<p>My older son's essay contained the line: "I am not a inconsiderate prick." My younger son wrote about a cheeseburger. I'm not entirely sure what impact those essays had (and are now having) on the schools they will have ended up attending when all is said and done. But it certainly has been amusing and educational for me...</p>
<p>My older son was sick and wrote about his illness in his essay; he got into Brown and several other top schools. </p>
<p>My son currently applying has written about the way he engages, intellectually, in his area of passion. This is a very important thing to him --more important than any individual anecdote, and he went with it.</p>
<p>Neither has written one of the neat little stories so touted in the LA Times and other places. Personally, I think my sons' essays say more about them than any anecdote they had to relate. Some of these anecdotes end up being little ditties: And I say this as a professional writer and journalist, myself. Even if well-done, they may not always be that revealing or that profound. They often seem so narrow they don't tell enough about the student.</p>
<p>My son's essay about his struggles with an illness (although verboten, as stated above --even his high school told him not to write this essay) ended up saying more about him as a person, and giving more insight into his true life experience and the real deal about what he had been through than any referential little anecdote. His essay was not beatifully written or perfect, just very straightforward in an 18 year-old kind of way, and heartfelt, a totally honest statement in his own words that, imo, enormously aided him in the admissions process.</p>
<p>These little anecdotes can end up being as cliched and cookie-cutter as anything else; often they do not say that much about the kid --or at least not the things the college may want to know. As a writer, I know that sometimes when you want to say something, you need to say it straight; often these slice-of-life anecdote essays fail in that regard.</p>
<p>Just my $.02. And btw, hiring someone to do this is a total waste of time. Only a 17 year-old can write like one --anything produced by an essay service is likely to backfire, no matter how "well-written" it is.</p>
<p>Excuse me, I have inadvertently defamed my son. He wrote: "I am not an inconsiderate prick." (Gotta learn to proofread...)</p>
<p>All the "help" kids get with essays are one reason the new SAT has a writing section since it is the only way colleges can tell if a student can write logically and knows grammar, etc. I do think the application essays are good since they allow the student to show a side of him/herself the college wouldn't otherwise be aware of (my daughter, accepted at NYU Gallatin ED wrote about a session of her improv class, where she's the only kid and it's not part of her school). However, while we didn't polish her essay (she wouldn't let us!) I know parents who practically rewrote the essay, so it may still be true to the student's interests and personality but isn't necessarily true to their writing ability, and colleges know that.</p>
<p>"These little anecdotes can end up being as cliched and cookie-cutter as anything else; often they do not say that much about the kid --or at least not the things the college may want to know. As a writer, I know that sometimes when you want to say something, you need to say it straight; often these slice-of-life anecdote essays fail in that regard."</p>
<p>The purpose of recommending the "slice-of-life" essays is to make it ... personal. I am not quite sure how a truly personal story can fail to be told "straight" and end up being a clich</p>
<p>Catherine, there is a world of difference between the SAT essay and the application essays. </p>
<p>The SAT essay is a quasi-worthless exercise that predicts very little except the ability to exploit the weaknesses of the current grading system through writing a meaningless and formulaic two-page "opus" which does not require style nor correct grammar.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Since most tragic events happened to "someone else" countless essays discussed the loss of grandpa, grandma, or the family pooch.
[/quote]
Xiggi, I imagine that every once in a while a student will report a near death experience of her own; and in the rarest of cases an applicant might even have died and come back to life. This could make a compelling essay if told right!</p>
<p>Xiggi Wrote:
The purpose of recommending the "slice-of-life" essays is to make it ... personal. I am not quite sure how a truly personal story can fail to be told "straight" and end up being a clich</p>
<p>The problem that I found with both my kids essays was that on first reading they were trying too hard to sound mature, or trying to please admissions people. You really have to ask them why they are saying this or that. What surprised me was that what was in their minds was so much better than what they were laying down on paper. So many times I found myself asking a question, getting a really insightful response, and then telling them "Why don't you just write what you just told me?" Their first reaction was to say "that just sounds too simple" or "everybody knows that". Its as if by trying to "dress up the essay" to impress admissions people they drown out their own voices.</p>
<p>Ricardo, your approach was a good one. In my daughter's case, my suggestion was also very simple: write about how you became interested in art and what excites you about it. I did try to get my kids to read Strunk and White before writing/editing, for those wonderful rules: "Use the active voice," "If you don't know what you want to say, say it loudly," "Omit needless words," etc.</p>
<p>(Note that my addition of "etc" violates the preceding principle.)</p>
<p>Yeah, I think that's the problem with the overly earnest essay, calculated to impress admissions reps. As I said previously...was it in this thread?...it's almost a Zen thing: you impress them by not trying to impress them.</p>
<p>I remember sitting down to read my S's UChicago uncommon essay thinking, "How am I going to tell him he has to start over." Well, I admit it, he shocked me, that darn essay was brilliant. It was insightful, handled complex issues using an easy to understand metaphor taken from one of his interests, and had just the right amount of humor. I then read his common app essay. It was not nearly the same quality, good, but far from brilliant. I asked him if he ran out of gas, he said, "No, the topic is so boring compared to Chicago's, I found it hard to get excited about it." (This one did require some more work.) </p>
<p>Perhaps a little more creativity in question asking on the colleges' part might be in order as well. (For example, I heard of one creative prompt, from Penn, I believe, that I really liked: "You have just finished your 300 page autobiography, please submit page 217.")</p>
<p>
[quote]
"You have just finished your 300 page autobiography, please submit page 217.
[/quote]
This may be an urban legend. I heard it attributed to the UofChicago, with the tag line that one student who was denied admission wrote that he couldn't write page 217 because he didn't know what came before.</p>
<p>The way I heard it is: "I'm running out of time and only up to page 195."</p>
<p>makinaw: It's not -- a close friend applied to Penn last year and had to write that essay. I remember him reading it to me.</p>
<p>Urban legend or not, it is still a good prompt. My S (who did not apply to Penn) said he would begin the page with a sentence continuing from 216 that said something like, "...and that is how I discovered the meaning of the universe."</p>
<p>My daughter's essay for multiple apps this year was written in plain everyday language, she in no way tried to dress it up. When I read it, I thought the content was great and the topic fitting, but did comment that I thought it was a little "too simple". Her reply was "they want an essay that reflects ME and this is ME, ths is how I write and this is how I speak, if college X doesn't want me because of the essay, there will always be college Y". I then realized how much smarter than me she really is....</p>
<p>Your intellectual abilities, your sense of imagination and your creativity are important to us. With this in mind, please respond to one of the following three prompts. You may use the space provided or enclose an additional sheet of paper. Your essay should not exceed one page.</p>
<p>6a. You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit page 217.</p>
<p>6b. First experiences can be defining. Cite a first experience that you have had and explain its impact on you.</p>
<p>6c. Recall an occasion when you took a risk that you now know was the right thing to do.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/forms/DomApp.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/forms/DomApp.pdf</a></p>
<p>Yes, the prompt is still there (my daughter used it and was accepted ED). The urban legend is that the applicant misunderstood it and thought he had to write all 300 pages and only submit page 217.</p>
<p>It's a stimulating question. But if I had to write that essay at my age, I'd have to answer, "Page 217? That was so long ago I just can't remember."</p>