<p>What are the essays supposed to say about us? obviously its impossible to tell colleges everything about us in one, 500 word essay - so what is the most important things colleges want to see? do they want to see our thought processes (i.e. how we analyze a situation)? Do they want to what is important to us? or do they just want to see our ability to use big words that we find in the thesaurus?</p>
<p>basically, i'm asking someone to shed some light onto the college essay - what do colleges want to learn from it?</p>
<p>That's a very broad question, it can be anything that is outstanding on you, the qualities that make you special and glisten in the crowd, including diligence, creativity, fortitude, bla bla bla; but to me it really depends on what college you are applying to, so in short, my suggestion is that you should go on the school's website and look for the key sentences they mentioned about the qualities of their students. For example, Stanford:</p>
<p>"It is not what you have experienced that counts, but what you make of an experience. Think about what matters to you, think about the experiences you have had and how these experiences have influenced you, and go from there. "</p>
<p>"The strongest applications we see each year are those where the student’s genuine voice stands out. "</p>
<p>"The qualities that unite Stanford students and faculty members as a community of scholars - curiosity, passion, imagination, and wonder "</p>
<p>"In short, we are looking for the thinking student who has a passion for ideas...curiosity and enthusiasm...energy and depth of commitment ...initiative with which you seek out opportunities...in creating new knowledge."</p>
<p>Well there it is, clear enough? if you display the above qualities in your essay and your grades, ECs, and recommandations are decent, the chance of getting in would be high.</p>
<p>This essay from UVa might be of interest:</p>
<p>DO NOT use big words you find in the thesaurus.</p>