The College Essay

The College Essay I got my MFA at UT Austin as a Michener Fellow, a program for young writers that accepts less than one percent of applicants. Prompt connects students with a team of professional playwrights, authors, journalists, and educators who are only available through our network. There has always been speculation as to the value colleges place on the essay. The essay itself won’t propel an average student into Harvard, but may indeed make a difference. Since 2016, I have worked as a high school English tutor, theatre educator, and freelance journalist. I graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University's theatre and creative writing programs. I'm a playwright, editor, and writing teacher with a focus on arts education. The introduction needs to set up the whole essay. It should establish for the reader a sense of expectation for what’s to come without giving it all away. Relate to the reader the full scope of an experience â€" sights, sounds, and maybe even smells. Such candidates, regardless of their credentials, are not very compelling and are easily dismissed. Admission officers want to get past the facts of your application to better understand how you think. How do you process information about yourself and the world around you? Your essay should reveal how and why have they shaped you. College professors don’t want to have to teach you how to write. They have passion, but they need to identify it before they can share their story. Admissions officials have seen plenty of overused topics, such as a venerated parent, a game-winning goal or volunteer work in the soup kitchen. These essays can’t work without a personal connection or engaging observations. We asked the admission staff to select some of their favorite essays. We hope they will provide inspiration as you craft your stories. You can write about pretty much anything â€" an experience, an inanimate object, a movie, a place, a person â€" as long as your essay reveals how that experience, thing, movie, place, or person made an impact on you. Admissions officers are seeking students who are purposeful in their pursuits when choosing among highly talented students. They see a ton of candidates who are drawn by the fame or prestige of their institutionsâ€"who are simply applying to see if they can get in. Students applying to highly competitive universities (Ivy and Ivy-equivalent) face tough competition. Compelling essays will help you distinguish yourself. Students sign up with Prompt and start with a strategy session to figure out what they can still do to improve their experiences for their essays. Sign up now and we guarantee you'll finish all of your essays by mid-September so you can focus on academics and activities during senior year. Once you’ve hooked the reader, switch gears a little to set up the essay in a way appropriate for an introduction. An essay that is presented in a few long paragraphs is not only hard to readâ€"the resulting word “blocks” can be overwhelming to tired eyesâ€"it effectively obscures the author’s key messages. And rememberâ€"a one line, one sentence paragraph can be more impactful than a 3-4 sentence paragraph. Don’t restate information that can be found elsewhere in your application. This is your opportunity to provide insight and interpretation. Essays that become travelogues or resume narratives have little value to the reader and are wasted space. Jager-Hyman uses Mad Libs to help students find their own language to express their thoughts. She highlights issues with their work and helps students learn to express themselves in a more engaging and organic manner. She also pushes them to be more intellectually rigorous, when necessary. Evidently, there is a fear that students who hire coaches won’t be presenting original work, which would be cheating. When asked to write an essay about something meaningful to them, teens suddenly claim no passion for anything. From a technical point of view, then, your essay should reveal that you have good command of the language, understand the rules of grammar and can convey ideas concisely. College essays, however, are arguably the most challengingâ€"and, potentially paralyzingâ€"assignments you will face during your senior year.