So I’m applying SCEA to Princeton, and I have a question about the summers essay. for the summer after 10th grade, I described my events normally. But for the summer after 11th grade, I did two big things and I wrote both my supplement and my engineering essay about these things. Since I’m pushing the limit on the word count for the summers essay, can I just add a sentence for the summers essay that says “In the summer after 11th grade, I did X and Y.” and not elaborate on those since I did in my other essays? Or will it look like an abrupt ending? Should I even list it?
Thanks in advance!
Part of the exercise is to learn how to manage word count. To prioritize and hit the high notes.
Remember it is not a history lesson and these essays are truly your best shot at telling your story. Making yourself memorable and being that kid the admissions committee will go to bat for.
Be interesting, make it personal and tell your story like you would to a friend. If you had your most major summer after 11th and left it out or glossed over it, I would think the adcom is going to scratch their head…
@ClarinetDad16
the prompt is this: Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held. (Response required in about 150 words.).
I heard it was an essay to just describe activities, since the word count is so low. But I elaborated a lot on my activities in the summer after 11th grade in my supplement and engineering essay, so the adcoms will know what I did and how important it was to me. But I was just wondering if I should make a little note in the summers short answer and say that I elaborated on those activities elsewhere in my app or would they realize what I meant?
Elaborate less and include all the most important activities,
What you are proposing to do sounds fine to me. It’s not a test of your ability to write succinctly. Actually they do want to know what you did in your summers - and that is why they are asking. If you have described it elsewhere just tell them that.
@Longdistancemum so should I say, “In the summer after 11th grade, I did X and Y, which I wrote about it my other essays.” Or should I just leave it as: “In the summer after 11th grade, I did X and Y.” And leave it to them to figure out that I wrote about it in my supplements? It’s really not that hard to find out, I’m just being a bit paranoid.
I don’t think @ClarinetDad16 really understood my question.
I have a similar question…I thought for this essay we were supposed to use bullet points instead of complete paragraphs TAT…So is it okay if I just merely touched upon every opportunity?
To save words I recommend doing something like this:
10th grade summer: [and say whatever you want to say]
11th grade summer: [put what the activities are and say “see other essays”.