College Thoughts

I'm glad that we did the college essays in class last week because it got me rolling on my applications. I had just started to do my Personal Statement the weekend prior and I probably wouldn't have touched it until now had we not done it in class.

Now that I'm off and running with essays and applications, the weight of what needs to be done is really starting to become obvious. It seems like the application process is only going to be half the battle. By the time my whole process is over, I will have written something like four different types of personal statements because of the different requirements for each application on top of any other essays.

The Common App pretty much is saving my life right now. That someone finally thought to provide one application for some 300 schools is a relief to high school seniors nationwide. Of course, it doesn't make it easier that many of these schools still require a supplement for admission. For some of these schools, the supplement is no more than an additional sheet for scholarship and financial aid application. For others, such as the University of Chicago, there are two or three additional essays to be written.

There is even great difference in those schools that require supplements. Some are the generic:
"Why do you want to attend X University?" While others, again using UChicago as an example, are insightful and require a great deal of creativity. One of the possible prompt choices for Chicago this year is "How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be)."

It's amazing how many different essays one might write to get into college. From a student's perspective, this is both reassuring and daunting. I don't want to write a ton of different essays to apply to a few colleges, but on the other hand I also don't want to have my admission dictated by only one essay like the Common Application Personal Statement.

Some colleges, such as Marquette University (Advantage application) and Loyola University-Chicago, require only that a student submits a writing sample. This can be almost anything a student has previously written. Creighton University also accepts a previously graded essay from a class for their Quick Application, but this must be under 400 words. Getting under 400 words for a graded assignment is awfully difficult. Creighton also accepts a personal statement on their Quick Application, but this too has to be under 400 words. I don't know that I can express myself properly in 400 words! Marquette and Creighton both also take the common application, but they offer free application if you use the Advantage or Quick Applications that they offer to some students.

Some schools, including most public universities do not accept the Common App and require their own essays that can be some difficult topics. The University of Wisconsin-Madison requires two essays. The first asks the applicant how he or she will "enrich" the campus, and the second asks about the applicants goals and plans for the future.

At face value these seem, to me at least, to be fairly daunting. For one thing my goals are all over the place and I feel like writing about them would be difficult. In regards to the first essay, I really wonder how I would provide diversity and enrichment on a campus of tens of thousands of students as a white, middle-class, Christian male. After putting some thought into it though, I did find that these essays are not as difficult as I thought at first.

So now you've read me venting about my college applications process. I want to hear some other opinions-comment about your experiences or provide a link to a post about it below.