|
|
|
|
Sign up for
more great advice on: |
| | |
|
| |
 | |
|
|
 |
Counselor's Corner |
|
So you have written a first draft of your college essay, and deep down you know it needs work.
However, you are feeling a bit stuck because you find it really embarrassing to write about yourself.
Plus, everyone keeps telling you that your essay must be personal,
that it needs to SHOW not TELL, and that it needs to be interesting and grammatically correct.
You know you need help, but where do you turn?
Your first step is to find a trusted teacher, counselor or family member to be your writing coach.
The criteria for a good coach is someone who is patient and reassuring,
understands what good writing entails, and is conversant with the rules of grammar.
There are three key phases of working with your writing coach on your college essays -
Idea Development, Sentence-Level Improvement, and Grammar and Mechanics.
Let's take a close look at what should happen in each phase.
Idea Development - Phase I
Positive Feedback The purpose of the first phase of feedback is to help the student
further develop the ideas and identify the main point or thesis of the essay.
It is not to fix spelling and grammar mistakes, or to criticize ideas.
Schedule a writer's conference with your coach after she has read your first draft.
Ask her to make notes about the positive aspects of your essay prior to the meeting,
and to make a list of questions about any of the ideas that were difficult to grasp.
In the example that follows, the coach asks the student two questions to clarify
the meaning of the passage where she describes practicing choreography for an important dance audition:
My music comes on, and my coach walks to the front of the room.
"Young girl don't cry," by (what is the artist's name?)
blares out from the stereo system as I attempt my first turn (what is a turn in this case?)
Instead of asking, "What exactly is the main point?"
which is a challenging statement, the coach can pose questions that help you think about your ideas in a new way:
"What does it mean to be a dancer? How much work goes into learning a new routine?
What are the joys, the frustrations?
Discussing these comments in a meeting or phone conference is more apt to help you find
your thesis than if you are simply told that your message is confusing.
Your goal is to find your own voice in your writing and the conference is the first step.
Sentence-level Improvement - Phase II
Once your ideas and your thesis are in place, it is time to look over your essay and make your sentences more descriptive.
This is the time to find places where you could SHOW rather than TELL.
Remember that college admissions officers read hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of essays each year.
Any essay that leads with a sentence such as,
"I spent the last four years taking hip hop dance classes,
and I really enjoyed it" will not grab anyone's attention.
Here is the lead to the essay that the dancer referenced above wrote:
Beads of sweat slowly move down my full-body tights as I extend my right leg back, up, and to the side,
all from the push up position. This is just the beginning of a long night in the dance studio.
She could have used TELL and simply said,
"One night I worked really hard on my dance routine for an important audition."
Instead she helps the reader visualize her motions because she is SHOWING the process through her writing.
It is almost as if we are in the dance studio with her.
Take a few moments to review your sentences, and make your language more colorful with metaphor or simile.
Review your verbs and replace "to be" verbs (am, are, was, were) with more powerful action verbs wherever possible:
Change: "It was hot in the room." to: "The room burned like an oven."
Revise: "The boy ran fast" to: "The boy ran like a cheetah."
Find a way to bring another voice besides your own into your essay by using dialogue,
quoting someone relevant to your story, or incorporating a famous quote that puts your message in context.
In the following excerpt, the student uses a quotation to put his message
about becoming more of a risk taker during high school into context:
I've learned you need to get out and try new activities, even if they initially make you uncomfortable.
As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
I've taken this idea to heart and I am ready to apply it to all future endeavors, whatever they may be.
Grammar and Mechanics - Phase III
Once your ideas are in place, you have a strong thesis and you have made your sentences blossom,
you will be ready to tackle grammar.
The essay serves as a writing sample and allows the admissions committee to see your writing ability.
Consequently, it should present your thoughts in an organized way
and be grammatically correct with no spelling errors or typos.
Although the essay should be your own work, we suggest asking someone to review it for grammar,
organization and spelling. However, you should make the corrections yourself under the watchful eye
of your coach so that you understand the concept behind the corrections.
Writing is a revision of ideas, so don't expect to get it right in the first draft.
Enjoy exploring your ideas and finding your voice by taking the time to polish your college essay.
An essay that shines can help you stand out, and, hopefully, get in.
For Further Reading
A Writer's Reference with Help for Writing in the Disciplines by Diana Hacker.
This excellent resource book is one that students can take with them to college and graduate school.
It not only provides easy-to-understand explanations for grammar, usage and sentence structure,
but also offers detailed explanations for writing research papers and organizing references
and citations across academic disciplines.
"Their is nothing worse then using bad grammer and forgetting to spell check you're college essays."
If you are just as frustrated as I am reading that poorly written sentence,
imagine how college admission folks feel whilst reading hundreds of applications,
many just as bad as or worse.
As you head toward the finish line of the application race,
it's important to remember that colleges do much more than browse your completed applications... they actually read them!
For this reason it's imperative that you spend just as much time reviewing your essays
as you did deciding on the topics on which you have written.
However, reviewing can't be left to the spell check fairies on your Mac or PC...
you need real sets of eyes to be set on your would-be opus.
That's right, "sets", as in more than one person.
A few people you can approach about helping you with the review process are your parents, teachers,
family members and, while you're at it, why not ask your friends, too?
You can return the favor by hosting a "Bring Your Own Essay" proofreading party!
In all seriousness, the effect that grammatical and spelling errors have on the perception
an admission officer has of you can be significant.
Make sure your essay is free of factual errors as well.
If you don't know for sure what year the first seedless watermelon was grown,
it's best not to write on that topic. Choose a topic that doesn't need much, or any, outside research.
Colleges are hoping to learn about you, not how adept you are at garnering information from Wikipedia.
Yet another error that has plagued prospective students is the
"Why I want to go to ABC College" essay that is submitted to XYZ College.
Colleges know that, most likely, you're seeing other schools... this just isn't the way to let them find out.
One final suggestion: make it interesting! Admission folks spend immeasurable amounts of time reading essays
that mirror other essays in terms of topic and scope.
The essay is the one section of your application in which you can truly make yourself stand out
and be noticed in the pool of applicants. Use your voice and be yourself...
remember that you're the prospective student, your proofreaders are not.
However, they may have been in your shoes at some point and will feel proud
that you've included them in your "Proofing Party!"
The views expressed herein are those of their authors alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of Hundreds of Heads or of IECA.
|
| |
|
I PORED OVER MY ADMISSIONS ESSAY for Columbia for three months.
I wrote, rewrote, edited, proofread, and scoured it for any imperfection.
I really tried to give the admissions committee a clear picture of my roots, my ambitions, and my achievements.
Clear, effective, and concise prose is the best way to make a statement in your admissions essay.
Also, humor is fine if you're a comedian.
I am not, so I stuck to a serious tone. Bring your admissions essay to at least
one of your high school English teachers to edit - not just for content but also for grammar.
Even the smallest typo or grammatical no-no can tarnish an otherwise great personal statement.
-- DANIEL
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD. And when you are sure it's good, proofread it again.
Nothing says, "I did this at the last possible moment" like an "are" instead of "our."
And your computer's spell-checker is not going to pick that up for you.
Another good thing to do is to read it backwards. That helps.
On my last reading I found a "their" that was supposed to be a "there":
That was close!
-- MILLER SMATHERS
|
|
|
For more great tips on editing and writing your essay, check out:
www.public.coe.edu/wac/28tipspersonalstatement.htm
|
|
|
|
Don't play with margins and fonts to squeeze in more.
What you are doing is obvious,
and if you happen to be the 30th application of the day for the reader and your font is small,
it is not fun for the admissions committee.
|
|
|
| Remember:
To make sure you continue to receive
Heads
Up! Get Into College e-mails in your inbox (and that
they aren't sent to junk folders), please add
college@hundredsofheads.com to your address
book. |
|
| |
