Who Said the Mechanics of Essay Writing Can’t Be Fun?

Unit 4 The Admissions Essay ( or – The College Essay ) Rohit: We should now turn our attention to essay writing. Francis: Yes, in the last book, Who Said English Grammar Was Boring?, and for the first three units in this book, we have concentrated on the rudiments of grammar. Now, we must look at the broader applications of language use. Rohit: And what better a way than to do this within the context of essay writing. Students will be submitting essays all throughout their academic careers, so it is certainly a good idea to consider the various different essay types. Francis: No doubt, the first kind of essay that a student will be required to compose will be the admissions essay. This essay constitutes part of the overall application process for a student aspiring to enter a college or university. So, what can we say about the “dos and donts” of this form of essay? Rohit: These are usually of between 500 – 800 words in length. Different universities have different policies regarding admission essays. Many of these essays will challenge the applicant to write on some aspect of life such as how the applicant overcame a difficult situation, or, something about the applicant’s hobbies and interests. Perhaps the most common one is with regard to why the applicant chose the particular university in which he desires to study. Francis: Let’s use that one then as an example. However, before that, let’s give some tips on what should and should not be done in any kind of admissions essay. First of all, the candidate must understand what generally admission boards are looking for. Basically there are three: they want the prospective students to succeed should they be given a university place. They want each student to contribute to the educational experience of other students. Then, once they have graduated, it is hoped that they would bring honour and prestige to their alma mater. Rohit: Students should then determine what the goals of their essays are. They want admissions boards to see them as being persons of strong and stable character and of sound personality. Candidates may want to project an image of themselves as ones possessing leadership ability exercised in clubs and organisations to which they belong. Candidates may also consider it a good idea to portray themselves as compassionate and considerate by detailing the kind of community and charity work in which they are involved. Francis: It is important for students when composing their admission essays to be able to distinguish themselves from their fellow students. This can be more effectively accomplished if they are overseas students. The cultural exchange aspect can be reflected in how the student can contribute to the knowledge of other students in the way of such things as food, language, clothes, religion, music, architecture and so on. Rohit: The prospective student should also show that he is capable of contributing to the learning experiences of other students. This can be done by participation in study groups, taking out membership of student organisations, and contributing to a students’ newsletter or online discussion forums etc. Francis: When writing the essay, prospective students should bear a number of points in mind. While there may be many ideas swimming around in their heads, they should pick out the ones that would be of most interest to the selection officers. The basic rule is to be precise and specific rather than to be general and vague. Candidates should compose their essays with syntactic sophistication – i.e. they should write using complex rather than simple and compound sentences. Rohit: We will discuss these various sentence types. Francis: And we can make things a little more interesting for the students by including some short stories. Rohit: Let’s now present a sample admissions essay.