General Guidelines

♦ Type or word process

♦ Length – conform to guidelines within reason; if guidelines are not given, one page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced is appropriate

♦ Use your own voice – informal, conversational, not stilted

♦ Avoid humorous essays unless you are really, really funny, but freely use humor within an essay ♦ Watch spelling – there is no excuse for errors

♦ Avoid overly familiar quotations or definitions

♦ Travelogues, Outward Bound, Mountain School, Death – all need a personal, fresh perspective; any topic can work if approached in a unique way

♦ Don’t repeat lists of activities

♦ Don’t let mom or dad or anyone else write the essay ♦ Dialogue works

♦ Think small – anecdotes and rich details work ♦ Be free with format

♦ Don’t write about writing, SATs, the college process, or winning a sports game ♦ Accentuate the positive – even in a painful experience

♦ Don’t write a traditional introductory paragraph

♦ The first few sentences are critical and must engage the reader ♦ The five paragraph essay is too repetitive

Goals of the Essay

♦ To help the reader get to know you – regard the essay as a window to your personality, values, goals ♦ To illustrate your uniqueness
♦ To enable the reader to evaluate your writing

♦ To help the reader create a full (and hopefully memorable) picture of you

How To Write The Essay

♦ Decide your message first

♦ Write as if you are brainstorming – then revise ♦ Spend as much time thinking as you do writing

♦ If you are stuck, have a brainstorming session with someone close to you

♦ If you write about an activity or an experience, focus not on how good you are or what you have accomplished, but what it means to you
♦ Don’t ask yourself or anyone else “What should I write about?” The appropriate question is, ”What should I tell them about me?” Reorganize your thinking. Test the “success” of your essay by asking someone to read it and then asking NOT “Do you like it?” “What do you think it says about me?”

♦ Ask yourself, “If college deans were to place me with roommates based on this essay, would they be able to choose compatible people? Would it give them enough to go on?”
♦ Use a reference – Elements of Style, by William Struck, Jr. and E. White, is highly recommended