At Williams we believe that bringing together students and professors in small groups produces extraordinary academic outcomes. Our distinctive Oxford-style tutorial classes—in which two students are guided by a professor in deep exploration of a single topic—are a prime example. Each week the students take turns developing independent work—an essay, a problem set, a piece of art—and critiquing their partner’s work. Focused on close reading, writing and oral defense of ideas, more than 60 tutorials a year are offered across the curriculum, with titles like Aesthetic Outrage, Financial Crises: Causes and Cures, and Genome Sciences: At the Cutting Edge.
Imagine yourself in a tutorial at Williams. Of anyone in the world, whom would you choose to be your partner in the class, and why?
For that question, does “anyone in the world” specifically include who’s alive today, or can I bring back people from history?
You can write about absolutely anyone, from any time, real or fictional, profound or prosaic. My admitted daughter wrote about a high school classmate. It’s all about your point of view. Good luck!
Anyone. They want to see how your mind works and your choice of modern vs history may reflect on that. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box in vague essay prompts.
Also, when answering this, are we supposed to use a “common app essay STYLE of writing”? When writing the common app essay, we usually have a specific style. For example, it could start like “ My eyes were open but it was completely dark. The dark was ironically deafening. I couldn’t have been more clueless… etc” until you reach the point where you show how you demonstrated a specific quality or something. Is that also how successful essays for this supplement are? Or maybe we just go straight to the point here?
For the supplemental tutorial question, yes, you can just get to the point by naming the person, you can think of it as way to show the type of person, historical or otherwise, you would like to study with, discuss issues with and learn from. It’s really another way to discuss what you like about learning and your interests.
Son who was admitted ED had a narrative beginning (first paragraph) to his essay. Write an essay that works for you and your style and gets your message across.
I highly doubt there IS a Common App essay STYLE of writing. I’d be so bold to say that if you are writing in a style that is not your own, authentic voice, then you are doing yourself a disservice and the admissions officers will see right through it.
I may be wrong, and @Confringo can clarify, but I think that what @Confringo meant was should (s)he use the “show, don’t tell” approach to narrative writing, as opposed to just naming a person and listing reasons. @Confringo was demonstrating a descriptive paragraph that hooks the reader into the essay. (S)he is correct that most examples of “essays that worked” (e.g., those featured on the websites for Hamilton and Johns Hopkins) use that type of approach, so I can see why (s)he called it a “Common App” style.
My son used that approach for both his entire common application essay and the first paragraph only of his Williams tutorial essay.
I don’t think you need to use that approach, though. As I stated earlier, you have to think about what you want to show about yourself and how to write your essay to accomplish that goal. Write what matches your own writing style and suits your message.
Also, you may find it helps to “play” with your essay, starting it different ways, revising it, returning to it on different days with a fresh perspective, etc. The word limit makes you use words powerfully, as you think about what to cut out and what to leave in the essay.
Yikes. Whoever told you this was a good “style” for a common app essay was pulling “deafening” your eyes, and not “ironically.” That’s atrocious writing.