College & Career Counseling Office

College & Career Counseling Office Unless they really, truly serve your essay, avoid general platitudes and cliches in your language. On the one hand, you should write boldly and honestly, and some of the prompts are appropriate for addressing potentially contentious topics. For example, if you were a camp counselor every summer for the last few years, avoid sharing several summers’ worth of content in your essay. Focus instead on one summer, and even better, on one incident during that summer at camp. This is an outstanding guide to choosing the right Common App essay prompt, but as a rule of thumb, the “right” prompt will probably stand out to you. If you have to rack your brain, for example, to think of a challenge you’ve overcome and how the experience has shaped you, then that prompt probably isn’t the right one. I didn’t know who I was anymore because hockey had been my whole world and sense of identity. Between working out, attending practice, playing home and away games, and watching games to learn more, it was my lifeblood. Losing my ability to play took a toll on me physically and emotionally, and I grew lethargic and depressed. My road to recovery included two major surgeries, a couple months on crutches, a year of physical therapy, and absolutely zero athletic activity. Be careful not to just dead-end your essay abruptly. It might help you to keep a thesis in mind or even write it down just for your own sake, even if you don’t explicitly use it in your introduction. Doing so can help you stay on track and help you build up to a stronger reflection. So the most important part of the introduction is a unique attention-getter that establishes your personal voice and tone while piquing the reader’s interest. For the few months that followed the accident, I was lost, not really knowing what to do with myself. Losing my ability to play took a toll on me physically and emotionally and I grew lethargic and depressed. But let’s take a look here at two versions of an example essay, one that is just okay and one that is great. I would heal, thankfully, and regain movement in my knee and leg, but I was told by doctors that I may never play hockey again, which was devastating to me. Hockey wasn’t just my passionâ€"it was my life’s goal to play professionally. Also, make sure to laser in on a highly specific event, obstacle, interest, etc. It is better to go “narrower and deeper” than to go “wider and shallower,” because the more specific you are, the more vivid and engrossing your essay will naturally be. Your conclusion should flow nicely from your elaboration, really driving home your message or what you learned. As you’re drafting your essayâ€"say after each paragraphâ€"pause and refer back to the question, making sure each paragraph plays some part in actually responding to the prompt. This may sound painfully obvious, but for some of us, it can be hard to stay on topic. Each prompt is posed as a question, so don’t lose sight of that and let your essay devolve into a story about yourself that never really gets at the heart of the prompt. Also, it’s important to note that your subject matter doesn’t have to be highly dramatic or spectacular. You don’t have to recount a near-death experience, an epic overseas adventure, a 180-degree turn of faith, etc. Your ordinary life, when reflected upon thoughtfully, is interesting and profound. Whether you know immediately which prompt you’re going to choose or not, do yourself a huge favor and brainstorm. Take out a notebook and jot down or free write all of the ideas that spring to your mind for as many of the prompts that you’re considering. You might be surprised what ideas you generate as you start doing this, and you might be surprised which ideas seem to have the most content and examples to elaborate on. The Common Application essay is essentially a narrative essay that is reflective and analytical by nature. This means that regardless of which prompt you select, you’ll be sharing something personal about yourself, and then reflecting on and analyzing why what you shared is important. An example of a good hook could be a brief illustrative anecdote, a quote, a rhetorical question, and so on. The purpose of an introduction is 1) to grab the reader’s attention and compel them to continue reading, and 2) to introduce the reader to the general subject at hand.