College admission essays / by Jessica Brenner and Geraldine Woods.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brenner, Jessica, author.

Woods, Geraldine, author.

Series:

--For dummies.

--For dummies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

College applications--United States.

College applications.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (355 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Hoboken, New Jersey : For Dummies, [2022]

Summary:

College is supposed to be fun, remember? Take the stress out of the admissions process with expert advice on writing personal essays. College can be an absolute blast. But making it into your dream school is no easy feat. Don't be intimidated- College Admission Essays For Dummies is here to alleviate your anxieties and help you craft an unforgettable personal essay with the potential to impress any admissions committee. This helpful guide walks you through every step of the writing process, from brainstorming and prep to the final polishes and submission. You'll learn how to make your essay stand out from the ocean of other applicants and get your personality to pop off the page. In addition to stellar examples of essays that got their writers into their first-choice schools, you'll get the inside scoop on how to: * Use writing to transform you from a statistic into a compelling and attractive candidate * Illustrate who you are through vivid storytelling and self-reflection * Deal with writer's block and essay anxiety to get the most out of your time * Learn about the most common question types and get your admissions officer's attention with your short answers With colleges around the country beginning to discount the impact of SAT and ACT scores, the personal essay is more important than ever. College Admission Essays For Dummies is the up-to-date roadmap you need to navigate your way to the perfect college essay.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1 Putting Yourself on Paper

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

Understanding Why the Essay Is Your Key Opportunity

Factoring in Holistic Review and Test-Optional Schools

Forgetting about strategy

Choosing authenticity

Familiarizing Yourself with the Common Application and the Prompts

Considering Alternatives to the Common Application

First Things First: Understanding Your Timeline

Considering Early Action and Early Decision deadlines

Working out how many essays you have to write

Factoring in supplementary writing

Writing Admission Essays While Having a Life

Taking advantage of spare time

Adapting one essay to several questions

Tempering Frustration: Greasing Your Wheels

Keeping Perspective

Chapter 2 Exploring the Subject of the Essay - You

Mining Your Life

Collecting the Stories of Your Life

Dipping Your Toe in the Writing Pool: Freewriting 101

Identifying Themes in Your Autobiography

Reviewing your life story

Revealing significant themes

Writing about difficult experiences

Delving Deeper with Your Personal Statement

Sparking growth

Picking the topic of your choice

But Enough about Me: Overcoming the Taboo against Bragging

Chapter 3 Beginning to Self-Reflect

Looking Closer at Family Ties

Contemplating your parents' influence

Focusing on your siblings

Scrutinizing your grandparents and extended family

Answering general family questions

Hitting the Halls: School Days

Considering your strengths

Tackling your challenges

Identifying teachers' influence on you.

Seeing how different learning styles have affected you

Reflecting on group experiences

Ruminating on Your Community

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

Musing on the global village

Contemplating the Future

Predicting your professional future

Looking into a crystal ball at how the world may be

Pondering Your Identity

Pinpointing How Other People Help You Figure Out Who You Are

Including the No-Category Category

Part 2 Organizing Your Thoughts

Chapter 4 Writing as Process, Not Product

Separating Your Inner Creator and Editor

Pre-Writing: The First Steps

Idea gathering

Narrowing down to a specific moment

Detail gathering

Structuring and outlining versus discovery writing

Taking the Final Steps

Revising

Completing one essay makes the rest easier

Sighing with relief

Chapter 5 Storming Your Brain: Idea-Gathering Techniques

Making a Mess - You Can't Build a Castle Until You Dump the Blocks

Matching Personality and Technique

Gathering Ideas: The Techniques

Visual brainstorming

Listing

Braindumping

Reacting to a Specific Question

Throwing in a Wrench - Figuring Out a Challenge

Generating a Memorable (and Successful) Topic

Accepting Your Permission Slip for a Messy First Draft

Chapter 6 Steering Clear of Potential Landmines

Buying an Essay on the Internet and Other Things to Avoid

Finding the Right Sort of Help

Avoiding too many cooks in the kitchen

Trolling for topics

Dialing for details

Overseeing the outline

Roughing it

Checking and revising

Having too many editors

Identifying Your Parents' Role

Understanding why your parents may try to micromanage the process

Managing your parents' concerns and expectations

Locating Help When You're On Your Own.

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

Part 3 Writing the Rough Draft

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

Meeting Your Readers: The Admissions Committee

Understanding the counselors' duties

Factoring in your timeline

Strategizing for success

Keeping Their Attention When Yours Is the 200th Essay They've Read Today

Avoiding Irksome Writing Traits

My thesaurus and me: Unnatural vocabulary

Flowery language

Untruths and exaggerations

I am a people person: Clichés

Developing Your Voice on Paper

Chapter 8 Building a Structure to Support Your Ideas

Meeting the Major Players in the Structure Game

Chronological order

Interrupted chronological order

Survey

Description and interpretation

Cause and effect

Structuring Your Meaning

Understanding how different structures can work for your essay

Selecting the structure for your essay

Embracing Uncertainty

Using Structure to Explain Your Interest in your Major

Pursuing your interests in college

Answering the question: Why this field?

Chapter 9 Showing, Not Telling, Your Story

Getting Down to Specifics

Using All Your Senses

Using the four senses besides vision

Discovering sensory details

Choosing the Best Details and Ignoring the Rest

Selecting Strong Verbs and Nouns

Verbs

Nouns

Adjectives and adverbs

A Little Metaphor Won't Kill You

Calibrating Expectations: "But 650 Words Is So Short!"

Chapter 10 Leading with Your Best Shot

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

Capturing the Reader's Attention

Sharing an anecdote

Intriguing the reader

Previewing the coming attractions

Setting the Right Tone

Taking a Closer Look: Five Strong Openings

Avoiding Common Pitfalls.

Parting with the Traditional Thesis

Chapter 11 Constructing Good Paragraphs

Punctuating Your Points with Paragraphs

Including some logic

Adding some drama

Creating a Strong Scope Sentence

Placing Scope Sentences and Details

Starting with a scope sentence

Finishing with the scope sentence

Putting the scope sentence in the middle

One more word about details

Setting Up a Transition

Using linked transitions

Adding transitions later

Chapter 12 Going Out with a Bang: The Conclusion

Repeating Yourself and Other Non-Answers to the Conclusion Question

Not a reworded introduction

Not a miniature essay

Not an announcement

Not a new topic

Concluding the Essay Effectively

Tying up loose ends

Creating a wider context

Coming full circle: Completing the experience

Forging the last link in a chain of logic

Making a strong impression

Chapter 13 Overcoming Writer's Block

Understanding Your Block

Confronting Your Application Anxieties

Overcoming a fear of failure

Coping with perfectionism and paralysis

Reclaiming power

Embracing change

Overcoming self-doubt

Gaining perspective

Leaping Over Writing-Related Blocks

Rising from the fog of details

Editing while writing

Stopping and starting with ease

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

Chapter 14 Leaving a Good Impression

Considering How Multiple Essays Work Together

Getting Your Point Across

Verifying That You've Answered the Question

Conveying Strength

Projecting confidence

Winning without whining

Keeping perspective

Checking the Essay One Last Time

Chapter 15 Smoothing the Rough Edges: Polishing the Essay

Trying the Red Pen Exercise

Writing Anew

Avoiding the Perils of Overediting

Creating Stylish Sentences

Monotony.

Saying It Once and Only Once

Reenlisting Your Support System

Having realistic expectations

Keeping it tasteful

Chapter 16 Navigating the Submission Process

Getting the Lowdown on the Submission Process

Eyeing the characteristics of the process

Understanding how the process works

Working with word count requirements

Working on short-answer questions

Submitting your application: The when

Creating a Submission Plan

Finishing Your Submission

Pasting your essays into the application

Submitting your essay: What you need

Finishing the process: Signing, submitting, and celebrating

Part 5 Analyzing Questions from Real Applications

Chapter 17 Composing Essays Starring You

Understanding the Supplemental Essays

Dealing with "Why us" questions

Complimenting without flattery

Relating a Personal Experience

Choosing relevant material

Ranging over a long period of time

Taking the story inward

Interpreting the story for the reader

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

Writing an essay with an undecided major

Responding to the question of who you will be on campus

Answering Questions on Diversity and Inclusion

Approaching Fun and Creative Questions

Daydreaming Your Way into College

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

Defining Others' Influence: You Are Who You Know

Writing about Friends and Relatives

Choosing the "big figure" in your life

Focusing on your ties to a group

Selecting the scene

Interpreting the influence

Relating Strangers' Lives to Your Own

Entering the Fictional Universe

Chapter 19 Focusing on More Essay Question Types

Responding to "Is There Anything Else You Want to Tell Us?"

Answering Literature and Writing Questions

Discussing books.

Writing creatively.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-119-82835-X

1-119-82834-1

OCLC:

1273000198