Palmer Trinity School

P A L M E R T R I N I T Y S C H O O L C O L L E G E H A N D B O O K / 2 0 2 3 - 2 0 2 4 18 THE ESSAY Why an essay? Most colleges and universities require students to write an essay as part of the application (not all—many state institutions do not have this requirement). Why? Because they want to see: a) how well you write, b) as one admissions officer puts it, "how students can wrap their brains around broadly-based questions" and c) who you are, in your own words and from your own point of view. Along with the interview, the essay affords your best chance to share your thoughts, insights, and opinions; to highlight your accomplishments; and to convey your maturity and outlook on life. Look at the essay, then, as an opportunity to tell the admissions committee something about yourself that isn't in the rest of your application. College essays are therefore different from those you write for English, history or other classes. You try to write well and to wrap your brain around questions for those teachers, but usually you do not write about yourself. Some students find it hard, when applying to college, to shift gears and write about a topic that may be close to them personally. e task need not be difficult, however. Here are a few tips, many gathered from admissions officers: Choosing a topic: Some colleges simply assign a topic, such as: » Describe a person or an event that has been important in your life. » If you had to choose four things to put into a time capsule to be opened in a thousand years, what would they be and why? » Write about an issue of local, national or global importance. Whatever topic you choose, bear in mind: » No topic is inherently a "good" or "bad" one. Admissions people want to discover something about you that they cannot learn from your transcript or test scores, so write about something that matters to you, not what you think they want to hear. » While no topics are "wrong", there are wrong approaches. In general, do not dwell on specific experiences, but on your perception of or reaction to those experiences. For example, writing a travelogue about your summer trip to France is trite. ("e view from the Eiffel Tower was the most breathtaking thing I've ever seen!!!") Instead, write about something you learned or that truly moved you while you were there. If you cannot do that, find another subject. » Some topics do need to be treated with great care, and should be avoided if you cannot do so. It is very difficult, for example, to write about personal tragedies or those that affect your community or the world. If you choose one of these subjects, be sure to focus less on the events than on how they affected you—and never focus on just the negatives, be sure to note how you've overcome this adversity. If you are asserting a strong opinion on a sensitive political, social, or religious issue, we recommend also pointing out that you are open to the opinions of others (if true). » Try to avoid writing about privilege in your essay. Writing the essay: » Be yourself, and write for yourself; use your own voice. Generally, we are taught to write for a particular group. e college essay has no audience per se except a group of strangers known as the admission committee. With no specific audience, students may compose an essay that attempts to convey an "educated" writer. is approach can result in stilted diction, posturing, and labored prose, rather than writing that reflects energy and spontaneity. If you write from the heart about a topic that is meaningful to you, you will be writing for yourself, and, as a result, your essay will be much more memorable to that group of strangers. » Use words you are comfortable with. Do not use a thesaurus. You do not ratiocinate or cogitate, for example. You think. » Do not try to be funny unless humor comes naturally to you and you are experienced— and good—at humorous writing. » Good writing, as one admission officer put it, is lean, progressive, imaginative, grounded in specifics, energized by apt verbs, and respectful of the reader's intelligence. Tell your story in a way that shows, rather than merely claims, that you have learned or matured through the situation or experience you are describing.

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