Uchicago Supplemental Essay Questions

Uchicago Supplemental Essay Questions This “savior” trope could irk the admissions officer. Remember, you want to sound genuine, not sanctimonious. Both students and parents tend to think that writing about overseas volunteering or charity trips is a sure-fire way to impress admissions officers. Some of the best college application essays are written about small moments that are meaningful to the applicant. You’re the only person with your exact combination of personal qualities, beliefs, values, and experiences, so you don’t need to lie or exaggerate to make your essay unique. It should capture your genuine personality, explaining who you are beyond a series of grades, test scores, and after-school activities. But that’s not nearly as scary as it seems, because you get to choose what to share and how to share it. What you write in your application essay or personal statement should not contradict any other part of your applicationâ€"nor should it repeat it. This isn't the place to list your awards or discuss your grades or test scores. Make sure you look through all of the prompts for the university you are applying to and contemplate each of them. Take your time, don’t rush as this will become the foundation of your essay. Take a notebook and write down whatever comes to your mind that would fit with that particular prompt. Make sure you include personal experiences with each one. The personal statement can be one of the most stressful parts of the application process because it's the most open ended. Many students and parents begin the college prep process by comparing the ACT and SAT tests. Both ACT and SAT scores are used for college admissions decisions and awarding merit-based scholarships. Most selective colleges require you to submit an essay or personal statement as part of your application. Many students want to call it a day after writing a first draft, but editing is a key part of writing a truly great essay. To be clear, editing doesn't mean just making a few minor wording tweaks and cleaning up typos; it means reading your essay carefully and objectively and thinking about how you could improve it. Nonetheless, admissions officers recognize that different students have different strengths. They aren't looking for a poetic magnum opus from someone who wants to be a math major. A lot of students panic about finding a unique topic, and certainly writing about something unusual like a successful dating app you developed with your friends or your time working as a mall Santa can't hurt you. But what's really important isn't so much what you write about as how you write about it. You need to use your subject to show something deeper about yourself. Most colleges are pretty diverse, with students from a wide range of backgrounds. Essay questions about diversity are designed to help admissions committees understand how you interact with people who are different from you. For some students, the essay is also a chance to explain factors affecting their high school record. Most colleges do not prefer one test over the other. Different students tend to do better on one test over the other. The reason that teachers don’t assign a number of pages anymore is because it’s too easy to manipulate pages. When students used to write on typewriters, it was common for teachers to assign essays in number of pages. With the adoption of computers in the classroom, teachers switched from pages to work count because it was too easy for the computers to manipulate the font size and page size. When you have finished, go back and choose the ones that you are most excited to talk about and make a note of why they motivate you. It is a common belief that students who get good grades have a greater edge when it comes to getting accepted to the school of their choice but that is not always the case. With so many students applying even with good grades the competition is fierce. The single thing that will really set you apart from the pack and ensure you get your foot in the door is your admission essay and how you present it. Your college application essay needs to breathe life into your application. By assigning a word count, teachers get a more accurate length of essay than they would if they assigned homework by pages. If supplemental essays are good gauges for demonstrated interest, this particular type of essay is the most important. One of the most common supplemental essays that students will come across is the infamous “Why This College? ” or a more specific question about how a student plans to contribute to the campus, colleges are looking for detailed and well-researched responses. Additionally, these types of essays frequently present the student as some type of savior, who is privileged enough to spend the money to fly and participate in an activity overseas. Did your grades drop sophomore year because you were dealing with a family emergency? Did you miss out on extracurriculars junior year because of an extended medical absence? Colleges want to know if you struggled with a serious issue that affected your high school record, so make sure to indicate any relevant circumstances on your application. In addition to standardized test scores and transcripts, a personal statement or essay is a required part of many college applications.