Killer essays
Colleges want personality,
humor, angst–not smart-aleck tricks
By Andrew Curry
U.S. News and World Report
College Book
It may be the
hardest and most anxiety-producing question you've ever had to answer:
Who are you, and why do you deserve to get into college (in 500 words or
less)? And it could be among the most important. "Often [test] scores are
in the same acceptable range, the kid's done well in the same classes everybody
else has taken, and it's the essay we finally refer to," says University
of Chicago Dean of Admissions Ted O'Neill.
So U.S. News
recently asked the people who read essays to share their tips. There's
agreement among admissions deans that literary perfection is not necessary;
they want an introduction to the real 17-year-old you. "Sometimes the least
successful good essays are so polished they don't reveal anything
about the writer," says O'Neill. Chicago is renowned for its offbeat topics;
last year's included the significance of given names and the possible extraterrestrial
origins of such features of modern life as the tax code. The answers, says
O'Neill, can reveal a lot about a student's creativity and thinking skills.
Most schools
leave the topic open, and admissions officers advise tackling what you
know best–your hometown, your family, an interest you feel passionate about.
(Michael Cole, until recently an admissions officer at Boston College,
says counselors there are already dreading the inevitable flood of cookie-cutter
musings on"What the Crisis in Kosovo Means to Me.") Some favorites: a reflection
on race by a part-time cashier in a discount clothing shop who struggled
with her conscience after a poor Hispanic woman stole from the store; a
description of a trip by train through a gray, depressing East Germany
that inspired a desire to meet Karl Marx; and an emotional essay about
the torment an applicant went through after severely injuring her father
in a skiing accident. Flawless spelling and grammar are a must.
If you assume
that a gimmick, like using hot-pink paper or enclosing a balloon or cookies
("They're usually crumbled," grouses Richard Shaw, dean of admissions at
Yale), will help you stand out, think again. The sock puppets included
in one application to Boston College last year were passed around the office
in amusement, says Cole, but it was the quality of the essay that won the
committee's votes. "We had someone a few years ago send in a set of fishing
flys she had tied," recalls Nancy Donehower, dean of admission at Reed
College, of one failed application. "They were beautiful to look at, but
did they help her get in? No."
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