Complete guide to college application essays - The Princeton Review 2020
Going the extra mile
A Guide to Additional Application Submissions that Can Help You Stand Out
You’ve written, revised, and polished your personal statement. You’ve analyzed the various applications, gathered all the relevant information, and have completed the forms. And yet you’re still worried that you haven’t done enough.
In this chapter, we’ll look at any extra flourishes you might be able to submit along with your application, such as:
· short-response questions
· letters of recommendation
· supplemental information
· resumes
Short-response questions
Short-response questions (SRQs) can vary from a list of the websites you visit regularly to your favorite word. They are typically between 50 and 250 words long, although some answers may be as short as five or as long as 650 words. These questions may seem less-critical than a full-length essay; however, EVERYTHING that is on a school’s application is there for a reason. No matter how brief and seemingly trivial a query may seem, your answer to each SRQ warrants as much of your attention as a full-length essay would.
Where Will I Find These?
SRQs are typically found in schools’ supplemental essay sections. Some of these responses may be optional, but most are required.
Interpret the word “optional” as mandatory. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate your interest in the school and to really give college admissions officers a chance to get to “know” you.
Common Types of SRQs
There are four types of SRQs you’re most likely to encounter on your college applications.
· lists
· words/phrases
· courses you would teach
· anything goes
Let’s take a look at each of these categories.
Lists (150 words or less)
Here’s a sample of this kind of prompt, as seen in Columbia’s supplemental application.
· List the titles of the required readings from academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school.
· List the titles of the books, essays, poetry, short stories or plays you read outside of academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school.
· List the titles of the print or digital publications, websites, journals, podcasts or other content with which you regularly engage.
· List the movies, albums, shows, museums, lectures, events at your school or other entertainments that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school (in person or online).
These are not trick questions. We promise that if a college is asking for a list, they want the answer in a list format, either as a series of bullet points or as an in-line list, with items separated by commas.
Save your paragraphs for the long essays and just be genuine here. If one of your favorite websites is Pinterest.com, list it. If you visit GirlsGoGames.com, list it. If you read the New York Times cooking section, list it. If you check your stocks obsessively, include the site you use. Why are schools asking for these lists? Because they reveal your interests and quirks.
Don’t leave an admissions officer guessing about what you’re referring to. In your lists, write out both the complete title of a book and the author’s full name. For a website, include the extension.
When writing your lists, keep the following in mind.
DO:
Choose websites, books, and performances that showcase a range of interests. A school will understand that you like epic Russian literature if you mention something like War and Peace, so instead of listing Crime and Punishment next, what else do you like?
Keep a list, especially if you find yourself consuming so many things each month that you forget some of them. You may also be able to take inspiration from your class syllabus. That said, if you don’t remember something, is it really a favorite?
Be honest about the art that you enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with being a Harry Potter or Hunger Games fan—in fact, the more specific, the better. Your unique interests will help set you apart, so break out those niche podcasts!
DON’T:
Try to sound overly studious by only listing “smart” or sophisticated responses—admissions will see right through you and know you’re being disingenuous. If you loved Fast & Furious 7, include it on your list.
List potentially controversial websites. You don’t know your reader’s belief system and don’t want to alienate admissions by listing a potentially offensive website. Examples of possible landmines: religious or political extremist sites, books, shows, or anything that promotes violence, sexism, or racism. If in doubt, ask a teacher or parent to review your selections.
ACTIVITY
Making a List, Checking It Twice
On a sheet of paper, free-write anything that you can remember reading, watching, listening to, or visiting in the last six months. Give yourself five minutes.
—
Go back through your list and put a checkmark next to the entries that you’d want to consume again, or that you really want to talk to other people about. Cross out anything without a checkmark.
—
Review the list one final time, this time putting a second checkmark next to the entries that you feel would best help someone get to know you and your tastes: it’s a bit like making a playlist. Once again, cross out the entries that don’t have two checkmarks.
—
Now, with whatever content still remains on your list, select a prompt from the bulleted list on this page and complete it.
Words/Phrases (50—250 words)
Some colleges ask students to write brief responses to prompts about words or phrases. These questions seem simple until you realize how few words you’re allowed to use. Beware of taking these SRQ’s lightly. Write with intent and be genuine. Check out the following examples:
· What’s your favorite word and why? (50 words or less)
· What five words best describe you? (Five words)
· List a few words or phrases that describe your ideal college community. (50 words or less)
· Students paint messages on the bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on the bridge and why is this your message? (250 words)
When answering word or phrase questions in your application, take these tips into consideration.
DO:
Select words or phrases that are evocative and pique your reader’s curiosity.
Use phrases when given the option between words and phrases. You can communicate a stronger message with a group of words rather than a single word.
DON’T:
Use a phrase if the prompt asks for a word.
Waste precious words in these SRQs by “introducing” your word or phrase with a sentence like, “My favorite word is…” or “The class I would teach is…”
Read the following prompt and the accompanying response. See if you can identify any of the elements listed above.
As it stands, the current response is a bit like going to Target for soap, but leaving with popsicles, a yoga mat, and some knick-knacks from the dollar section—and forgetting the soap. Having a word count is akin to having a budget, so just as you have to return the unnecessary items so you can grab the essential soap, so too can your editing “return” those off-topic words until you’ve gotten back to exactly what you needed.
Similar to rough drafts for longer responses, refining your thoughts to better answer the question will improve your writing immensely. Take a look and see how the writer’s SRQ answer differs after a round of editing.
See how much it helped to use the editing strategies you learned in previous chapters? This type of short-response question differs greatly from the longform essay you’re used to writing, so to get comfortable writing with such limitations, be sure to actively practice them.
Be deliberate with your language.
ACTIVITY
Visual Language
When you’re tasked with a limited word count, doing pre-work can help you to better focus on exactly what you want to say.
On a sheet of paper, copy the circles below and fill each with one of the words that you would use to answer the Words/Phrases prompt. But don’t just write the word! Instead, illustrate it. Use a font that helps to describe your connection to the word or draw a picture in place of one of the letters. This doesn’t have to be award-winning art; just try to get how you feel down on the page. Then, draw lines out of each circle to three or four new words (you can just plainly write these, unless you feel inspired to keep drawing!) that you would use to describe your connection to that initial word.
Now that you’ve created a bank of meaningful words, choose one of the word-based SRQs and try answering it. Build upon what you’ve already drawn above so that you stay on target.
“I love to see essays that are honest, open without being “too much information,” and give me a better sense of who the student is and what they like.”
—The University of Chicago
Courses You Would Teach (35—250 words)
This type of prompt, which has been used by schools like the University of Virginia and Tufts University, is a way for colleges to get a creative response that reveals your priorities in learning, your curiosity, and your ability to write succinctly. Don’t be fooled by the brevity of the essay, and make every word count (pun intended!).
· You are teaching a new course. What is it called? (35 words)
· Our Experimental College encourages current students to develop and teach a class for the school community. Previous classes have included those based on personal interests, current events, and more. What would you teach and why? (200—250 words)
· A College X student was inspired to create Flash Seminars, one-time classes which facilitate high-energy discussion about thought provoking topics outside of traditional coursework. If you created a Flash Seminar, what idea would you explore and why? (Approximately 250 words)
If you have to answer one of the prompts, here are some pointers for knocking this response out of the park.
DO:
Be creative! Have fun with your course title.
Be sincere! Think of a class you would really enjoy teaching.
Develop a response that reveals both your knowledge and curiosity.
Stay within the word count. Brevity is part of the challenge in these SRQs.
DON’T:
Try to impress your reader with an overtly technical or sophisticated course title.
Use complex jargon in your class title or description.
Waste words by repeating the prompt in the body of your essay.
Worry that you may not know enough about your topic to teach a class. This prompt is theoretical.
ACTIVITY
The Of Course Catalogue
The best way to come up with snappy titles for your imaginary courses is to do a little research on some actual course titles. You should already be thinking about what courses you’d want to take in college—that’s a good way to help narrow down the schools you want to apply to—so start by looking there.
Make a list of the five most interesting sounding courses.
—
Next, circle the words in each course that draw your attention to them. Is it the specificity of a topic? Is it the alliterative wordplay? Pick a topic and try to generate three different potential ways to describe the course. Your final submission should pull from the best elements of each (assuming one of them isn’t already perfect).
Anything Goes (100 to 300 words)
For the most part, the prompts that you see have a clear connection to your application, and by now you’re getting good at figuring out how to use them to present a clear and vivid picture of yourself as a potential student. Well, this is true even for quirky outlier prompts that may at first seem irrelevant, and that’s because they’re not. Every question has a purpose, even if you can’t see it: sometimes a school just wants to see how you’ll handle something unexpected.
When you’re given a prompt like this, try to respond with the same sort of energy and have fun answering the question.
· What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What is the best part? What advice would you give to a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)? (300 words or less)
· The college admissions process can create anxiety. In an attempt to make it less stressful, please tell us an interesting or amusing story about yourself that you have not already shared in your application. (200—300 words)
· What is your “thing”? “What energizes you or engages you so deeply that you lose track of time? Everyone has different passions, obsessions, quirks, inspirations. What are yours? (300 words or less)
· We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (100 words or fewer)
A bit of a doozy, right? The casual language and personable topics make these feel more appropriate for a conversation with friends, but you’re writing to someone who holds your fate in their hands. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.
DO:
Break down the prompt. Some questions are multi-part, and you need to respond to each component.
Use lighthearted responses when appropriate. Your application is already full of serious information, so if a school is asking these sorts of questions, they want you to take the opportunity to show them your looser side.
DON’T:
Be sarcastic or humorously address the “difficulty” of answering such a vague question. The school wouldn’t ask for this if it didn’t want it, so don’t devalue the nature of their prompt.
Make things up. A creative response isn’t an excuse for fiction, and it shouldn’t require you to brag about or exaggerate your pastimes.
ACTIVITY
Rad Libs
You may have played the game where you fill in the blanks in an unseen story with words so that when you read the finished product, it has a very funny effect. Well, you’re not looking for that sort of dissonance here—rather, you want to make sure that the words ring true, but in a creative way. To that end, start by earnestly completing the sentences below with a word or phrase.
1.The hardest part of being a teenager is ___________________________________.
2.The most interesting thing I’ve ever done is________________________________________.
3.My most unusual quirk is_________________________________________.
4.When I have free time, I________________ for the pleasure of it.
Next, take those words or phrases alone, out of context, and rewrite them in a more engaging way. Repeat this a second time, now using the new words or phrases, almost like you’re playing a one-person game of telephone.
—
Now look back at the variations of the phrase, find a compromise, and fill in the blanks with your response.
1.The hardest part of being a teenager is __________________________________________.
2.The most interesting thing I’ve ever done is________________________________________.
3.My most unusual quirk is______________________________________________________.
4.When I have free time, I ________________ for the pleasure of it.
“I love to see essays that show originality and creativity, and reveal something about an applicant that I may not discover when reading the rest of their application.”
—Denison University
Program-specific references
Program-specific references are essay questions that ask about your intended major. Many application platforms are “smart,” meaning that the program-specific question appears on the application once you’ve stated a major or listed yourself as being undeclared.
These essays are a key component of your application. Admissions wants to understand your motivation for selecting a major and your pre-existing commitment to this area of study or, if you’re undecided, they want to know what you’re considering. As with the SRQs, these prompts tend to be short, with only a few schools allowing for 650 words, so make the most of what you’re allotted.
Examples of Program Specific Questions
As you’ll see from the sample prompts below, this type of question is as much about the major you’ve chosen as it is about how you came to select it.
· Describe a problem related to your area of study, which you would like to solve. Explain its importance to you and what actions you would take to solve this issue. (200 words or less)
· Although you may not yet know what you want to major in, which department or program at College X appeals to you and why? (100 words or fewer)
· Why are you drawn to studying the major you have selected? Please discuss how your interests and related experiences have influenced your choice. (250 word maximum)
· Please tell us more about what has led you to an interest in this field of study, what experiences (if any) you have had in engineering, and what it is about College X’s engineering program that appeals to you? (Up to 250 words)
· Describe a significant experience that deepened your interest in studying in the School of Architecture. (300 word maximum)
· Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the Business School. (Up to 650 words)
As long as you’re responding in good taste, there’s not really a wrong answer to these questions, but you do want to highlight your decision-making skills, so be aware of the following best practices.
DO:
Be concise and get to the point right away. Unlike your personal statement, these are not creative writing exercises.
Research the school’s program and hit on key points they mention on the website.
Answer all of the questions. As with the personal statement, you’re not choosing which specific parts to address. Once you pick a prompt, you must answer the whole thing.
DON’T:
Use generic terms or vague language. These prompts are specific and require on-topic responses.
List the major incorrectly. For example, The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences should not be called The College of Engineering. These names vary from school to school and it’s your job to research the major and call it by its official name. This issue is particularly critical when you recycle essays. Make sure you change the major’s name for each school.
Use creative writing. These are short, to the point essays and require program-specific language. You don’t have room for extra words or flowery language.
ACTIVITY
A Major Melee
First things first: if you don’t yet have a major picked out, this might be a good time to try and narrow one down. It’ll be easier for you to address this type of question if you do have a specific field you want to study, and there’s no penalty for changing your major once you are enrolled and attending the school, so try this.
Pick your top four subjects or interests and match them up in a Final Four setting below. The pros should be things that make you excited about studying the subject; your cons should be anything that makes you waver in your commitment. Compare the two for each of the three match-ups and determine which moves on.
Now that you’ve crowned a major as your “champion,” make sure you’re referring to it properly. Visit the websites for the schools highest on your list right now and make sure you list exactly how each of them refers to this major.
Letters of recommendation
Letters of recommendation are typically written by your counselor and core academic teachers to explain why you’ll be successful at the institution in question. Some schools also allow elective instructors or non-academic recommenders (mentors, bosses, club advisors, research professors) to submit letters on your behalf. These “other” recommenders address your character and personality in a non-academic context. Because the number of recommenders varies by college, be sure to check your school’s requirements.
When Should I Submit Them?
These letters are submitted with your college applications. This means that you should approach your recommenders well in advance of your personal deadline and the school’s deadline. Follow up at least once before letters are due to make sure everything is on track.
Who Should I Ask to Write Them?
You want to choose people who not only know you well, but who can say good things about you. You also want to make sure that you choose a wide range of recommenders, and that if your chosen schools have any requirements, like needing to hear from a grade- or subject-specific teacher, that you find those as early as possible. Keep in mind the difference, too, between academic references and non-academic ones.
School Counselor
This one’s almost always mandatory, so it helps to try and build a relationship with your school counselor. This person will probably know your hopes and aspirations better than anyone. Your counselor is also likely to have written a lot of these letters over the years; the downside, of course, is that your counselor may already be swamped writing a lot of them this year!
Teacher
Colleges typically request that students provide them with a letter from a core 11th grade teacher, so if you have a great relationship with someone from your first two years of high-school, you might try to take a class with them again your junior or senior year. If you’re asking more than one teacher to write a letter, try to pull from different fields: for instance, an English teacher but also a math or science teacher.
Be sure that you’re only asking those who are likely to say positive things about you. If you got below a B in a course, you may get a mixed letter when ideally you want a glowing recommendation. Find those who can vividly describe your contributions to class and, ideally, also speak to your extra-credit work.
Employers
The ability to work a part-time job while attending high school speaks highly of your ability not only to multitask but to handle the higher course loads of college—where you may also be doing work-study or research projects on top of everything else. It’s good to have letters that show diligence and independence, especially if your employer is able to speak to your growth and how you’ve personally stood out within the company. Such letters can also add more context to the passions that led you to a specific internship.
When Should I Reach Out to My Recommenders?
College application season can be overwhelming, even for recommenders, so it’s important to give guidance counselors and teachers enough notice if you’re interested in receiving a letter from them. Before you begin, double check with your counselor to make sure there’s not a special procedure in place for obtaining recommendation letters. If there’s not, raise the topic with your select few during the second half of junior year. That way, they can inform you if they prefer to write letters over the summer or in the fall. Also, be sure that you’re reaching out far enough in advance such that if one of your intended references declines, you still have time to reach out to alternatives.
How Should I Ask for Them?
In general, find a time when the person you’re reaching out to will be least busy, or hang back after class to ask a teacher when it might be a good time to talk for a few minutes. You don’t want to catch someone while they’re distracted or preoccupied; that might put them in a bad state of mind when they’re considering whether or not to do you this favor. You’d much rather have them feeling flattered and honored that you’d choose them for such an important task.
What Else Should I Provide?
Time will probably pass between when you first ask if a person would be willing to write a recommendation and when you actually need them to fill out the form. During that period, they may have become distracted or forgetful, and so it can sometimes be helpful to provide teachers with additional information about yourself that they can then choose to highlight in their eventual recommendation. If you are provided with such a form, or a “brag sheet” that asks you to list extracurriculars and awards, complete it as quickly as possible, always leaving your references as much time as possible to then write your recommendation. If you have a resume, you can offer to give that to them as well.
When Should I Follow Up?
Do your best not to pester someone who has promised to write your recommendation. That said, keep the deadlines in mind. You’ll often be able to see in your online application whether a letter has been received from a reference, and if you notice that a due date is nearing and you haven’t spoken with that reference in quite some time, it’s fair to reach out with a friendly reminder.
Recommendation letters seem complicated, but keep these following best practices in mind to help simplify the process.
DO:
Try to get to know all of your teachers in high school. If possible, spend time outside of class getting extra help or discussing a part of class you found intriguing.
Write each recommender a thank you note as soon as they write your recommendation. You are notified on the application when the letter is submitted.
Let your teachers know if you are applying early to your schools so they can write your letter to meet this early deadline.
DON’T:
Wait until the last minute to invite your recommenders. This is insulting and does not acknowledge how valuable their time is.
Involve a teacher who does not meet your college’s core requirements. Your school may not want to hear from art, music, or drama teachers, and while you should still use these references as non-academic recommenders, make sure you first cover the scholastic bases.
Ask too many teachers for letters. Two core academics and one or two non-academics are sufficient.
ACTIVITY
Who Am I?
On a sheet of paper, copy the image of a student, below, and fill in each half with single words that sum up your strengths as a student on one side and as a classmate on the other. Once you’ve done this, draw arrows out from those individual words to provide short phrases or descriptions that provide more context if needed.
Additional information section on applications
Most college applications include a place for students to add information not covered elsewhere on the form. This is NOT a place for another essay, and there is typically a word limit in this section, so be concise and to the point about why you’ve chosen to mention something.
Here are examples of what’s appropriate to include:
· Special Circumstances: Were you or your family faced with illnesses, natural disasters, or other challenges that may help to explain an irregularity in your transcript?
· Unusual Grading: If your school doesn’t use a standard (4.0) or weighted (5.0) GPA, you can provide context to whatever scores have been reported.
· Lack of Rigor: Some schools limit the number of AP classes a student can take, when they can take them, or even what honors courses are offered. If your schedule was as demanding as possible, but might not seem that way without a note, be sure to explain it here.
· Alternative Activities: If you had limited space in which to describe your activities and awards, or some of them didn’t fit existing categorizations on an application (that is, they were listed as Other), this is a chance to discuss them. Don’t just use this to list superfluous activities, however; make sure this space is still reserved for highlighting above-and-beyond membership that makes you stand out.
· Abstracts: If you’ve published any papers, collaborated on research, or anything else within the realm of academia, this is a good place to include abstracts or information about such work.
Keep reading for more tips on how to complete the additional informational section.
DO:
Use this section to accept responsibility for academic or behavioral challenges in school.
Have a teacher or counselor review your additional information before submitting your application.
Mention an upswing in grades and rigor of curriculum, especially if there is a marked change in your grades.
Explain a high number of excused and/or unexcused absences here.
DON’T:
Make excuses for a low grade by writing that you did not get along with the teacher. Either accept personal responsibility for a grade or don’t mention it.
Tell admissions how challenging and competitive your high school is in this section. Your school profile will make that apparent (if it is the case).
Copy and paste a resume in this section. Schools that accept resumes will allow you to upload them in their application.
ACTIVITY
But Wait, There’s More?
Look back at the list of activities you’ve brainstormed, or at anything you’ve added to your application thus far. See if there’s anything that was left off, or which needs more explanation. If there’s anything lingering, any side of you as a candidate that schools have not yet seen and which cannot be added to any existing part of the application, write them down. If not, well, you know the saying: “Speak now, or forever hold your peace.”
SUBMITTING A RESUME
The world’s best resume won’t make a bit of difference if the college won’t accept or look at it. If your resume adds information or perspective on how you spend your time, what you’ve accomplished, or what’s important to you beyond what you’ve already filled out in the application, consider trying to find other ways in which to convey that information within the bounds of your submission.
“A resume is not an essay. An essay that simply rehashes lots of information available on a student’s activities sheet or resume is not a helpful way to learn more about a student, and doesn’t help me feel like a student can or wants to do more than just recite facts about him or herself.”
—The University of Chicago
Mandatory Resumes
Even if a college asks for a resume, that doesn’t mean that you should just submit whatever you have, any more than you should just submit any 250—650 word essay for your personal statement. For example, as of the printing of this book, the Cornell School of Hotel Management requests the following:
Rejected Resumes
It’s a lot easier to figure out when a college will not accept a resume—at least, it is if you do a little research and visit the school’s website. For instance, as of the printing of this book, the University of Virginia states, “We do not accept resumes, research papers, or supplemental application items that do not fit the criteria for arts supplements.” Pretty clear, right?
The basic resume
Here’s a basic resume template. How do you go from this to a finished product? The same way you get your application submitted: one entry at a time. The main difference is that with a resume, you determine how much to include and how to format it all. That’s not an excuse to write a manifesto! Common practice is for your resume to include the most relevant skills for the job (or school) you’re applying to—and for the whole thing to ideally fit on one page (or two).
Some information is common to all resumes: you’ll need to provide contact information, especially if you’re submitting this separately from your application.
Though you’ve likely already covered the bases on education within the application, you should still list your high school(s) and expected graduation date, as they’ll add context to the timeline for any work experience or projects you include.
Beyond that, it’s up to you how to list your accomplishments. The sample primarily noted work and projects—things that might have been glossed over in your application, and which are of key importance in a resume—but also provided space to discuss skills, awards, languages, and interests.
Common Guidelines for Resume Writing
Be concise. This is a resume, not a cover letter, so begin each bullet point with an action verb describing your major accomplishments for each item. Do not explain every little detail.
Focus on the activities and accomplishments that you were most committed to. You don’t need to account for every hour, so if you tried out a club for a couple of meetings or even a semester but are no longer interested in it, don’t feel obligated to add it.
Include necessary details. Make sure the reader knows the name of the organization, your (particularly those in leadership positions), how you contributed to the organization, and any other unique information that you can offer.
Your resume can add new information to your application or go into more detail about an important activity/project you were involved with. You can highlight your passion for art, your just-for-fun coding projects, your love for gardening, or anything else that is part of who you are and what you do.
Admissions officers are looking for tidbits of personal information in your application to get to know you better. Don’t be afraid to use the extra space of the resume to share hobbies and favorite things if they’ll help the reader better connect with your journey.
Formatting is key but can also be incredibly tedious. Unless formatting is your cup of tea, seriously consider using a free resume template or at least getting an idea of how resumes can look through a quick internet search. Good formatting will result in an easy to read resume, which is clearly divided into sections that highlight your abilities and accolades.
Whether you are writing a resume for a college application or a job in the future, resumes should be easy to read. Admissions officers and recruiters alike will likely spend fewer than 30 seconds reading your resume. Remember to be concise and clear, to quantify or highlight your achievements, and to make the formatting consistent throughout.
Be honest and accurate, without exaggeration. If you have 4 weeks a year where you have to dedicate 40 hours a week to drama club and the rest of the year you contribute about 4 hours, it would be inaccurate to say that you work 40 hours a week on the drama club. Don’t misstate job titles either; if you’re a co-president, don’t needlessly claim to be the president.
Here’s an example of that same resume, but filled in for a fictional student.
End of chapter review
This chapter covered a little bit of many issues you may find on your college applications. From unusual essay question to letters of recommendation and more, hopefully you feel prepared to face it all.
Here’s a little game you can play as a reward for completing this book! Below is a College Application Bingo Board. Choose as many of the squares as you feel comfortable with and see how many ADMITs you can make. If there’s anything you haven’t yet accomplished, go back and try to fill the entire board!
(Click here for a downloadable PDF of the College Application Bingo Board.)
