Writing College Admission Essays

	Learning the Process What's Important to Schools
	Submitting Applications
	•	Letters of Recommendations
		Writing Essays
		- Sample Essays
	•	Preparing for Interviews
	•	Early Admission
	•	Getting Applications
	•	Requesting Transcripts
	•	Sending Test Scores
	•	Online Application Tool

Submitting Applications

This is your opportunity to show colleges what sets you apart from the other applicants. Your responses to essay questions help admissions officers understand your motivations, creativity, and personality. That's why it is important to start writing your essays as early as possible.

Make your essays personal, but stay within the guidelines and carefully answer the questions.

Expect Unusual Questions
Schools are jazzing up essay questions to exercise the minds of candidates. As a result, it's almost impossible to predict the questions you might see on a school's application.

Find Out What Questions the School Asked Before
Learning about essay questions from previous years will give you an idea of the tone of the admissions office. Check with friends who applied to your schools.

To stimulate your creative juices, respond to these practice (some are real) essay questions:

What is your favorite word and why?
Write a television pilot proposal that incorporates a geisha in training, an Afghan politician, and a lacrosse-playing AIDS activist set in an award-winning dog food factory. Keep your proposal to 2–3 pages and give the first episode a beginning, middle, and end.
You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit page 217.
Can a toad hear? Prove it.

Read the List of Questions Thoroughly
Do you have any choice in the questions you answer? If so, think about each question and decide early which one you want to tackle. If the school asks off-the-wall questions, there may be some mundane alternatives.

Don't be Intimidated by Essay Questions
Sometimes the best answers are those that you can write quickly because you feel strongly about the question. If you labor for too long, you may be answering the wrong question for you and you risk sounding stiff. Remember to strike a balance on time: Don't take a month to write an essay, but don't throw something together without giving it some thought.

Writing Tips
To strengthen your essay:

Make an outline to organize your thoughts.
Pay attention to creating a strong introduction, supporting arguments, and an appropriate conclusion. Every story should have a beginning, middle, and end.
Revise as necessary.
Ask others for their feedback (but don't ask them to write it).
Proofread the final version before sending it.

Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays

Sample College Essay Questions

You are about to embark on a lengthy road trip in a two-passenger car with no radio. What person—real or fictional—would you choose to accompany you and why?
—Marquette University

Describe the future.
—New York University

There is a significant difference between a stupid mistake and a clever one. Give an example of a "clever" mistake you have made and explain how it benefited you or others.
—Northwestern University

Albright offers a January Interim program. If you could spend one Interim working on a project in any part of the world, where would you go and what type of project would you pursue?
—Albright College

Describe an event or idea in your intellectual life that has piqued your curiosity and tell how that idea or event has affected the way you see the world.
—Youngstown State University

Describe and evaluate one experience that significantly influenced your academic interests. The experience might be a high school course, a job, a relationship, or an extracurricular activity. Be sure to explain how this experience led to the goals you now have set for yourself and why you think the academic program for which you are applying will help you reach those goals.
—Southwest Texas State University

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