, you should spend about 15 to 20 minutes on each section. If you have three sections to discuss, you should spend 10 to 12 minutes on each section. Remember to leave yourself at least five minutes to conclude the essay, and to review your response.
If the essay is written at home with a one-page limit, visually divide the paper into sections. If your thesis contains two parts, divide the paper into two. This will give you an idea of how in-depth your discussion should be. Of course, with take-home essays, you should spend extra time carefully
crafting the introduction, thesis, response, and conclusion.
And, please -- always write at least one rough draft of your response first. Nothing looks worse than a messy essay filled with scribbled out words, inserted sentences, and arrows directing the reader to jump to different paragraphs. The university will simply assume that you didn't care enough about applying to their institution to think about what you wanted to say. They will also believe that you aren't a serious student and that you threw the essay together in a couple of minutes. Remember, the essay raters don't know you -- use your essay to introduce yourself as a top-notch student.
Scoring well on placement or admissions essays doesn't depend on chance or on the essay rater's mood -- it depends on you. Develop a well-organized thesis statement and you're halfway to a first-rate essay.
The following tips will pump up your prose and make your college admissions essay stand out (in a good way). Hook yourself up ...
Just Answer the Question
As admissions essay raters, my colleagues and I have evaluated countless inappropriate, confusing and just plain bizarre essays written by aspiring college students. Some students blatantly ignore the topic at hand. Others briefly mention their learning experience and then digress into pet peeves, party politics or personal problems.
Other mistakes can occur for students when they must adhere to a word or page count, or are faced with a timed response as part of an on-campus admissions exam for more selective college programs. The most common error is believing that the more you write, the better. Countless pages that ramble on about family vacations and medical horror stories attest to this common misconception. Some students develop a complicated and verbose response only to discover halfway through the essay that they have veered way off course. The keys to writing a successful essay elude many individuals and yet remain surprisingly simple -- stay within topic guidelines and time the response.
So What's the Answer?
Addressing the question or staying on topic becomes the most important consideration in writing a successful essay. Remember, the blank paper is not an invitation for creative writing. Universities ask you to write an essay for two reasons.
First, they want to know if you can understand and appropriately respond to an assigned topic. Turning in a short story on Cleopatra when your professor assigned a scholarly essay on the Egyptian pyramids ruins your grade. Likewise, not responding to the assigned question will adversely affect your essay score.
Additionally, universities want to know something specific about you. Their goal is to select a student body that is representative of the college's programs. They try to determine both how well the college suits your needs and how well you suit the needs of the college. Questions addressing career goals and why you're applying to their university help determine if you're a good fit with the institution. When students ignore the question, essay raters remain unable to ascertain if admittance would prove beneficial or not. They mark the essay accordingly.
The Elusive Thesis Statement
Developing a thesis statement or theme sentence becomes the best strategy in assuring that you adequately answer the question without getting sidetracked or losing sight of the subject. Spending an initial five or 10 minutes developing this single organizational and summarizing sentence, whether you're in a timed question situation or for a much longer take-home response, proves invaluable.
In order to develop a thesis statement, first read the instructions several times. Make sure that you understand what is being asked of you. Then determine two or three points that will support your thesis statement. For instance, an admissions question might ask you to describe a challenging educational experience. Your gameplan will be to discuss its impact, and detail what you learned about yourself from it. In this case, the question contains three sections to discuss -- the experience, the impact, and the knowledge gained about yourself.
Once you have determined what the question requires, think of how you wish to respond. Ask yourself if the experience you chose to write about reflects the best of who you are as a student. A successful thesis statement answers all parts of the question and portrays you as an intelligent, coherent individual.
Take, for instance, a student who writes about learning to speak French as a foreign exchange student. Though it was challenging, through continued practice the writer became fluent and discovered a desire to major in French. In this thesis statement, the student answers all three sections of the question. Learning to speak French is the experience; becoming fluent through practice is the impact; and wishing to become a French major illustrates the self-knowledge that was gained.
The essay also proves that he or she has studied abroad, is fluent in another language, and is diligent when it comes to studying.
Tick-Tock
While most college admissions essays can be done at your leisure, with plenty of time for reflection, writing, and review, you should be aware that entry into some competitive or specialized schools, like the University of Texas' pharmacy program, may require you to write an admissions essay during an on-site exam. In other words, you'll have to rely on those same writing-under-pressure skills that are tested on the SAT writing exam. And, once you're in college, timed essay exams are a staple in many courses, so being prepared now will only benefit your future GPA.
How to deal? First off, timing your response becomes simple if you first develop an effective thesis statement. If the essay is timed, use your thesis divisions as a guide. For instance, if you have 50 minutes to complete the essay and you spend 10 minutes developing your introduction and thesis, divide the thesis sections into the remaining 40 minutes. If you have two sections to discuss, you should spend about 15 to 20 minutes on each section. If you have three sections to discuss, you should spend 10 to 12 minutes on each section. Remember to leave yourself at least five minutes to conclude the essay, and to review your response.
If the essay is written at home with a one-page limit, visually divide the paper into sections. If your thesis contains two parts, divide the paper into two. This will give you an idea of how in-depth your discussion should be. Of course, with take-home essays, you should spend extra time carefully
crafting the introduction, thesis, response, and conclusion.
And, please -- always write at least one rough draft of your response first. Nothing looks worse than a messy essay filled with scribbled out words, inserted sentences, and arrows directing the reader to jump to different paragraphs. The university will simply assume that you didn't care enough about applying to their institution to think about what you wanted to say. They will also believe that you aren't a serious student and that you threw the essay together in a couple of minutes. Remember, the essay raters don't know you -- use your essay to introduce yourself as a top-notch student.
Scoring well on placement or admissions essays doesn't depend on chance or on the essay rater's mood -- it depends on you. Develop a well-organized thesis statement and you're halfway to a first-rate essay.
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