LA302:
Post-secondary Preparation
By the end of this unit, you will have successfully:
· Researched potential career interests, occupations, and universities
· Written an application essay for the university of your choice
· Prepared an activities resume to use for applications, scholarships, and/or jobs
· Learned the process of requesting and writing a recommendation letter
Post-Secondary Preparation
Types of College Application Essays
TYPE ONE: Tell us about yourself essays, such as… (appears in some form at all schools)
- Complete a one-page personal statement.
- How would you describe yourself as a human being? What quality do you like best in yourself and what do you like least? What quality would you most like to see flourish and which would you like to see wither?
- Tell us about your academic goals, circumstances that may have had an impact on your academic performance, and, in general, anything else you would like us to know in making an admission decision. (from UW System in 2011)
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO…
Show your personality. Be careful though because this question is so vague, it is easy to loose focus. Hone in on a particular experience or event that reveals who you are, including your best qualities.
TYPE TWO: Tell us about you and our university, such as… (from the UW System in 2010)
- 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?
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO…
Here the focus is already provided for you. In general, answer honestly. If a major reason you’re applying to the school is because it has a respected medical technology program, state that. However, the university does not need to know your not-so-flattering reasons, such as “I really want to go to Northwestern University, but I figured I needed to apply to some safety schools.” Also, make sure you are confident in your knowledge about the school. For example, telling UW-Green Bay you “look forward to cheering on its respected athletic programs, such as the football team” shows you haven’t chosen very carefully. (UWGB doesn’t have a football team)
TYPE THREE: Show us your creativity/intelligence, such as… (more popular with private schools)
- What five items would you place in a time capsule to capture the year 2008 and why?
- Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you and describe this influence.
- Do you believe there’s a generation gap? Describe differences between your generation and others.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO…
Again, stay focused on the topic assigned for you. Be sure to take a clear, truthful stance. The college is not looking for a “correct” answer; instead, the reviewers will use your answer to learn about you. Also, when responding to such prompts, show yourself as an informed writer. For example, saying the famous person, living or dead, you’d most like to have lunch with would be Charles Dickens because of his dynamic writing of Fahrenheit 451 shows your own ignorance.
How to Avoid the Big Mac Syndrome in Writing
By Parke Muth, University of Virginia
Fast food comes to mind when I read essays that are part of college students. Almost all the applications I see contain ''McEssays'' essays usually five paragraphs long that consist primarily of abstractions and unsupported generalizations. While technically accurate, they are organized and use correct grammar and proper spelling, they are basically the same, like Big Macs. I have nothing against Big Macs, but the ones I eat in Charlottesville are not going to differ from the ones I eat in Paris, Peoria, or Palm Springs. I am not going to rave about the quality of a particular Big Mac, and the same can be said about the generic essay.
If an essay starts, ''I have been a member of the soccer team, and it has taught me leadership, perseverance, and hard work,'' I can almost recite the rest of the essay without reading it. Each of the three middle paragraphs will give a bit of support to an abstraction, and the final paragraph will restate what has already been said. A McEssay isn't wrong, but it's not going to be a positive factor.
A student who uses vague abstractions poured into a preset form will end up being interpreted as a vague series of abstractions. A student who uses a cliché becomes a cliché to the reader. We are what we eat; we are also what we write.
A preset form leads to a generic essay, and so does a generic approach to what's perceived as the right topic. Too many students begin the search for what to write about by asking, ''What does my prof. want to hear?'' The thinking goes: If I can figure out what they are looking for, and if I can make myself look like that, then I'll improve my chances of getting an A.
Several years ago, the University of Virginia, where I work, asked student applicants to describe an invention or creation from the past that was important to them. The No. 1 response from at least a thousand people was the Declaration of Independence. This fact might make some people think that our college bound students are wonderfully patriotic, but since the institution was founded by Thomas Jefferson, I have a more realistic answer. Many students chose the Declaration because they thought that my colleagues and I would want to hear about how much they admired Thomas Jefferson. Whether this was a noble sentiment or a cynical maneuver, it meant that the university received a thousand essays that sounded pretty much alike and had virtually no positive bearing on the admission decision. Virginia is not looking for students who all think the same way, believe the same thing, or write the same essay.
The bad. Too often, students who want to avoid writing in a generic form or about a generic topic choose exactly the wrong remedy. They think that bigger topics or bigger words are better. But it is almost impossible, in a standard-length essay of 500 words, to write well about a vast topic: death, religion, politics, whatever. I am not advocating longer essays (remember how many essays professors have to read); I am advocating essays with a tight focus and specific use of detail. In the world of university it is not God but the writer who exists in the details.
Unfortunately, instead of detail, students try to impress colleges with big words. In trying to make feeding the homeless sound intellectual in the excerpted bad essay, the student resorted to a thesaurus and sounds pretentious. The act of helping the poor is hidden behind a wall of fancy words. The student assumed that these words would intensify the reader's experience, but they diminish it. Any hope of hearing the student's voice is lost because of a misguided attempt to sound smart.
The good. A good essay is not good because of the topic, though that can help, but because of the student's voice as a writer. A good writer can make almost any topic interesting. A poor writer can make even the most dramatic topic boring. A good essay always shows; a poor essay virtually always tells. By showing, a writer appeals to all of the senses, not just the visual. To show means to provide an assortment for the eyes, ears, and, depending on the essay, the mouth, nose, or skin.
The student whose essay appears as an example of the good has risked describing showing in detail the deterioration of her father as he is treated for cancer. I do not know of a single member of the English department staff who was not affected by this essay. The writer carefully noticed everything that was happening to her father. She opens with the sound of his coughing and then creates a scene that we can see clearly. Writing about death and sickness is one of the most difficult topics to tackle. Almost impossible, as I said above. But here is an example of good writing that also conveys the writer's courage to face a terrible situation head-on with intellect and power.
A writer who shows respects the intelligence of the reader; a writer who tells focuses on the ideas, or the perceived ideas, behind the details. The latter is often more concerned about demonstrating the ability to be abstract than the capacity to be precise. In a short, personal essay, however, precision is power.
The risky. Any student who has learned the basics of showing should think about taking a risk on the college essay. What kind of risk? Think about starting an essay with: "I sat in the back of the police car.'' Or, as in the example of the risky: "The woman wanted breasts.'' These topic sentences reach out from the page and grab our attention. They create a bit of controversy and an expectation that the writer might be willing to take academic risks in the classroom. That does not mean a good essay necessarily follows, but it does mean that a reader can look forward to what will unfold.
Students wonder if they will be penalized if they take a risk in an essay. They want to know if there is any risk in taking a risk. Of course there is. A risky essay might border on the offensive. In some cases, as in the excerpt, it is possible that a few readers might write off the writer because of his or her questionable taste. But in my experience, the majority of professors are open-minded. Erring on the side of the baroque might not be as bad as staying in the zone of the boring. Those who are willing to take a risk in their essay, to focus tightly on a topic, and to show readers a world through striking detail will certainly help their chances of succeeding.
What to Do and Not to Do in Your Application Essay
Do not rewrite your resume. The individuals reviewing your application already have your resume in front of them. Tell them something new. Write about unique traits you have that one would not know about after simply reading your resume.
Do not praise yours for high grades and/or test scores. Again, the committee already has this information. Make the people reviewing your application see you as a person – not just a “grade-making machine.”
Do not excessively praise the school. Yes, a school would be happy to know it’s the greatest, but the main goal of this essay is to show how great YOU are.
Do not write merely about “what you have done.” Instead, show your readers how your experiences have changed you and shaped you into the person you are now.
Do not draw attention to your weaknesses or areas of self doubt. Everyone has some thing on their applications that is less than stellar, and that is okay. You do not need to explain, excuse, etc.
Do not write about what the school can do for you. To parody JFK, write about what you can do for your school.
Do not use mindless clichés. The person reading your essay likely has read “I have gotten so much support and love from my parents. I know others have not been so fortunate, and I want to make a difference in their lives” a thousand times before. Instead, say something original. Even if you want to say the same thing, say it in a different way.
Do not have any spelling errors, punctuations errors, grammatical errors, and plain old silly typos. Just don’t.
Do be personal. Let your reader make a connection to you. Make your reader see your paper as that of a unique individual (rather than a stale application).
Do PROVE whatever claim you make. Examples, for instances, and such as’s will earn you points. For instance, saying that you go out of your way to meet new people is okay. Describing the time you randomly had a two hour long conversation with a Vietnam vet outside of a bus station is much better.
Do have fun writing your essay. If you enjoy yourself while writing your essay, chances are your reader will enjoying reading it too.
SAMPLE ESSAY A
Prompt: Provide any additional information (such as your aspirations, work experience, creative talents, factors affecting your academic record, etc) that you would like the admissions committee to know
From the time I was able to realize what a university was, all I heard from my mother's side of the family was about the University of Michigan and the great heritage it has. Many a Saturday afternoon my grandfather would devote to me, by sitting me down in front of the television and reminiscing about the University of Michigan while halftime occurred during a Michigan Wolverines football game. Later, as I grew older and universities took on greater meaning, my mother and uncle, both alumni of the University of Michigan, took me to see their old stamping grounds. From first sight, the university looked frightening because of its size, but with such a large school comes diversity of people and of academic and non-academic events.