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Getting into College:
» Letters of Recommendation & Essays
How To Stand Out From The Crowd
Most college applications request two or three recommendation letters from people who know you in and out of the classroom.
Whom should I ask?
English or math teachers usually make good candidates. Other than that, aim for someone who knows you well. It doesn't matter if it's your yearbook advisor or your tennis coach, as long as the person knows you personally and can communicate your strengths.
When should I ask?
Make sure to give your letter-writers plenty of time -- at least one month before letters are due -- to complete and send your recommendations. If you apply under early decision or early action plans, you'll need to ask at the start of the school year.
How can I get the best possible recommendations?
Talk to your letter-writers. Remind them of your accomplishments and let them in on your future plans. You might want to provide a brief resume of your activities and goals. The best letters include specific examples and stories rather than vague praise.
Helpful tips
- Don't be shy. Teachers and counselors are often happy to help you.
- Include addressed and stamped envelopes for each school to which you're applying.
- On the application form, waive your right to view recommendation letters.
- It's okay to ask your letter-writer if they can write a positive recommendation for you. Don't take a chance.
- Follow up with your letter-writers after a few weeks to make sure they're aware of your deadlines.
- Write thank-you notes to your letter-writers and, later, tell them where you've decided to go to college.
What's In A College Essay?
Understanding What Colleges Are Looking For
The college essay gives you a chance to tell a school about you. Other parts of your application -- grades, scores, and recommendations -- show what you've done. Your college essay reveals who you are. It can be a strong voice in your favor and a way to stand out from the rest.
Self-analysis
Self-analysis isn't easy, and it can be especially hard to do at this point in your life, when many of your goals and plans are unsettled.
You may already have confronted this problem at college interviews. Admission people ask, "Tell us about yourself" or "What are your hopes and aspirations?" These are questions that require some thought, and they're pretty hard. The essay is a chance to demonstrate which questions you've asked yourself and what answers you've found.
Writing evaluation
Your college essay is going to be examined as a clue to your writing ability by an audience who is both critical and crucial. For example, Columbia University lets you know what they're looking for right on the application: "Please remember that we are concerned not only with the substance of your prose but with your writing as well."
After all, a very large part of your performance and evaluation in college will be based on essays and written tests.
Short-answer questions
Short-answer questions that ask for only a paragraph response should be approached with the same care and attention you gave to the full-length essay. The writing process is the same. Just reduce the introduction and conclusion to a sentence each. Try to make your topic vivid in a few lines and never sacrifice specifics.
Writing samples
Some schools require or encourage submission of an academic essay or writing sample. There's no reason not to send a school essay. Choose a strong performance (a B+ or better) and a paper on a not-too-esoteric topic. Do not send a fifteen-page term paper or a collation of library research. A short, illuminating essay on one poem, one lab experiment, or one incident in history, would be a good choice.
This article is based on information found in The College Application Essay, by Sarah Myers McGinty.
Types of Essays & Sample Questions
What You Write About Is Revealing
Generally, there are three types of questions: The "you," the "why us," and the "creative" question. Here are tips and actual sample questions for each type. (Don't assume that these questions are currently being used by a college, since most colleges adjust questions annually.)
1. The "You" question
Many colleges ask for an essay that boils down to, "Tell us about yourself." The school just wants to know you better and see how you'll introduce yourself. For example:
- "Please complete a one-page personal statement and submit it with your application." (James Madison University)
- "How would you describe yourself as a human being? What quality do you like best in yourself and what do you like least? What quality would you most like to see flourish and which would you like to see wither?" (Bates College)
Your approach
This direct question offers a chance to reveal your personality, insight, and commitment. The danger is that it's open-ended, so you need to focus. Find just one or two things that will reveal your best qualities, and avoid the urge to spill everything.
2. The "Why Us" question
Some schools ask for an essay about your choice of a school or career. They're looking for information about your goals, and how serious your commitment is to this particular school. For example:
- "Why is UVM a good college choice for you?" (University of Vermont)
- "Please tell us about your career goals and any plans you may have for graduate study." (Westfield State College)
Your approach
The focus is provided: Why did you choose this school or path. This should be pretty clear to you, since you probably went through some kind of selection process. Make sure you know your subject well. For example, if you say you want to attend Smith College to major in dance, the school will be able to tell how carefully you've chosen (Smith doesn't have a dance major).
3. The "Creative" question
Some colleges evaluate you through your choice of some tangential item: a national issue, a famous person, what you would put in a time capsule, a photograph. Here the school is looking at your creativity and the breadth of your knowledge and education. For example:
- "Do you believe there's a generation gap? Describe the differences between your generation and others." (Denison University)
- "Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence." (Common Application)
Your approach
Again, you have something to react to, a way to show yourself and to write about your real views. Just don't forget the importance of writing an informed essay. For example, don't write about a fantasy lunch with a famous writer and get the titles of her novels wrong. Also, when thinking about how creative to get, use common sense. Being creative to the point of wacky is a risk you may not want to take.
Essays: Before You Write
Think About Choice And Topics
Underlying all essay questions is choice. The essay question may be direct and ask you to choose something about yourself to discuss, or it may be indirect and require you to write about something such as an event, book, or quotation.
The college regards your choices as a way to evaluate your preferences, values, mental processes, creativity, sense of humor, and depth of knowledge. The writing itself reflects your power of persuasion, organizational abilities, style, and mastery of standard written English.
Here is what colleges look for:
- Your preferences
Your essay topic reveals your preferences. Are you an arts person or a hard-facts science type? Certainly, there is a difference between the person who'd like to talk about the cold war with Machiavelli and someone who'd like to get painting tips from Jackson Pollock.
- Your values
Choice also reflects values. The person who drives a beat-up, rusty, 1971 Volkswagen is making a statement about how she wants to spend her money and what she cares about. We say, "That dress isn't me" or "I'm not a cat person." In choosing, you indicate what matters to you and how you perceive yourself.
- Your thought process
Choosing shows how you think. Are you whimsical, a person who chooses on impulse? Or are you methodical, careful, a person who gathers background information before choosing? Questions about you and about career and college reflect these choosing patterns, and even a question about a national issue can show your particular thinking style, level of intelligence, and insight.
Think about topics
The topic you select for your essay can also reveal much about who you are. Yale's application instructs: "In the past, candidates have used this space in a great variety of ways.... There is no 'correct' way to respond to this essay request...." No answer is wrong, but sloppy, general, insincere, or tasteless responses hurt.
Some of the best essays, the memorable and unusual ones, are about very similar, just more focused topics. Essays about your family, football team, trip to France, parents' divorce, or twin can be effective as long as they're focused and specific: a single Christmas Eve church service, a meal of boiled tongue in Grenoble, dipping ice cream on a summer job.
Recipe For A Draft
How To Start Your Essay
Sometimes the hardest part of writing a college admission essay is just getting started. Here's a quick exercise to get pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
- Step 1: Think about yourself.
What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your best qualities? Are you a plugger? An intellectual? A creative type? Curious? Passionate? Determined?
- Step 2: Choose a positive quality you'd like to convey to the admission committee.
Don't pick an event or something you've done. "President of the Nuclear Awareness Club" is not a personal quality. Focus on a quality of your mind or of your character. Complete this sentence: "I am a very _________ person."
- Step 3: Tell a story.
Set a timer for twenty minutes. Pretend you're taking a high school exam and the question is, "Tell a story about an experience or time when you showed you were a very _________ person." Use the characteristic you identified in Step 2. Write or type non-stop for twenty minutes; force yourself to keep telling the story and what it reveals until the timer goes DING.
You're done
Okay. That's it. You've got a rough draft for your application essay. Look at the college application forms and see what questions they ask. No matter what the questions are, you've already identified the important characteristic you want to convey to each college.
Getting into College
Deciding Where to Apply
Creating a Powerful Application
» Letters of Recommendation/Essays
Acing Your College Interview
Making Your Final Choice
The White House Initiative gratefully acknowledges collegeboard.com for providing the content found on this page.
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