Cracking the College Essay Lenape Regional High 开裂的大学德拉瓦族区域高.pptVIP

Cracking the College Essay Christopher Piane Territory Manager – South Jersey The Princeton Review ChrisP@ 800.2REVEW Why do colleges ask you to write essays? Why an essay? To find out who you are (and what they can’t see from your grades and test scores) To find unique people who are going to make the campus a better place To test your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself through words (what you do most in college) Most Importantly Be yourself Separate yourself from the crowd Start early What have you been told about writing a good college essay? The Dos Be creative and/or funny Reflect and opine (easy on the ‘what’, heavy on the ‘why’) Write in the first person if you want Omit anything that doesn’t advance the story Give to someone you trust to edit (not necessarily your mom or your English teacher) Follow the word count (not less than the minimum or more than the maximum) The Don’ts Be funny if you’re not funny Be shy or modest (or too much of a braggart) Use a template or example essay Make stuff up Worry if you haven’t done anything amazing Reuse another essay you already wrote Repeat things from other parts of your application (like grades and activities) Topics That Work, Topics That Don’t What do they like? Curiosity, passion, persistence. Attributes that successful college students have. Great students become great alumni. What universally makes them cringe? Sex (especially YOUR sex life), drugs (especially YOUR drug use), violent events in which you participated. They also tire of reading travelogues and stories of how you recovered from a sports injury. Want to make them groan? Rehash the extracurricular activities that you already listed on your application or editorialize on the top news item of the day. Your grammer will be judged by the admissions officers. (What’s wrong with this sentence?) Composition 101 Spelling, grammar, and usage do matter Spelling is easy, grammar is hard Follow the SAT/ACT rules Put ‘Strunk and