Hi guys. Recently, I started my Common App essay and chose Prompt 1 (about a background that would make an application incomplete without it). For those of you with essay reading experience/have gotten into selective universities (Top 20), should I write about one anecdote or many? If so, how much of my essay should be anecdote? How much should be writing about how those events shaped who I am today? Also, should I write about a specific topic or should I branch out into different topics if using multiple anecdotes? I know I have a lot of questions and they seem scattered but I am stuck in a rut as I am unsure where to start.
I think writing about multiple topics and multiple anecdotes will look make your essay look scattered and unfocused. If you have a lot of interesting anecdotes, pick one from them which made the biggest impact in you. More importantly, write about the anecdote which supports the quality that you want to showcase.
Thanks! What % of the essay would you say should be anecdote? I don’t want to do too much storytelling.
There is no set percentage. An essay should have an intro, body and conclusion. And major part of body has to focus on the anecdote that tells the admission officer about the qualities you wanna tell. It is all about keeping the writing interesting and telling a story. Don’t limit your essay by thinking too much about the % of anecdote. Your first draft should be just the free flow of your thoughts. My advice is that you start writing your first draft. Ask your friends, family and teachers to read it. If they think that your anecdote is too lengthy or boring, then you can cut it short. You can also check out http://www.studymode.com/ in case you wanna see how college essays are written.