What should I include in my essays? What should I write about?

College Essays
21

What is your proof on the Harvard 25% number, especiallt that it is revealed in the application? I call complete BS in that statement. Four Pinocchios, as a fact checker would say.

And YES your admissions reader has to go make a pitch to others on the admissions committee to accept you. Do you think they go to bat strongly for applicants they either don’t like, or that they think are at risk of not succeeding (or worse) at their college? They will not.

Yup, they are pumping funds into it. But do you think they WANT to? You are very naive about how the adult world works.

And lower ranked schools aren’t what we are talking about. Lots of them need warm bodies to fill seats, and will take most applicants.

And I don’t get paid.

22

@OTTO_thefriendlypony , congrats on your fine achievements. I hope you have helped as many people for free as I have. I’d also love to know where you get your stats re Harvard.

As far as colleges admitting people they like, I don’t think that needs further clarification. They aren’t going to admit people they don’t like, are they?

23

Absolutely no way one can claim Harvard consciously admits 25% of students with a mental health issue. You dont work for Harvard, see all their apps, or sit in on discussions. Maybe some % of the students body needs mental support. That does not mean admissions is captivated by an essay on their issues. Not at all.

24

MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Let’s move on please and limit responses to questions asked by the original poster. As stated in the rules, the site is not a debate society. Users can express their point, and defend once, but then need to let it go.

The OP is just going to have to evaluate conflicting info and make his/her own determination.

25
  1. Try to understand the qualities the college wants and looks for. 2. Come up with a tale that allows you to show these. I still think color guard allows a number of traits to come through. But OP, you chose what can work best for you. The UCs snd CSUs can be very competitive, sometimes with impacted majors. Best wishes.
26

I think “show, don’t tell” means try to tell a story. A bunch of sentences earnestly telling admissions what your good qualities are gives no evidence. Telling a story with one or more anectdotes or incidents to illustrate is more compelling and interesting.

27

Thank you all for your advice. I’m not a very skilled writer and probably won’t be able to pull off the mental health essay. Thank you all for the detailed responses.