<h2>it originally appeared in Kaplan/Newsweek and i think it may help a lot of applicants.</h2>
<p>Essay: An Opportunity, Not An Ordeal
A director of admissions provides advice on making your essay memorable.
by Carol Wheatley</p>
<p>Over the last 23 years, I have read more than 15,000 admissions essaysmany good, many not so goodbut there are a few that I remember to this day. What made these few memorable? In each instance, the writers revealed themselves to me in ways that the rest of the college admissions process does not permit.</p>
<p>I still remember the young woman who wrote that she was going to become the first woman president of the United States. I believed her. I also remember the essay written by a student whose passion was theater. She wrote of her desire to be Lady Macbeth. Not to play Lady Macbeth, but actually to become Lady Macbeth. I believed her, too.</p>
<p>In both of these instances, I do not recall whether or not the writing itself was remarkable, although I am quite certain that both grammar and spelling were proficient. I would remember if they werent. What made these essays stand out then and now was that both writers moved me. When I finished those essays, I knew far more about these students than I could ever learn from the data that filled their thick admissions folders.</p>
<p>The essay can be an obstacle for applicants. As the competition for college admissions has increased and as students have taken the process more seriously, essay anxiety has become common. This is especially unfortunate since the essay is one portion of the application that students themselves control completely.</p>
<p>I find that writers who do stumble
often are trying to dazzle us with style rather than concentrating on substance. The notion that an essay must be intellectually superior is misguided. Students shouldnt go to the thesaurus in search of hundred-dollar words. While we want proof that students can use the tools of language to express themselves, we can tell when applicants arent comfortable with the language and tone they have adopted.</p>
<p>Typically colleges offer a number of topics on which students may write. These topics usually give a focus to the essay and almost always encourage introspection. Even when an applicant writes about a current event, the approach should be personal.</p>
<p>Each year certain topics are common to a large percentage of the essays. Terrorism, and the aftermath of 9-11 have been popular topics in the last two years. More recent incidents such as the war in Iraq or corporate leadership and greed will certainly be popular topics this year. Its fine to choose such a topic so long as the perspective is distinctive. I dont care whether the writer thinks Martha Stewart or Sam Waksal is guilty of insider trading, or whether Sammy Sosa should be penalized for corking his bat. Instead, I want to read the why why the student thinks as he does, why it matters to her, why I should care about his opinion.</p>
<p>There are some other dos and donts:</p>
<p>Dont be cynical, trite, pretentious, or maudlin. One essay that caught my eye was a description of coming to terms with a disabled sister. Instead of an overly sentimental treatment, the student told me why this experience had changed him over the years.
Do be concise, specific, personal.and honest. I am not interested in reading what the writer thinks I want to read. I want to be surprised by a student who is willing to take chances to go beyond the obvious.
Dont repeat what is included in other parts of the application by making the essay a second résumé. I want to be taken behind the details that I already know, like a student who described why membership on the committee to choose an associate pastor was significant in her growth.
Do use wit and imagination, but dont try to be funny if thats not your personality. More than a few essays have backfired when the writer stretched for humor but what came out was plain silly.
Do proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although I want substance, I also want to be able to see a student writing that first paper for the freshman colloquium and avoiding careless mistakes that will drive faculty crazy. </p>
<h2>Most of all, I want students to consider the essay an opportunity rather than an ordeal. It is a chance for them to provide me with a dimension of their personalities that cannot be elicited from test scores or grade point averages, from teacher recommendations or lists of activities. I want them to use this opportunity to its fullest advantageand make me remember what they wrote.</h2>
<p>Carol Wheatley is Director of Admissions at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.</p>