What do I want the readers of my application to know about me apart from courses, grades, and test scores?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nYour answer is key to your success on the essay. It\u2019s your opportunity to shine, to offer readers some insight into who you are beyond your grades, test scores and activities.<\/p>\n
Before you write that first draft, you need to figure out exactly what you want readers to know about you. Colleges want to know what YOU want to tell them about yourself, not what you believe they want to know. They want you to dig a little deeper than usual to show some insight and reflection.<\/p>\n
How do you learn how to reflect? Think about your best traits and qualities.<\/p>\n
Are you industrious? Funny? Shy? Resourceful? Curious? Hard working? Once you know which traits and qualities you want to share, read the college essay prompt. Then find a story that answers the prompt and illustrates those traits.<\/p>\n
Take a look at this Common App prompt that we parsed for our students. Our coaches use the same approach with students completing other Common App, ApplyTexas, California and supplemental essay prompts.<\/p>\n
Common App Prompt 1<\/strong><\/p>\nSome students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.<\/em><\/p>\nThe key word in this prompt is “meaningful,” but even that word can seem big and overwhelming. What makes an experience meaningful?<\/p>\n
Ultimately, your essay is not about your background, identity, interest, talent or experience; it\u2019s about you. Why is this aspect of your identity, background or experience so meaningful? Have you learned something about yourself? Does this m<\/p>\n
Admissions officers read these essays to find out something they don\u2019t already know about you.<\/p>\n
They know your grades. They can see which sports and clubs you\u2019ve joined from your application. They know what types of courses are offered at your school, and whether your neighborhood is wealthy, poor or somewhere in the middle. They can even figure out which types of books you\u2019ve read if you took American Literature. Your transcript provides them with a wealth of information.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t know how anything you did during high school affected you, who you met along the way or why you cannot get a particular piece of music out of your head. They have no idea how you have changed or why you might be a good fit for their school.<\/p>\n
Your challenge is to write an essay that illustrates something meaningful about you. We can help you do that with any prompt for any school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many students get excited over college essay ideas they think will get them some attention inside the admissions office, without giving much consideration to what the college essay prompt is really asking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowwritingworkshop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}