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Colleges
want personality, humor, angst–not smart-aleck tricks
BY ANDREW CURRY
It may
be the hardest and most anxiety-producing question you've
ever had to answer: Who are you, and why do you deserve to
get into college ( in 500 words or less)? And it could be
among the most important. "Often [test] scores are in the
same acceptable range, the kid's done well in the same classes
everybody else has taken, and it's the essay we finally refer
to," says University of Chicago Dean of Admissions Ted O'Neill.
So U.S. News recently asked the people who read essays to
share their tips.
There's
agreement among admissions deans that literary perfection
is not necessary; they want an introduction to the real 17-year-old
you. "Sometimes the least successful good essays are so polished
they don't reveal anything about the writer," says O'Neill.
Chicago is renowned for its offbeat topics; last year's included
the significance of given names and the possible extraterrestrial
origins of such features of modern life as the tax code. The
answers, says O'Neill, can reveal a lot about a student's
creativity and thinking skills.
Most schools
leave the topic open, and admissions officers advise tackling
what you know best–your hometown, your family, an interest
you feel passionate about. (Michael Cole, until recently an
admissions officer at Boston College, says counselors there
are already dreading the inevitable flood of cookie-cutter
musings on"What the Crisis in Kosovo Means to Me.") Some favorites:
a reflection on race by a part-time cashier in a discount
clothing shop who struggled with her conscience after a poor
Hispanic woman stole from the store; a description of a trip
by train through a gray, depressing East Germany that inspired
a desire to meet Karl Marx; and an emotional essay about the
torment an applicant went through after severely injuring
her father in a skiing accident. Flawless spelling and grammar
are a must.
If you
assume that a gimmick, like using hot-pink paper or enclosing
a balloon or cookies ("They're usually crumbled," grouses
Richard Shaw, dean of admissions at Yale), will help you stand
out, think again. The sock puppets included in one application
to Boston College last year were passed around the office
in amusement, says Cole, but it was the quality of the essay
that won the committee's votes. "We had someone a few years
ago send in a set of fishing flys she had tied," recalls Nancy
Donehower, dean of admission at Reed College, of one failed
application. "They were beautiful to look at, but did they
help her get in? No."
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