Writing An Introduction

Writing An Introduction I reread that essay four to five times before I decided that it was going to be my college essay topic. Your college essay is something that you should not only be proud of, but also something that you genuinely want to showcase to college admissions offices. Seeing what someone can do with a high school education was amazing for me, to think about what I could do with the power of a prestigious college education. It was such an inspiration that I immediately wanted to start writing about her. My family was watching a football game, and I was pumping out this essay. I stayed up really late at first, when my inhibitions were down, so I could write without being self-critical and brainstorm ideas. I probably went through 20 ideas, narrowed them down to five, wrote drafts of five, and then picked one and edited and edited and edited until I finished. I wrote about the transition from independence to interdependence and my personal growth that was catalyzed by my parents’ divorce. Even a prize-winning novelist would be hard pressed to convey just one of those qualities in a 500 word character sketch, and the chances of getting an accurate picture from a 17-year-old novice are essentially nil. For example, AdmitSee’s data indicates the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell favor essays about a student’s career goals. Like Harvard, Princeton tends to admit students who write about overcoming adversity. Essays that discuss a student’s experience with race, ethnicity or sexual orientation are well-received by Stanford, Yale and Brown. I distinctly remember writing my Harvard essay at Thanksgiving on my phone. I told in detail the vivid memory I had, gave an example of a time during school I lived by my mantra, and talked more about how the language barrier affected my life, and made me who I am today. The hardest part of the process was coming up with an idea. I wanted to pick a moment, or a story, that really stuck with me throughout life. The rest of the college application is solely based on numbers like your test scores, transcripts, and more â€" but the essay is your chance to shine and show that you are different from the rest. One thing about writing your college essay the first time is that you have to know it is not going to be perfect. You will have to write multiple drafts, but the first draft is vital because it is finally putting all your ideas and planning into fruition. For writing the actual essay, because I had planned and articulated my thoughts so methodically, words just flowed out of my fingertips into my computer. The inspiration just came in waves while I was spending time with my family. I talked about my grandmother, who passed around five or six years ago. She was someone who really influenced me in terms of seeing what one can do with a selfless attitude. She had only ever earned a high school education, and she didn’t have the opportunity to go beyond that. The writing piece itself should display your character, goals, and accomplishments. When I was going through the process of writing mine, I struggled because I didn’t think I had a story good enough to tell. I reflected on my early independence as a child and how that transitioned to me depending on other people, working together in teams, and leading people to accomplish important things in our community. By the end of the summer, I wasn’t ready to leave the research that I was doing. Through this summer experience, I realized my ambition to pursue a career in research. I always knew that I would want to pursue a future in science, but the exciting world of research where the discoveries are limitless has captured my heart. Living on the Notre Dame campus with other REU students, UND athletes, and other summer school students was a whole other experience that prepared me for the world beyond high school. For 9 weeks, I worked, played and bonded with the other students, and had the opportunity to live the life of an independent college student. Overall, the college application process can be a stressful and daunting time, but the college essay is something that should somewhat be a fun personal project. After trying to start essays, only to give up on them a quarter of the way through, I stumbled upon an old essay I had written in 8th grade. The prompt of the essay was to talk about something that you struggled with and overcame. To me, that was the language barrier between my grandfather and me. My grandfather speaks fluent Vietnamese, while I only speak English, so throughout my entire childhood communication was lacking. Although he spoke broken English, the opportunity to tell anecdotes, give advice, and more were nonexistent.