The best way to tell your story is to write a personal, thoughtful essay about something that has meaning for you. Be honest and genuine, and your unique qualities will shine through. Admissions officers have to read an unbelievable number of college essays, most of which are forgettable · Personal essay topics usually include real stories, experiences, and opinions of people. Writers need to give an account of their own experience and express their thoughts on the subject of a paper. The key to success is to make an attempt to combine narration and opinion together · Some colleges require a supplemental essay in addition to the personal essay. Typically, admissions pros note, these essays are shorter and focus on answering a specific question posed by the college
College Essay Examples for 11 Schools + Expert Analysis
But before diving into analyzing some great personal statement examples, it helps to get some context on what a personal statement actually is, and what writers should plan to include when writing their own personal statement. What is a personal statement? Why read personal statement examples? What should a personal statement include? I Ethan have spent the last 15 years answering this question, which you can learn more about in my free 1-hour guide. In our opinion, a great personal statement example has 4 qualities: insight, vulnerability, values, and craft.
Want a more thorough guide on how to write a personal statement? Day I am using my school uniform as a slate to tally the days. As the ink slowly seeps through the fabric of my shirt, best college personal essays, I begin to understand that being a conscious Arab comes with a cost.
Day 7: I come across a live stream on social media, 1, Palestinian political prisoners are on their seventh day of a hunger strike against the Israeli occupation. It is the first I have best college personal essays of its occurrence. I allow myself to follow the news daily through social media while regional mainstream media and our local news channels refrain from reporting any news of the strike.
Day I am best college personal essays by the cry for justice. Day No one else seems to know anything about what is going on. I am compelled to find a way to embody the struggle. In my first period class, I see best college personal essays marker beside the whiteboard. It seems funny at first--they laugh, confused. But each time the marker touches the fabric it tells a story. It is a story of occupied countries, a story in which resisting apartheid becomes synonymous with criminality, a story we refuse to address because we have grown too apathetic to value life beyond our borders.
As my classmates draw the tally, together we tell the story of the hunger strike and mourn the distance human beings have created between each other. Day My uniform has become a subject of question, best college personal essays. Each pair of eyes that fix their gaze on the ink, I share the story of our Palestinian compatriots. The initial responses are the same: disbelief, followed by productive conversation on our moral responsibility to educate ourselves on the conflict.
Day Each day the strike continues, I have asked my classmates to draw another line on the tally. While it still comes across as unsettling, it seems to no longer represent the reality of the hunger strike. My classmates are no longer interested in what it means. I am supposed to move on already. After being instructed to get a new shirt, I choose to challenge the order. As long as the hunger strike lasts, I will continue to voice the reality of the hundreds of prisoners, in hopes of recreating the sense of responsibility I originally sensed in my peers.
Day A compromise deal is offered to the political prisoners and they suspend their hunger strike. I walk out of school with a clean uniform and feel whole again, but unnaturally so. I was left feeling an unspoken kind of weakness where I broke under the realisation that not all sorrows could resonate with people enough for me to expect them to lead movements.
I would need to be the one to lead, to recreate the energy that the tally once inspired. I decided to found a political streetwear brand, Silla, where fashion choices transcend superficial aesthetics by spreading a substantial message of equality and donating the profits to NGOs that advocate for social change.
Through Silla, I am able to stay in touch with my generation, keeping them engaged with issues because of how they can now spend their money Silla has mobilized people to voice their opinions that align with equity and equality. Because of my adherence to justice, I was elected student government president and I use it as a platform to be vigilant in reminding my peers of their potential, inspiring them to take action and be outspoken about their beliefs.
When the ink seeped through the fabric of my uniform it also stained my moral fibres, and will forever remind me that I am an agent of change, best college personal essays. Uncommon topic and uncommon connections. Overall, this is just a stand out piece. The unique story of how the author had lines drawn on her shirt pulls the reader in.
Having an uncommon topic makes writing a strong essay a bit easier, but by itself is not enough for a great essay. The student does a great job evoking the emotional response of her peers and beautifully articulates her own indignation with the apathy that emerges.
When you write your essay, consider how you can use uncommon connections to take your reader to places they may not have expected to go. Experimental structure. One of the many cool things best college personal essays this essay is its structure, which demonstrates the quality of craft.
The author uses a montage structure that emphasizes numbers and chronology, two ideas that are central to the content of the piece itself. Remember, admissions officers read tons of personal statements; an uncommon structure can go a long way in setting you apart from the crowd. In it, she tells us about best college personal essays politically-aware fashion line and her appointment as school president. As we make our way into the Haram, my heart shakes.
It best college personal essays the spiritual, visceral, and linguistic journey of a lifetime. In Makkah, I quickly learn shopkeepers rip off foreigners, so exchanges like this, where I only have to say a few Arabic words, make me appear local. It also connects me with real locals: the Saudi Arabian pharmacist who sells me cough syrup, the Egyptian grandmother seeking directions to the restroom, the Moroccan family who educates me on the Algerian conflict.
Day 6: The tents of Mina. Temperature blazing. Humidity high. I sleep next to an old woman who just embarked on her twentieth Hajj. Her ninety-year old energy--grounded, spiritual, and non-materialistic--inspires me. So far, every day has been a new discovery of my courage, spirit, and faith, and I see myself going on this journey many more times in my life.
My new friend is curious where I, a Bengali, learned Urdu. I was delighted to discover the resonances: Qi-yaa-mah in Arabic becomes Qi-ya-mat in Urdu, Dh-a-lim becomes Zaa-lim… Urdu, which I had previously only understood academically, was the key to developing a personal connection with a generation different from mine, best college personal essays.
When my parents want to speak privately, they speak our native tongue. My parents taught me to look out for myself from a young age, so Hajj is one of the only times we experienced something formative together.
It also made me aware of how important shared traditions are. As I think back to those sweltering, eclectic days, the stories and spiritual connections linger. I came out of my American bubble and discovered I was someone to be looked up to. Having studied Islam my whole life, I knew the ins and outs of Hajj.
This, along with my love for language, made me, the youngest, the sage of our group. Whether at the Al-Baik store in our camp or the Jamarat where Satan is stoned, people asked me about standards for wearing hijab or to read the Quran out loud. I left the journey feeling fearless. The next time I go to Hajj, I want to speak two more languages: donc je peux parler à plus de gens and quiero escuchar más historias.
Details about the specific resonance of Urdu words and the conversations this author shared with the people they met on their Hajj brings this essay to life. Nearly every line is full of vivid imagery and textured language. Those details make this piece fun to read and truly bring us into the world of the author.
Uses images to convey a sense of time, place, and self. As a result, the author is able to best college personal essays about so many different aspects of their culture. The way the details are conveyed also speaks to the aesthetic sensibilities of the author, providing another window into who they are as a person.
Uses dialogue effectively. In this piece, however, the author does a great job of using their conversations with people they meet along their journey to convey their values and interests. Not only does the dialogue emphasize their best college personal essays with language and cultural exchange, but it breaks up what would have been dense paragraphs into nice manageable chunks that are easier to read.
In short, I skipped two grades: first and sixth. Between kindergarten and eighth grade, I attended five schools, including two different styles of homeschooling three years at a co-op and one in my kitchen. Before skipping, I was perennially bored. But when I began homeschooling, everything changed. Free to move as fast as I wanted, I devoured tomes from Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison to London, best college personal essays, Kipling, and Twain.
I wrote page papers on subjects from Ancient Sparta and military history to the founding of the United States and the resounding impact of slavery, best college personal essays.
I discovered more than I ever had, kindling a lifelong joy for learning. While high school offered best college personal essays academic opportunities--studying two languages and taking early science APs chief among them--the social environment was a different beast.
Many classmates considered me more a little brother than a true friend, and my age and laser focus on academics initially made me socially inept. Oftentimes, I secretly wished I was normal age.
That secret desire manifested itself in different ways, best college personal essays. I had grown up obsessively tracking my New England Patriots.
Now, instead of armchair quarterbacking, I poured hours into throwing mechanics and studying film after my homework each night. But in the rush to change, my attitude towards academics shifted; I came to regard learning as more a job than a joy, best college personal essays. That view held sway until a conversation best college personal essays my friend Alex, the fastest receiver on the team.
As I told him I wished we could switch places so I could succeed on the gridiron, he stared incredulously. Instead of playing sports, I recognized, I should coach them. My goal to coach professionally has already helped me embrace the academic side of the game--my side--rather than sidelining it.
I have devoured scouting tomes, best college personal essays, analyzed NFL game film, spoken with pros like Dante Scarnecchia, and even joined the American Football Coaches Association. Academically, that change re-inspired me.
3 College Essays That WORK (and don't suck!): OWN The Common Application Essay
, time: 13:0912 College Essay Examples From Top Universities () — Shemmassian Academic Consulting
· The personal statement should demonstrate the qualities, skills, and values that you’ve cultivated over your life and how those skills have prepared you for attending college. I (Ethan) have spent the last 15 years answering this question, which you can learn more about in The best way to tell your story is to write a personal, thoughtful essay about something that has meaning for you. Be honest and genuine, and your unique qualities will shine through. Admissions officers have to read an unbelievable number of college essays, most of which are forgettable · Personal essay topics usually include real stories, experiences, and opinions of people. Writers need to give an account of their own experience and express their thoughts on the subject of a paper. The key to success is to make an attempt to combine narration and opinion together
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