Lesson
One: Tackling the Question 
 Introduction
Think of the essay as the face of your application. An application without
an essay is a statistic—just another faceless person in a crowd. An application
with a poorly written essay does not give admissions officers the chance
to care about you. Use simple psychology: make them feel that they know
you, and it will be harder for them to reject you. Make them know you AND
LIKE YOU, and they might accept you despite your weakness in other areas.
Understanding the importance of the essay is a necessary first step toward
perfecting your application. If you are normally a procrastinator, you
should understand that your success depends entirely on the amount of time
and effort you put into the essay writing process. If all of this has you
sweating, you can relax now. Taking this process seriously is the first
step. This course will help you get through the other steps.
Admissions
essay questions tend to be very broad and difficult to tackle.
Yet, it is imperative that you actually answer the question
in your essay. It should go without saying, but if your essay
does not address the question, then everything you learn
in the rest of this course is for naught.
While
looking at your application, you are probably asking yourself: “Why
in the world are these admissions people asking me this question? What
do they want me to write about?” While there is no one answer
to either of these questions, there is some reason behind
the most popular questions posed by applications.
Continue
on for Question-Specific Strategies on the most common
application questions and Sample Essays with comments
by admissions officers.
 Select
One:
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EssayEdge
Extra: Who’s Reading My Essay?
Contrary
to popular belief, all admissions officers are not
old men with bowties and English accents. In fact,
the first people to read your application are often
people not much older than yourself. At most colleges
and universities, recent graduates of the college
serve as assistants, conducting the first read on
all of the essays. If they like your essay, they
will pass it on to the associate directors or only
read what the assistants pass along. Then, the associate
directors choose which essays to pass along to the
director, who makes the final decision. So essentially,
the mysterious group that holds your future in its
hands is composed of a few recent grads of the college,
a couple of associate directors, and a director who
must evaluate thousands of applications in a month
or two. The moral of the story: Don’t write your
essay for an old British guy. Be yourself. Write
in a relaxed tone.
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