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I wonder if the colleges care if students find the essays to be a deterrent or if they are snooty enough to think that only those who want to invest in their essays deserve to go there? This makes me wonder how the faculty feels - do they want great essay writers or great students of their subjects?
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<p>For Chicago particularly, I think that the essay prompts are one of the best factors for students to determine whether or not they will like the school. Chicago is definitely not for everybody (you're talking to somebody who goes there, and somebody whose older brother went running for the hills-- to another awesome school-- as soon as he started hearing about the core and student life!)</p>
<p>The Chicago academic and social experience can be a lot like its application-- keep in mind that everybody you are going to school with saw the same essay questions as you, and though it turns off a lot of great students who probably wouldn't be happy there anyway, it turns on a lot of great students who would.</p>
<p>The nice thing about Chicago's essay is that there is a "create your own prompt" option, and some of my friends have used their common app essay for it and have been admitted. Even though the other questions are pretty batty, I don't think Chicago thinks itself as so above everything to assume that every applicant is going to find their questions inspiring.</p>
Another school asks the applicants to state their goals and how the college will help them get there. What goals? Isn't college a time to figure out what your goals are? Maybe the goal is to go to college to figure out what one wants to do. Some of the questions are pretty inane.
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<p>That's exactly what one of my schools asked, and I answered truthfully. My goal is to go to a college where I will get a good education, study something I am passionate about (most likely some sort of science), and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I hope it won't hurt me that I told them I don't have clear-cut goals, but I guess if they can't handle students who aren't totally decided yet, I don't really want to attend.</p>
<p>"How would 'going there' automatically imply he is taking advantage of those opportunities? If he is citing the generous research programs at a college, for example, he should discuss how early he would start conducting research, in what field, with what level of mentoring, etc. And the whole thing with kids going into competitive colleges not know what they want to study is just beyond me"</p>
<p>Well, it was tongue in cheek -- obviously he would not be taking advantage of anything if he didn't go there. I don't know why it is beyond you that kids don't always know what they want to study. How many kids have taken a philosophy course or an art history course or a political science course in high school? When my son started at UCLA some years ago, UCLA told the parents that of the kids entering who are absolutely certain of what they will major in, two thirds will change their mind by their junior year. And that's the ones who are absolutely certain. 17 is awfully young to be certain about anything. Even if it feels certain at 17, colleges know perfectly well that most students change their minds once they get there so what is really the point of asking what their goals are, etc.? They know just how quickly kids' goals change -- they have the stats to prove it. As far as my kid, or any kid, proving that he will take advantage of opportunities, I have to wonder which is more significant -- what he says in a few lines in an essay meant to convince them to accept him or what he has done for four years that clearly demonstrates that he is the kind of person who seeks and takes advantage of opportunities. Why should colleges have to ask? I'm not suggesting there not be essays, I'm just questioning the "what are your goals and how will you take advantage" essay. They should be able to determine if an applicant is a person who takes advantage of opportunities based on what they have already done and what others say they have done. That speaks volumes more than anything a kid says about what they will do once they arrive when the chances are very good that they will go off in a different direction once they get there.</p>
<p>"That's exactly what one of my schools asked, and I answered truthfully. My goal is to go to a college where I will get a good education, study something I am passionate about (most likely some sort of science), and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I hope it won't hurt me that I told them I don't have clear-cut goals, but I guess if they can't handle students who aren't totally decided yet, I don't really want to attend."</p>
<p>Good for you. My son did something similar.</p>
<p>i actually liked that bucknell essay. it makes it really easy for people who really want to go there and know why. just a couple sentences for each thing. i wrote about the learning enviornment in and out of class, clubs, and another specific thing. i think they're looking to see if you really want to go there. (my school's valedictorian last year was rejected by them, presumably for not showing enough interest or making it clear that it was a "safety" for him. he's at stanford)</p>