120 College Essay Examples For 14 Schools + Expert Analysis

120 College Essay Examples For 14 Schools + Expert Analysis What are the two or three things you, personally, MOST need from a college? This, by the way, is ALSO the reason nobody can do this work for you. Every early draft of a why school essay shares the same pernicious flaw â€" blanket statements made without evidence or context . Watch the following bland comment transform into a great point â€" through action. Instead, make a few well chosen points and back them up. We recommend utilizing the top college guidebooks, a real-life or virtual tour of campus, a chat with a university rep, or some good old-fashioned Googling to gather what you need. In a competitive environment with more losers than winners (think of Stanford’s 5% or Columbia’s 7% admission rates), blending in with the pack isn’t going to add value to your candidacy. On your visit to Brown, you made sure to try the famous pumpkin pancakes at Louis Family Restaurant. It’s available now through Amazon.com, and discounts are available for school group purchases. George Orwell’s Politics and the English Languageis my personal guide to thinking about writing. Ultimately, you’re the one who really knows your priorities and the things you most need in order to grow. Richardson says that the appeal of an essay on an atypical topic such as origami showed that the writer was willing to take risks. In some cases though, the school may emphasize the supplemental essay as a top priority. That’s the case at St. John’s College, which has campuses in Maryland and New Mexico, says Benjamin Baum, vice president of enrollment for the St. John’s system. Don’t worryâ€"the task before you may be challenging, but it’s hardly nuclear physics. Everything you need to know to write a winning “Why Us” Essay can be reduced to seven fairly straightforward tips. The list below begins by highlighting a series of important “don’ts” and ends with the “do’s” that are essential for success. Follow all seven tips with fidelity and we guarantee that your essay will sparkle. Patrick O’Connor’s new college guide, College is Yours 2.0, offers a better way to apply to college. Your goal and your past experience dictate what you need from the school. I know, I know â€" you’re thinking, nah, that sounds too hard, or too expensive â€" I don’t want to Google-stalk a professor, or haunt an internet forum, or network on LinkedIn to meet alums from a school â€" I’m busy! And you might fool your parents, or even a peer reviewer or two. But you won’t fool the experts, who have to read literally THOUSANDS of these things. They know their own programs, and if you think you can generalize your way around campus â€" sorry, no. The theoretical foundation he lays in this piece â€" about the importance of language, including writing, in shaping how we are capable of thinking â€" he later built upon in 1984. In this sense, it’s an essay that’s focused, that’s organized, that has a central theme and culminates into something worth reading, that has a point. Vision is the idea that you want to make an impact in your world. It’s also the idea that you think in terms that transcend the bubble that is your high school, or the horizon that is your current situation. Instead of letter grades, students receive qualitative evaluations from their professors. All courses are taught by professors, never TAs, and research opportunities for undergraduates abound. It’s little surprise that an insanely high number of Reed graduates go on to earn PhDs in their respective fields. If you can’t come up with a sincere answer to any of these questions, you might want to rethink why a given school is even on your college list in the first place. So, where does one find this type of substantive information? Now, set a timer for seven minutes and don’t stop typing until the alarm goes off. Once you have your first draft, you can move on to the revision process. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the mindset ofthis-must-be-donethat we forget the primary reason for the presence of a personal essay. These papers, which usually clock in around 700 words, are designed to add some color to your transcript, which is pretty much all numbers and facts. You did your homework and know that Reed College offers a rigorous environment for intellectually serious, self-directed students. Hope you found them to be delicious but if you feel inclined to write about the experience, do so on Yelp, not as part of your “Why Us? Heaping generic praise on your school is not going to sway anyone. If you’re going to shower a college with flattery, make it as specific and genuine as you possibly can.