Essays and Supplements:
I believe very strongly that these are by far the most important part of the application at the HYPSM schools. Their applicant pools consist of thousands upon thousands of students with stellar scores and grades. Sure, there are those who cured cancer and such and are a cut above the rest. But by and large, the pool is full of people with great achievements. Unfortunately, each reader only has so many applicants they can fight for in committee. They’re going to pick the ones they personally connected with. And how do you show your personality? It’s your essay. Like it or not, you’re being judged by your reader, and in my opinion, the largest part of that judgment comes from the essays. It’s within those 500 words and supplements that the reader forms an idea of you in their head. Sure, it’s not fair, because you’re so much more than can be presented in such a short essay. But it’s how the process works.
There’s so much advice out there about writing the college essay, so I’m going to be brief here. Basically, you want to communicate to them that you’re a wonderful person, that you would make a good addition to that school’s community. How you go about doing so is of course your own choice.
Logistically, my biggest piece of advice is to start early!! If possible, begin brainstorming the August before your senior year or something. You want to spend a lot of time selecting the right topic, and that certainly isn’t going to happen if you start writing in October. Whatever your normal brainstorming process is, just spend a lot of time doing it. Also, there are some helpful starting questions online if you search around. Regarding editing, I’m not a big believer in getting a bunch of feedback. I would ask a few trusted friends and maybe your parents and teachers for some honest comments. Perhaps get together one afternoon and have an essay editing party or something! Remember to never let the essay become the creation of someone else. Don’t be afraid to ignore comments and edits, if they aren’t what you want to say, or aren’t your style. It’s you that they’re judging, so it’s you that should be presented. Of course, your friends and others can let you know that perhaps you’re not presenting the best side of yourself to be judged…
For general help, these two posts were amongst the best I encountered during my writing process:
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/the_college_essay_yogurt_editi
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/show_dont_tell_the_college_ess
The book 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays also merits a read for some examples.
Also, don’t forget the extracurricular supplement part. Realize that the readers will see a million essays about tutoring, debate team, math league, orchestra, and those sorts of things. So in order to truly stand out, you have to either have a unique activity, or present it in a novel light.
Finally, there are the dreaded supplements. I was frankly pretty bad at writing these, so not sure my advice is particularly good. One learns in laziness to shape already written essays to fit prompts, to reuse and recycle writing really well. But I would very much advise against this. Take the time to consider and write from the prompt. The readers will know if you’ve forced an essay to fit, and that doesn’t reflect positively on your level of enthusiasm for the school.
I believe very strongly that these are by far the most important part of the application at the HYPSM schools. Their applicant pools consist of thousands upon thousands of students with stellar scores and grades. Sure, there are those who cured cancer and such and are a cut above the rest. But by and large, the pool is full of people with great achievements. Unfortunately, each reader only has so many applicants they can fight for in committee. They’re going to pick the ones they personally connected with. And how do you show your personality? It’s your essay. Like it or not, you’re being judged by your reader, and in my opinion, the largest part of that judgment comes from the essays. It’s within those 500 words and supplements that the reader forms an idea of you in their head. Sure, it’s not fair, because you’re so much more than can be presented in such a short essay. But it’s how the process works.
There’s so much advice out there about writing the college essay, so I’m going to be brief here. Basically, you want to communicate to them that you’re a wonderful person, that you would make a good addition to that school’s community. How you go about doing so is of course your own choice.
Logistically, my biggest piece of advice is to start early!! If possible, begin brainstorming the August before your senior year or something. You want to spend a lot of time selecting the right topic, and that certainly isn’t going to happen if you start writing in October. Whatever your normal brainstorming process is, just spend a lot of time doing it. Also, there are some helpful starting questions online if you search around. Regarding editing, I’m not a big believer in getting a bunch of feedback. I would ask a few trusted friends and maybe your parents and teachers for some honest comments. Perhaps get together one afternoon and have an essay editing party or something! Remember to never let the essay become the creation of someone else. Don’t be afraid to ignore comments and edits, if they aren’t what you want to say, or aren’t your style. It’s you that they’re judging, so it’s you that should be presented. Of course, your friends and others can let you know that perhaps you’re not presenting the best side of yourself to be judged…
For general help, these two posts were amongst the best I encountered during my writing process:
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/the_college_essay_yogurt_editi
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/show_dont_tell_the_college_ess
The book 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays also merits a read for some examples.
Also, don’t forget the extracurricular supplement part. Realize that the readers will see a million essays about tutoring, debate team, math league, orchestra, and those sorts of things. So in order to truly stand out, you have to either have a unique activity, or present it in a novel light.
Finally, there are the dreaded supplements. I was frankly pretty bad at writing these, so not sure my advice is particularly good. One learns in laziness to shape already written essays to fit prompts, to reuse and recycle writing really well. But I would very much advise against this. Take the time to consider and write from the prompt. The readers will know if you’ve forced an essay to fit, and that doesn’t reflect positively on your level of enthusiasm for the school.
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