Serious problem with ESSAYS

College Essays
1

<p>I am having a big question about essays in general.
My main question is - are we supposed to use or refer to only 1 example, or achievement, or personal experience, or issue for every essay that we write?</p>

<p>I know some essay questions ask something like discuss a particular experience or talent or achievement. I believe that for such essays, we should discuss 1 item in depth. </p>

<p>However, some essay questions do not limit to (A, B, or C), and the put down and/or. </p>

<p>Is it better to discuss a few things which reveal different perspectives and different aspects of me? Is this the case for all essays? Or only particular ones?</p>

<p>I am seriously worried about this, as I keep thinking whatever it is, I must use 1 example or incident, in the essay, but my older sister tells me not to. </p>

<p>An example I have is the Wisconsin Madison prompt 1. </p>

<p>The University values an educational environment that provides all members of the campus community with opportunities to grow and develop intellectually, personally, culturally and socially. In order to give us a more complete picture of you as an individual, please tell us about the particular life experiences, perspectives, talents, commitments and/or interests you will bring to our campus. In other words, how will your presence enrich our community?</p>

<p>For such a question, should I limit myself to only one talent or achievement, or discuss a few which show different parts of me? </p>

<p>Also, does the fact that there is no word limit mean I should write a lot? Around 1000 words? Or should I still stick to around 500 - 600 words?</p>

<p>Also, if anyone could tell me for example about the common app essay. For the "Choose your own topic", is it better to stick to 1 issue/idea or many?</p>

<p>I would really appreciate any advice... Please help!</p>

2

<p>Bump…Help someone! Please!</p>

3

<p>Talk about multiple for the first prompt and stick to a single one for the common app.</p>

4

<p>For the Common App essay, you should ALWAYS stick to one topic. It will make your essay seem disorganized if you talk about multiple things; you’d be skipping all over the place! Remember that the Common App essay should only be 500 words or less, so it’s best to stay focused on a single topic. This is also true for the “Topic of Your Choice.”</p>

<p>For prompts like the Wisconsin Madison prompt I’d recommend covering all of those things. Of course, the choice is ultimately up to you (personally, though, it sounds like you’re dying to write about multiple things, lol!)</p>

<p>For prompts that have no word limit I would loosely stick to 500-600 words. This should keep your essay from becoming dull and/or straying off topic. However, if you need to use more words in order to fully develop your thoughts you should go for it! Having an essay that feels incomplete is almost as bad as being boring.</p>

<p>Good luck on your essays! I’m sure you’ll do great :)</p>