Crafting An Unforgettable College Essay

Crafting An Unforgettable College Essay Be persuasive in showing the reader you are deserving of admission. Think of one or two sayings that you've heard again and again around your house since childhood. What personality traits do you value most in yourself? Choose a few and jot down examples of how each has helped you. Discussion, for me, is a natural part of the reading process. The written word isn’t meant to be a solitary thing; it’s meant to be shared. Include what it was, how you tackled it, and how it changed you. There are hundreds of possible topics that you can be asked to write an essay on. Submit your essay via our application portal (after you've applied). If you choose to apply via Common App, we will accept the Common App essay for all programs listed above -- with the exception of Physician Assistant Studies. Think of things that other people often say about you. Write about whether or not you agree with their assessments and how they make you feel. Include school activities; awards, honors, and offices held; community services; jobs; and travel. Note your strongest impressions and how they affected you. If you loved the Grand Canyon, for example, write down three specific reasons why, aside from the grandeur and beauty that everyone loves. Describe an accomplishment that you had to struggle to achieve. I know it took some people years to finish, but I was dedicated. It wasn’t until I realized that the main character was first mentioned nearly eight pages in that my traditional reading style wasn’t going to work. I slowed downâ€"It wasn’t like I was racing anyoneâ€"and tried to hear every characters voice, hear the nuances of the words, and imagine how it would sound aloud. The book took me a full two weeks to finish, the longest it has ever taken me to finish a book in my life. And this experience opened up a whole new side of reading for me. There are so many in my room I think they’ve started breeding. I’ll move a chair or look under my bed and a pile of books will have mysteriously appeared. I appreciate nonfiction more than I did as a child. Ever since I took my first philosophy course, when I am seen with a book in my hands it is a philosophical work. In my opinion, Ludwig Wittgenstein beats William Shakespeare any day. Sometimes the difficulty makes reading the book more rewarding. Then, when I’ve finished, I go back and read my own insights. It would be all too easy to let my constant busyness and the distractions of daily life keep me from trying to understand the world and my place in it, but I won’t let that happen. I will forever be aware of myself and others, and I hope to never act on an unconscious bias. I know that Descartes was thinking thateverythingtold to him by his senses might be wrong, but I think his revelation applies more usefully to behaviors and biases we learn from a young age as well. However, my reading material has changed since elementary school. For a long time, I bombarded my family with a constant but ever changing stream of chatter on my book of choice. Then, in eighth grade I was introduced to annotations. At first I thought they were tedious and annoying, but given time, I grew to appreciate the exercise. Now, instead of tiring our ears, I work away pencils, marking when I find something powerful, noting my thoughts in the margins of the pages. No force on earth could keep me from books, and I hope that my breakthrough withLes Miserablesis just one of many. I want to spend the rest of my life becoming a better reader, and just maybe, becoming a better person because of it. This is a perfectly acceptable way to read books for fun, but it is not way to enjoy a truly great novel. When I undertook the task ofLes MiserablesI thought that I had prepared myself. I had already read two different unabridged versions and done some research.