College Essays? Arghhhhh!

So last night I went hard all night long working on my college essays. I figured I have put it off long enough, and since I had nothing better going on I got to work. Here are the two essay questions that I was faced with:


-"The University values an educational environment that provides all members of the campus community with opportunities to grow and develop intellectually, personally, culturally and socially. In order to give us a more complete picture of you as an individual, please tell us about the particular life experiences, perspectives, talents, commitments and/or interests you will bring to our campus. In other words, how will your presence enrich our community?"


-"Tell us about your academic goals, circumstances that may have had an impact on your academic performance, and, in general, anything else you would like us to know in making an admission decision."


Needless to say, I was immediately stressed. The questions seem so vague and extremely hard to answer. For the first essay I struggled because to be honest I have no idea how I am going to enrich their community in the slightest. At least I didn't at first. Now even if you have some ideas on what makes you special as an individual and how you would be a benefit to their school, you face the second challenge of turning those ideas into an organized, 500-word essay, while simultaneously trying to steer away from sounding like you're bragging. This is what I did: I tried to find three things about myself that are positive and unique to my being. You also want to be able to back up these points with examples of things you have done or reasons why you are that way. This way, the things you are saying about yourself sound more like facts and less like bragging. You need to remember that in these essays you are trying to sell yourself, like in a job interview. Those three things about yourself that you choose to touch on will become your three paragraphs. Don't forget a thesis sentence for the beginning and end!


Now the second question is equally as hard but for different reasons. The first question gives you a little more structure as to what they want you to say. The second question is completely open to you to say whatever you feel is important. This question is mainly for those who may have struggled academically, and they are giving you the chance to perhaps explain why you struggled and how you have changed or matured that way. This is what I did: I broke down the first question into two separate academic goals of mine, then answered the second question on things that affected my academic performance. These became my three paragraphs. This one may be quite a bit different for you depending on what you want to say, but the general idea is the same. Remember to sell yourself and turn negatives to positives!

I hope this helps those of you that are beginning to work on your college essays! Personally, it took me about an hour to finish both of mine, and both turned out to be over 500 words each. Try not to stress out over it, just get started and once you get going the rest comes much easier. Also remember to revise, revise, revise! Make it perfect. Good luck!