College Essays: How long was yours? Any tips?

[TimeforMe]

DD is in beginning her college essays. I'm trying to help her a little, but really don't know much about it. We've looked at some tips on collegeboard.com, but am curious as to how long it should be. She's written one (for a particular college) that turned out to be about a page long.

So if anyone has any tips, suggestions, tricks on what makes them stand out a little, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!

P.S. Are anyone's kids finished with this process yet?

 

[Puffy2]

It doesn't have to be long but it needs to be good and from the heart (try not to BS..they have read it time and time before. Be different by being fresh) and proof read! And be neat!

Colleges tend to like people that are protective of the environment, want to help others, want to be involved . They are looking for people who will "give back to the college" and not just "take". (You don't have to state that in your essay, but your past should reflect a willingness to volunteer, be active, etc...)

 

[Kirby]

My son wrote an essay in recently applying Texas State. He received his acceptance letter today. The length requirements were that it was to be no longer than 120 lines long, double spaced. His subject was about being dyslexic. Here is the link (if I did it right) if you would like to read it:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=940120

Or just do a search for "dyslexic". It will show up.

 

[swanmom]

When I worked at a major East Coast university, this was flying around through emails. It's supposed to be an essay written by an applicant to NYU.
I can't verify whether it's true or urban myth but it's still funny...........

3A. ESSAY
IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

 

[TimeforMe]

swanmom--LOL! Cute.

Kirby: What a wonderful essay! Congrats to your DS on his acceptance. He sounds like a wonderful kid and you have every right to be proud.

Puffy2---that's just the kind of stuff I was looking for. Thanks! She's done a ton of volunteering through the years and did mention her summer school volunteering in her essay that she's written. Maybe we should play that up a little more.

Thanks all. Any more?

 

[Puffy2]

another thing is to be enthusastic about things other than school - as if you are a "well rounded person who enjoys life" . Productive things like hobbies, interests, ect... For instance, medical schools get a lot of applications from talented people with patient experience, but they get few people who majored in music as an undergraduate. They like the idea that the person is well-rounded. And "out-going" - friendly, good with people.

 

[Feralpeg]

DD just applied to several colleges. Each one asked for a couple of paragraphs on "How has your family environment influenced who you are". Here is what she wrote.

I am the child of a single mother. I have never known who my father is. I know he is out there, but he has never been a part of my life. My situation is not a normal one. My father didn’t pass away, or leave us. He doesn’t even know who my mother is. I am a child conceived by artificial insemination from an anonymous donor.
I have known about how I came to be my whole life. My mother never tried to hide it from me. Actually, that is probably why we’re so close. My mom has never really been like a mom to me. She is more like a sister or a best friend. Sometimes she has had to play the motherly role. But most times, she is my best friend.
I admit I miss not having a father. I miss not being able to participate in the father daughter dances and not having anyone to celebrate on Father’s Day. The biggest thing is the important influence a father can be. It is hard now that I’m at the age where I’m starting to think about dating and marriage.
Though I’ve never gotten to experience these things, I still think I’m lucky. I am a very mature and somewhat independent person. My mother and I spend so much time together, that I’m almost exactly like her. Even though I’m almost exactly like my mother, I have my own interests and my own goals. I’ve learned that I can make it on my own if I have to. I don’t necessarily need to rely on someone else for anything. Her strength in being a single mother has really shown me this. In truth, not having a father has made me a stronger person.
Though, someday I wouldn’t mind knowing who my father really is. I don’t need to know to make me a better person. If I don’t know who he is I may be better for it.

 

[nwdisgal]

As I recall, my college essay was only a couple pages long. I agree with the poster who advised to "write from the heart." That is what I did, and it was very well received, even though the subject matter was fairly mundane.

 

[sharbear]

My DS is going through this process now. The places that he has applied, the essay length is stated in the prompt. He wrote a couple of 250 words short answers for a couple of the colleges that he is applying to. He also has a 500 word essay that he can adopt for other applications. There are seperate essays for scholarship and honors applications, he going to start working on these.

It's a lot of work, he's applying to I think, 8 schools. He's already been accepted to 4. He'll have a lot to decide on in the spring.

 

[Kirby]

You might post this over on the college board also. There's some good information over there.

 

[Megster]

The essay probably shouldn't be longer than 1 page. It reduces the risk of additional pages being lost. Also keeping it short and to the point reduces the risk of boring the addmission person who has to read it.

I've been told that you should avoid subjects such as death and horrible accidents and what lessons you've learned from them. So many kids write about things like that that it's good to have an essay that stands out a little bit.

I wrote my essay on horseback riding and the things that I learned from doing it.

 

[Kimberly]

Mine was slightly longer than they asked for, but with good reason. As long as your child writes an interesting essay, they really won't care what the length is. It should be long enough to be complete.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Keep the essay to one page, unless there's a word length significantly longer than that. Some of the essays will say what the length is.
Little grammatical things that aren't always noticeable but should be avoided: don't use contractions. Spell out the words.
Everyone says not to write about heavily used topics unless you can put a unique spin on them. In other words, when the common app asked me to write about what world situation had affected me the most (or something along the lines) I should not have written about terrorism. I did though. I tied in the loss of a distant relative to the terrorists. Another essay (actually for the school I'm attending now) asked me to attach a meaningful picture and write about why it was meaningful. I attached a picture of a friend and me at the beach. I had met that friend at a summer program and we'd become instant best friends, despite living 4 hours apart. Another essay was pretty self explanatory: they asked me to write about my goals as a student. I think I only wrote three big essays because only four of my schools required essays, and two used the common app. I applied to and was accepted by, 6 schools
Good luck to your daughter. The applications are a royal pain, but that envelope in the mail sure is a great feeling! A year ago I was in the middle of writing my essays and filling out apps. I'm now sitting in my dorm room.

 

[Sandy V.]

My daughter is also in the midst of this process. She got a lot of good tips from a book titled "A is for Admission" by someone with the last name of Martinez. It gave a lot of do's and don't regarding essays.

She wrote one essay on being a redhead, and another one on her relationship between her two best friends, who are both boys. Both were a page long, I believe.

It is SO nice when you put that application in the mail. My daughter will be so happy when December is over, and so will her parents!!