Tell us something about yourself that
isn't covered elsewhere in your application, some interest or experience
of yours that you think we should know about as part of the admissions
review.
Important factors considered by the review committee when evaluating the essays are:
- How the applicant ties his or her academic interest to the
desired major or how the applicant explains his or her varied interests
and need for exploration.
- How the applicant showcases his or her
passion through chosen activities, work experience, research, or course
selection in high school.
- How the essay reveals maturity and
growth through past experiences, evidence of character development,
cultural insight, community awareness, and/or leadership. Strength of
writing is carefully considered throughout all the application essays.
--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- An event that most likely isn't covered in my college application is concerned with the younger me. During the periods from kindergarten to the middle of middle school, I had been bullied continuously for a very long time. In elementary, this was the case because I was the only Asian in an all Caucasian school in New Zealand - generally speaking, I was being discriminated against. In elementary, the bullying situation was as bad, but I was sometimes isolated by other, and sometimes people would spread rumors about me. It turned for the worst when I was in middle school, mainly because there were only a few people, and they were mostly from the "in" group (an analogy for me then would be a nerd or a geek). This situation may seem like a very negative one with no benefits; however, I did teach me an important lesson, and that is to stand up for myself no matter how small and insignificant I am compared to the others. If I continue to allow others to bully and take advantage of me, then I would always to like this, and it might turn into a vicious, never-ending cycle in the end. I learned that I must speak up my mind, seek help, and finally, I must learn to stand up against unreasonable and unjustified things done to me.
How have your past circumstances and experiences (such as your upbringing, community, and/or activities) impacted who you are, your future goals, and your choice of major? If you haven't decided on a college or major yet, briefly explain your intentions and aspirations for your first year at our school.
--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- My past circumstances as a Model United Nations participator have influenced who I am, in a variety of different aspects. First, MUN introduced me to a world full of controversy and debate, and it brought to me the reality of the world, that there are many issues in the world that we, people who live comfortable lives, do not come into contact with. Second, MUN taught me the importance of being well prepared, which in turn trained me on my research skills concerning topic. Researching on controversial topics taught me to be objective and to look at many different sources with many different points of view before coming to a conclusion concerning the topic. Third, MUN taught me the importance of presentation and speech, as well as confidence. To be an active and successful speaker means that one must be able to speak with confidence, as well as being able to answer any questions raised (this, in turn, refers to research abilities). Last, but not least, MUN taught me the importance of social relationships. In international relations, diplomatic relations is extremely essential. These skills that I learned in MUN would help me with my major because communications has an emphasis on presentation, background research, as well as sight for many difference points of view of one single story.
1) Our students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
2) Virtually all of our undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate - and us - know you better.
3) What matters to you, and why?
--Stanford
- The experience that is important to my intellectual development has to do with MUN, or Model United Nations. Why is it important to me? This is because Model United Nations taught me a variety of different valuable lessons. The first one is confidence; to be confident means to be successful (at least, to a degree, in public speaking). However, there is something in addition to this, and it is research ability that actually allows one to be successful. Good research abilities allows one to be able to understand his or her topic thoroughly and allow one the ability to answer the questions that other might have towards one when on stage. Having a wide base of knowledge also allows one to be more confident, because one knows that he or she will be able to answer the question posed to them.
- Unfortunately, I must inform you that I have a serious obsession with being clean (it's might be obsessive-compulsive disorder). I also like to be organized, and I will feel a small degree of being uncomfortable unless I know where all my things are. I also have the tendency to sleep with absolutely no light, or in complete darkness. Therefore, I have to inform you that if you are going to study during the night, when I'm asleep, you may have to do so in some other place other than our room.
- The thing that matters the most to me is music. Though I am not at all musically talented or inclined, listening to music had always been a huge part of my life, and it still is. I listen to music all the time: when I need to think, when I'm going to sleep or when I'm sleeping, when I need to pass time, when I need to concentrate on a task such as homework, when I want to dance or sing, or when I need to release all my pent up emotions.
Explain why you have chosen this school and your particular major(s), department(s) or program(s). This essay should include the reasons why you've chosen the major(s), any goals or relevant work plans and any other information you would like us to know. If you are applying to more than one college or program, please mention each college or program you are applying to. Because our admission committees review applicants by college and programs, your essay can impact our final decision. Please do not exceed one page for this essay.
--Carnegie Mellon
- My major is aimed towards mass communication. To be more specific, I want to be involved with advertising and consumer market behaviors. I am also very interested in psychology, and also hope to make it one of my majors. Psychology would also be able to help me with mass communication and advertising. Knowing how people think and how people would act would help me understand what type of advertisement would attract consumers and how to create such advertisement.
- I used to be interested in biology, and I had wanted to be a coroner. However, after many different classes concerning human geography and psychology, my interests slowly started to change. I'm still interested in biology; however, I am now more interested in the workings of the media and mass communications.
- Another reason that motivated me to pursue advertising, consumer marketing, and psychology as majors was the bad quality of advertisements that I frequently see on television. Every time I spot one that is very bad, I immediately feel the need to criticize it. Most of the advertisements that I had criticized had to do with the advertisement not actually showing much of the product.
- One of my other interests has to do with hospitality. Yes, I have a very wide range of interests. What motivates me in this major is the lack of professionalism of people providing services. I have met many people who always had on an annoyed face that makes me want to scold them.
Choose someone, fictional or nonfictional, historical or contemporary, whom you consider to be a leader. Suppose you are this person’s primary advisor. How would you advise this person and why?
--Claremont McKenna
- In my opinion, I would say that Sarah Liu, my classmate, is my contemporary leader. Why? This is because she is one of the best students in my class, and being friends with her motivates me to study hard so I don't fall so far behind her in terms of score and make myself feel bad.
- If I were to advise Sarah in anything, I would tell her to work as hard as she can, but still, she should spend every single moment studying. Instead, she should enjoy herself sometimes, and be more active and athletic. Why would I advise her in such a way? Well, this is because I believe that she already has good enough scores, so she doesn't have to be studying every single moment other than the times that she eats and sleeps. I would advise her to relax because relaxing will allow one to recuperate from stress, and I believe that this is something everyone should do, not just Sarah. Finally, I would advise her to exercise more and be more active and athletic because she barely exercises, and she's not exercising lately because of junior year, and this will have a bad impact on her health. She should work out some time to maintain her health and keep strong, or else her immune system might weaken and she might become sick. Then, all her efforts into studying would be wasted.
Write about how you spent your time over Spring Break. Did you do what you wanted to do, or were there things you wanted to do but didn’t get to? Write about how happy you are to be back in school.
- Basically, I did not spend any time relaxing during the break. It was all work, work, work. But that was to be expected. Saturday was the most relaxing days amongst the other days, even though all I did was work. The following days consists of a repetitive schedule that almost drove me crazy. Here's a brief overview: a full SAT practice test, AP practice test, full SAT practice test, AP practice test, AP practice test, brainstorming session and writing class at school, another full SAT practice test, and finally, two more AP practice tests. Sounds fun? I also had to memorize my SAT Vocabulary List every night because the Thursday tests are coming up. Still not done... And that's really not good...
- There weren't a lot of things that I wanted to do during the Spring Break. It generally consists of sleeping as much as I can to repay my sleep debt, eat as much as I want, and use my computer to watch videos and novels. Oh, and of course, going outside of the house to talk a walk around so I won't suffocate in my own house. Out of all these things, I only successfully completed repaying off my sleep debt and eat as much as I want. I also got to watch TV drama clips by peeking when my mother is watching them. I wasn't able to use my computer much, only for checking emails from school.
