<p>I've really been struggling to write a good short answer response for the common app. I just don't know how to approach it. </p>
<p>I have a lot of generic ECs, but, while I am passionate about them, I feel like it would take much more than 150 words to make them seem distinct or unique to me (e.g. Yearbook, Student Council, etc).</p>
<p>So I was thinking about writing about the internship I had this summer, but, again, I don't know what this essay is supposed to be like. Most of the personal essays I have seen have been narratives, often highly metaphorical and insightful. Should the short answer be the same way, or is it more of just an expositional explanation of an activity. </p>
<p>I would really appreciate any advice on how to approach the short answer or examples of how any of the college students on here wrote theirs.</p>
<p>The short answer can really be both. I had a short paragraph of narrative and then a short paragraph of introspection/commentary. But I got kinda lucky with my idea and how I could develop it (it didn’t depend as much on my stroke of creativity as it did on my stroke on the putting green :)).</p>
<p>just be sure that you not only describe the EC but what YOU did…how you affected the org.</p>
<p>let’s say you write about the internship. describe it, then describe your role, and then write how your work benefited this organization, and maybe what you learned.</p>
<p>I took a similar approach to gamma’s short answer.
I had a short narrative (3 sentences)
and then a paragraph that combines why I joined this activity, what I did in it, and what I got out of it.</p>