The All Important College Essay
Earlier this week I was reading The Choice, a blog from The New York Times about college admissions and financial aid (if you don’t already read it, I’d recommend doing so). The post that caught my eye was An Admissions Dean Offers Advice on Writing a College Essay written by the Martha Merrill, dean of admission and financial aid at Connecticut College.
Quite often I am asked questions by students and families about the personal statement or essay that is required as part of an application to WPI. This submission is one area where you have full license to send us whatever you’d like. We don’t have a carefully scripted question for which we want a carefully scripted answer; your personal statement is just that: personal.
I suggest that you read Ms. Merrill’s advice, but I’ll quote two of her ten suggestions in particular:
Don’t repeat what is already in your application. If you go to a performing arts school and all of your extracurricular activities and awards relate to dance, don’t write about how much you love dancing. Tell me something I couldn’t know just from reading the other parts of your application.
Be genuine. Don’t try to impress me, because I’ve heard it all. Just tell me what is important to you.
Okay, maybe I haven’t heard it all, but I’ve heard quite a bit. And if you are genuine and don’t repeat what’s already in your application, then you are getting somewhere. I read every essay—in good applications and bad—and the ones I remember most are the ones that are unique and display a passion about the topic.
Here are two additional tips of my own that hopefully have already crossed your mind: 1) spell check, and 2) proofread. Don’t do one without the other. You can click that “ABC” button as many times as you want, but its not going too find correctly spelled words in improper places (among other things). Let me rephrase: it’s not going to find correctly spelled words in improper places.
At WPI we know that our students’ strengths typically fall in math and science rather than English, grammar, and writing. But the essay is still a very important piece of your application—and one to take seriously. Write and proof it yourself, but also ask a friend, family member, teacher, or counselor to proofread it for you. As Ms. Miller says, “The truth is that while no essay will make an unqualified student acceptable, a good essay can help a qualified applicant stand out from the competition. A good essay just might be what turns a ‘maybe’ into a ‘yes.’”
So, it’s time to get to work! Spend some time this summer piecing together your essays, and when it comes time for you to submit your applications you’ll be ahead of the game. Good luck!
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