1. There should be a common thread woven throughout the application that can easily be identified in the essay. The application is a text to which the applicant is responding. View it as a reading and writing assignment. with the essay. Best readers are people you really don’t know. Remember you are writing to an audience of strangers. Pay special attention to rigorous revising and adhere to deadlines. This is your opportunity to shine. It is okay to toot your own horn and boast away. The college admission readers will most likely never meet you in person.
2.  Before writing the essay, prepare a timeline. Use the Levels of Questions (see #5 below) strategy for the application, and determine the extended-response question. Go beyond the what, to the how and why.
3.  Readers will ask questions as they read. Capture something a reader wants to know more about. Be strategic about what that thing is that you want them to know. Students need to ask questions as they write in order to leave the reader satisfied. A satisfied reader is a happy reader. Readers will be making observations, forming interpretations and looking for patterns. Open-ended questions should capture something that a reader wants to know more about. Depth over Breadth. What is the one most persuasive thing you have done over time to tell them about? Patterns and Trends. Should be autobiographical.
4.  Students must think analytically and reflectively. Think like an admissions reader. Get past the emotion to the analysis. Where do you want to be next year and how you want to get there? Know the difference between a short answer response and an extended response.
5.  LEVELS OF QUESTIONS STRATEGY: • Level one – evidentiary question. What does it say? Provide details in paragraphs. • Level two – Interpretive question. What does it mean? Topic sentences of paragraphs. • Level three – Why/how does it matter? The thesis statement of the essay. This is where the writer extracts meaning to connect to a more global focus. (i.e. why it is important to be or do . . .)
6.  SHORT ANSWERS: Follow Directions!  Get right to the point. Use specific, concrete example and language. Adhere to the word count restrictions. Use responses that complete the application. Circle the verbs in your drafts. Use good solid verbs. Follow Directions!
7.  EXTENDED ANSWERS: Organization and clarity. if you need help finding something to write about, take a typical day in your life and write down every single thing you did. This will provide an opportunity to isolate small examples of leadership that perhaps are not conventional and you are not even aware of. You are making a case for your admission. Thesis statements create an argument and convey importance. Thesis statements may include “although this,” and “as a result.” Responses connect individual experiences to larger experience. 8. OBTAINING FEEDBACK: Readers should look for how what, why questions. Write a draft with complete ideas and ask readers to look for patterns. Give them your application to read

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the Common App icon for information about the 2019-20 Common Application Essay Prompts

 

 

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