College Admission Essays for Dummies (Paperback, 2)

· 제목 : College Admission Essays for Dummies (Paperback, 2) 
· 분류 : 외국도서 > 수험서 > 대학 입학
· ISBN : 9781119828334
· 쪽수 : 352쪽
· 출판일 : 2021-10-26

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond This Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Putting Yourself on Paper 5

Chapter 1: Becoming More Than a Statistic: What the Essay Does for You 7

Understanding Why the Essay is Your Key Opportunity 8

Factoring in Holistic Review and Test-Optional Schools 9

Forgetting about strategy 10

Choosing authenticity 11

Familiarizing Yourself with the Common Application and the Prompts 12

Considering Alternatives to the Common Application 13

First Things First: Understanding Your Timeline 14

Considering Early Action and Early Decision deadlines 15

Working out how many essays you have to write 16

Factoring in supplementary writing 16

Writing Admission Essays While Having a Life 17

Taking advantage of spare time 17

Adapting one essay to several questions 18

Tempering Frustration: Greasing Your Wheels 19

Keeping Perspective 20

Chapter 2: Exploring the Subject of the Essay — You 21

Mining Your Life 22

Collecting the Stories of Your Life 23

Dipping Your Toe in the Writing Pool: Freewriting 101 24

Identifying Themes in Your Autobiography 25

Reviewing your life story 26

Revealing significant themes 26

Writing about difficult experiences 27

Delving Deeper with Your Personal Statement 29

Sparking growth 29

Picking the topic of your choice 30

But Enough about Me: Overcoming the Taboo against Bragging 30

Chapter 3: Beginning to Self-Reflect 33

Looking Closer at Family Ties 34

Contemplating your parents’ influence 34

Focusing on your siblings 35

Scrutinizing your grandparents and extended family 36

Answering general family questions 36

Hitting the Halls: School Days 37

Considering your strengths 38

Tackling your challenges 38

Identifying teachers’ influence on you 39

Seeing how different learning styles have affected you 39

Reflecting on group experiences 40

Ruminating on Your Community 40

Seeing how your local community plays a role in who you are 40

Musing on the global village 41

Contemplating the Future 42

Predicting your professional future 42

Looking into a crystal ball at how the world may be 43

Pondering Your Identity 43

Pinpointing How Other People Help You Figure Out Who You Are 44

Including the No-Category Category 45

Part 2: Organizing Your Thoughts 47

Chapter 4: Writing as Process, Not Product 49

Separating Your Inner Creator and Editor 50

Pre-Writing: The First Steps 52

Idea gathering 52

Narrowing down to a specific moment 53

Detail gathering 54

Structuring and outlining versus discovery writing 55

Taking the Final Steps 56

Revising 56

Completing one essay makes the rest easier 56

Sighing with relief 57

Chapter 5: Storming Your Brain: Idea-Gathering Techniques 59

Making a Mess — You Can’t Build a Castle Until You Dump the Blocks 60

Matching Personality and Technique 61

Gathering Ideas: The Techniques 62

Visual brainstorming 62

Listing 68

Braindumping 72

Reacting to a Specific Question 76

Throwing in a Wrench — Figuring Out a Challenge 77

Generating a Memorable (and Successful) Topic 78

Accepting Your Permission Slip for a Messy First Draft 80

Chapter 6: Steering Clear of Potential Landmines 81

Buying an Essay on the Internet and Other Things to Avoid 82

Finding the Right Sort of Help 83

Avoiding too many cooks in the kitchen 83

Trolling for topics 84

Dialing for details 85

Overseeing the outline 85

Roughing it 86

Checking and revising 87

Having too many editors 87

Identifying Your Parents’ Role 88

Understanding why your parents may try to micromanage the process 88

Managing your parents’ concerns and expectations 89

Locating Help When You’re On Your Own 90

Writing College Essays in the Technical Age: What You Need to Know 92

Part 3: Writing the Rough Draft 95

Chapter 7: Writing for the Tired, the Poor (The Admissions Office) 97

Meeting Your Readers: The Admissions Committee 98

Understanding the counselors’ duties 98

Factoring in your timeline 99

Strategizing for success 100

Keeping Their Attention When Yours is the 200th Essay They’ve Read Today 101

Avoiding Irksome Writing Traits 103

My thesaurus and me: Unnatural vocabulary 103

Flowery language 104

Untruths and exaggerations 105

I am a people person: Clichés 106

Developing Your Voice on Paper 107

Chapter 8: Building a Structure to Support Your Ideas 111

Meeting the Major Players in the Structure Game 112

Chronological order 112

Interrupted chronological order 113

Survey 115

Description and interpretation 119

Cause and effect 120

Structuring Your Meaning 122

Understanding how different structures can work for your essay 122

Selecting the structure for your essay 124

Embracing Uncertainty 125

Using Structure to Explain Your Interest in your Major 126

Pursuing your interests in college 126

Answering the question: Why this field? 127

Chapter 9: Showing, Not Telling, Your Story 129

Getting Down to Specifics 130

Using All Your Senses 137

Using the four senses besides vision 137

Discovering sensory details 138

Choosing the Best Details and Ignoring the Rest 139

Selecting Strong Verbs and Nouns 141

Verbs 141

Nouns 142

Adjectives and adverbs 143

A Little Metaphor Won’t Kill You 144

Calibrating Expectations: “But 650 Words is So Short!” 146

Chapter 10: Leading with Your Best Shot 149

Taking the Right First Step: What the Lead Does for Your Essay 150

Capturing the Reader’s Attention 150

Sharing an anecdote 152

Intriguing the reader 152

Previewing the coming attractions 153

Setting the Right Tone 154

Taking a Closer Look: Five Strong Openings 155

Avoiding Common Pitfalls 157

Parting with the Traditional Thesis 158

Chapter 11: Constructing Good Paragraphs 159

Punctuating Your Points with Paragraphs 160

Including some logic 160

Adding some drama 161

Creating a Strong Scope Sentence 162

Placing Scope Sentences and Details 164

Starting with a scope sentence 164

Finishing with the scope sentence 165

Putting the scope sentence in the middle 165

One more word about details 166

Setting Up a Transition 167

Using linked transitions 167

Adding transitions later 169

Chapter 12: Going Out with a Bang: The Conclusion 171

Repeating Yourself and Other Non-Answers to the Conclusion Question 172

Not a reworded introduction 172

Not a miniature essay 173

Not an announcement 173

Not a new topic 173

Concluding the Essay Effectively 174

Tying up loose ends 174

Creating a wider context 176

Coming full circle: Completing the experience 177

Forging the last link in a chain of logic 178

Making a strong impression 179

Chapter 13: Overcoming Writer’s Block 183

Understanding Your Block 184

Confronting Your Application Anxieties 184

Overcoming a fear of failure 185

Coping with perfectionism and paralysis 185

Reclaiming power 186

Embracing change 187

Overcoming self-doubt 188

Gaining perspective 189

Leaping Over Writing-Related Blocks 189

Rising from the fog of details 190

Editing while writing 190

Stopping and starting with ease 191

Part 4: I’d Like to Finish Before Retirement Age: The Final Draft 193

Chapter 14: Leaving a Good Impression 195

Considering How Multiple Essays Work Together 196

Getting Your Point Across 197

Verifying That You’ve Answered the Question 200

Conveying Strength 201

Projecting confidence 201

Winning without whining 203

Keeping perspective 204

Checking the Essay One Last Time 205

Chapter 15: Smoothing the Rough Edges: Polishing the Essay 207

Trying the Red Pen Exercise 207

Writing Anew 209

Avoiding the Perils of Overediting 209

Creating Stylish Sentences 211

Monotony 211

Saying It Once and Only Once 213

Reenlisting Your Support System 216

Having realistic expectations 216

Keeping it tasteful 217

Chapter 16: Navigating the Submission Process 219

Getting the Lowdown on the Submission Process 219

Eyeing the characteristics of the process 220

Understanding how the process works 220

Working with word count requirements 221

Working on short-answer questions 222

Submitting your application: The when 223

Creating a Submission Plan 224

Finishing Your Submission 226

Pasting your essays into the application 226

Submitting your essay: What you need 226

Finishing the process: Signing, submitting, and celebrating 227

Part 5: Analyzing Questions from Real Applications 229

Chapter 17: Composing Essays Starring You 231

Understanding the Supplemental Essays 232

Dealing with “Why us” questions 232

Complimenting without flattery 235

Relating a Personal Experience 236

Choosing relevant material 237

Ranging over a long period of time 238

Taking the story inward 239

Interpreting the story for the reader 240

Explaining Academic Experiences and Your Intended Major (or Lack Thereof) 242

Writing an essay with an undecided major 243

Responding to the question of who you will be on campus 245

Answering Questions on Diversity and Inclusion 245

Approaching Fun and Creative Questions 248

Daydreaming Your Way into College 250

Chapter 18: Describing Significant Strangers and Friends: Essays about Other People 253

Defining Others’ Influence: You Are Who You Know 254

Writing about Friends and Relatives 256

Choosing the “big figure” in your life 256

Focusing on your ties to a group 257

Selecting the scene 258

Interpreting the influence 261

Relating Strangers’ Lives to Your Own 262

Entering the Fictional Universe 263

Chapter 19: Focusing on More Essay Question Types 265

Responding to “Is There Anything Else You Want to Tell Us?” 266

Answering Literature and Writing Questions 269

Discussing books 269

Writing creatively 271

Discussing Current or Historical Events 272

Writing an essay about a current event 272

Delving into the past 275

Chapter 20: Getting the Most out of Short Answers 277

Saying a Lot in Little Spaces 278

Answering the Most Common Short-Answer Questions 281

Playing favorites 282

Moving on: The transfer question 285

Part 6: The Part of Tens 289

Chapter 21: Ten False Beliefs about College Essays 291

Drafting at the Last Minute is No Biggie 291

Limiting the Focus to Your Achievements is Wise 292

Requesting Help from Lots of People Strengthens Your Writing 292

Figuring Out Your Story is No Big Deal 293

Focusing on a Certain Topic Guarantees Admission 293

Writing without Restraint Always Works 293

Talking about Ordinary Lives is a No-No 294

Using Scholarly Language is Impressive 294

Writing One Essay is Enough 294

Believing No One Reads Your Essays 295

Chapter 22: Ten Great Essays to Inspire You 297

“Us and Them” by David Sedaris 297

“I Am Not Pocahontas” by Elissa Washuta 298

“Total Eclipse” by Annie Dillard 298

“A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin 299

“Professions for Women” by Virginia Woolf 299

“On Keeping a Notebook” by Joan Didion 299

“The Search for Marvin Gardens” by John McPhee 300

“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan 300

“On Lying in Bed” by G.K Chesterton 300

“Generation Why?” by Zadie Smith 301

Chapter 23: Ten Absolute Musts for College Essays 303

Saying Something They Wouldn’t Otherwise Know 303

Keeping It Real 304

Answering the Question 304

Being Specific 304

Showing, Not Telling 304

Getting Personal 305

Avoiding Clichés 305

Holding Their Interest 305

Meeting the Deadline 306

Revising Your Drafts 306

Chapter 24: Ten Tips for Writing Supplemental Essays 307

Saying Something Distinct from Your Personal Statement 307

Starting Early 308

Being Direct 308

Grounding Your Response in Past Experience 308

Answering the Right Questions 309

Paraphrasing the Prompt 309

Looking for Patterns 310

Meshing with the College or University 310

Researching Specific Programs (and Knowing What’s Available) 310

Being an Explorer 311

Appendix A: Well-Written College Essays 313

Index 327