Hey there!
I am a student of Borough of Manhattan Community College and I am applying to Cornell University’s ILR program as a transfer.
Is anyone here who can help me with the ILR school supplemental essay?
The prompt for the essay is— “Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School”.
Just to give you a little background of mine, I created a free school for underpriviliged children in Nepal who were poor and were working in garments and factories to support their family and I continued that for 6 years.
So at 14 you were able to establish a school in another school and run it for 6 years, while in school? Apologies if this feels unfairly harsh, but I don’t see how that happens- not least from the legal ability to sign the papers, to have the funds to get the place / supplies / teacher(s), to the local knowledge required- without significant involvement from at least one adult (most likely more than one).
I am happy to take it on faith that you have had a meaningful role in setting up and running the school. And maybe I am simply wrong, and you did do all of it completely on your own- if so, I apologize. But if you had meaningful adult involvement, don’t overegg the pudding- it will undermine your actual achievements. AOs are likely to find your claim as implausible as I did.
As far as writing your essay, what sort of help are you looking for? The ‘why’ essay is very personal, and not something that others can help with very much. If you are looking for an essay reader (once you have a good draft), there is a CC forum for that.
What made you assume I created that school at the age of 14! I never mentioned my age.
Anyways, I am a non-tradition student. I am 25 years old now and I finished high school in 2013. I am attending a community college for the last 1.5 years.
I hope I was able to clarify any confusion!
Fair enough, @Shujayet - as I said, if I am wrong I apologize! A surprising number of college applicants post here that they have done similar projects (mostly in Nepal/India/Pakistan) and it is rare that they have done it without substantial involvement from others (usually in both in the US and on the ground). Doing it on your own at 19, and running it at a distance for the last year and a half, is still a formidable undertaking.
ps, as for your essay the best advice for all college essays is particularly true for ILR: focus on your truest reasons for doing the ILR course. ILR has one of the highest acceptance rates within Cornell, but their AOs focus particularly strongly on fit. The more you know about the program and its goals the better able you will be to identify where you and the program fit together.
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Thank you for your informative reply.
I will try to focus on how ILR a good fit for me.
ILR is definitely about fit. Start by looking at their mission statement and seeing about marrying your experiences. About ILR | The ILR School
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