Outstanding Example Essays
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Example Essays
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The Common App Prompts for 2017-2018
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Prompts
1. Some 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. 2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? 4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. 5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? 7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. |
First, Read Good Examples
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In addition to the excellent professional and student essays above, check these out. NOTE: These were written for a general adult audience in mind. Please assume that they contain adult content or subject matter. Reading these is recommended, not required (unless specified in class).
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Major Tips and Considerations
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ATSQ. Answer the Stinking Question.
Have a Clear Structure
Have a Clear Point and Make This Point Evident During the Climax
The climax of your story occurs when the protagonist (YOU!) definitely wins or definitely loses the game -- the conflict that's been brewing throughout your narrative. This is where the message of your story needs to be contained. Think of the Aesop fable "The Tortoise and the Hare." In that story, the climax occurs when the hare definitely loses the race, proving the message that "slow and steady wins the race," or the other message, "Don't be a bragging fool who congratulates himself on winning before he's won." Use the Techniques of Fiction, but Watch for Bad Dialogue
Use the techniques of fiction -- internal monologue, dialogue, figurative language, descriptive detail -- but be careful to make those techniques, especially dialogue, directly relevant to your point. Dialogue like, I saw my friend Bob. Bob said, "Hi, Timmy." I said, "Hi, Bob"... doesn't do much to clarify your point. On the other hand, dialogue like, ...and that's when I heard my inner voice say, "Are you sure you want to be a doctor?" really does communicate the message you're trying to convey about yourself to the reader. |
Cautions and Pitfalls
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No Very Special Episodes Of
In a Lifetime special, especially a Very Special Episode Of, there might be some dramatic conflict in which there ends up being a lot of hugging and learning. The reason these episodes are rarely anything but schmaltzy is because real life, while it has a lot of hugging and learning, usually doesn't have the neat, tidy roundedness of a bad episode of TV. Life is messier than that, as Hughes showed us in "Salvation" and Alexie showed us in "Superman and Me." Don't Be Afraid of the Messy Ending In both of those essays, the authors didn't avoid the messy ending. In a Lifetime TV Very Special Episode Of, the narrative in Sherman Alexie's essay would've ended up transforming the lives of every Indian student on the reservation when he went back. He'd awaken everyone's mind to the joys of reading. Instead, here's what actually happened: Then there are the sullen and already defeated Indian kids who sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision. The pages of their notebooks are empty. They carry neither pencil nor pen. They stare out the window. They refuse and resist. "Books," I say to them. "Books," I say. I throw my weight against their locked doors. The door holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives. Alexie leaves us with the understanding -- the messy, incomplete, real-life understanding -- that no, not every kid on the reservation can be saved, that "the door" against Alexie's experience and words still "holds" despite his efforts. Consider that in a Lifetime Special, Hughes would have experienced a conventional salvation in "Salvation" -- but also consider the fact that we remember this essay, and it strikes us as powerful, because we do not get what we expect. |