College Essays

[CT20]

When I applied to the USC school of Film's screenwriting department, there were two essays: One being a character sketch, and the other a description of a scene. There was also the screenwriting portion.

 

[danana]

So I applied to colleges (UCs, USC, Caltech, and Stanford) last year so hopefully I can help a bit, although writing isn't my strongest area.

Quite a few people mentioned fabrications. Whether or not you tell the truth in the personal statement is up to you, but I think it'll be a lot easier to write if it is based on fact-even if it is exaggerated (then again, I'm generally a horrible liar outside of things like mafia). For me, the easiest way to get started was to find something that impacted who I am; personally I wrote about growing up in Santa Cruz and my experience with and passion for scientific research. When your essays are based on truth and things you're passionate about, it'll flow a lot better, come across as more genuine and heartfelt, and making writing somewhat less of a drag.

Lesser schools require only one 500 word essay, usually from the common application. Higher-end schools require the 500 word essay with a supplement, basically "why are you applying/what can you bring to this school". I haven't seen a school require three.

There's plenty of higher-end schools that have 3+ supplements (from the schools I applied to, Caltech and Stanford, although they were informal and closer to paragraphs and essays I guess).

 

[chenman333]

Not really related to college essays, but I had a fantastic on campus interview with Yale today. It was just about perfect, IMO, as the interviewer had so much in common with me in terms of major, activities, and such. And I actually studied for the questions so I was totally prepared for all of them.

 

[Deck Knight]

Articulation agreement. You get the grades, you get the school.

Never leave Community College without one.

 

[Firestorm]

So in the States do you have to write an essay for every school you apply to? I only remember writing one for a scholarship application. I wrote mostly wrote about one of my extracurricular activities which supported what I wanted to do both in school and after graduation.

 

[chenman333]

So in the States do you have to write an essay for every school you apply to? I only remember writing one for a scholarship application. I wrote mostly wrote about one of my extracurricular activities which supported what I wanted to do both in school and after graduation.

You write one to go with the "Common Application" which is the main part that you send to every school. Then each school may have a supplement that might require 1 or 2 more essays and short answer questions.

 

[orangekows]

My college essay was pretty awesome. I had to write a good one because I had a pretty bad GPA in high school (like 2.4), and I had three suspensions under my belt too. It's probably the reason why I got into the school I wanted to go to.

 

[mtr]

I wrote about being sucked into Halo 2 and realizing that it was overrated. I made it sound scholarly enough, and in retrospect, it may have helped me get some money here and there. But probably not.

 

[Eraddd]

So in the States do you have to write an essay for every school you apply to? I only remember writing one for a scholarship application. I wrote mostly wrote about one of my extracurricular activities which supported what I wanted to do both in school and after graduation.

Vancouverites like us don't need one for SFU and UBC xD

Unfortunately, I don't want to go to UBC lol, so I got essays to write.

And I have absolutely no idea what I want to write it on. My main selling point is how Christianity changed my life, but that's a bit far, cause religion is a touchy subject. Oh and I want to be a doctor in third world nations, but doesn't everyone write about that kind of crap?

 

[Blackout Rawcks]

I plan on writing mine real soon, going to try and get into U.M.

 

[Berserker]

Well, I've finished mine and I'm aiming for Austin, Ohio, Purdue and Rutgers for Pre pharm. A few people have said my essay is too 'shocking' and I should tone it down a bit. But they also said that I'm lacking anything about why I'm interested in pharm, other then I want to work with people.