Freshman Admissions > Essay Prompts

Freshman Admissions > Essay Prompts As a humanities student, I know what it’s like to struggle with the daunting task of writing a 500-word essay. You don’t know where to start, your thesis is nonexistent, you’re dreading the inevitable late-night ahead, and you’re struggling just to turn thoughts into words. But if the sub-headers are interesting, and seem to tell me there’s something worth learning, I’ll read the whole piece. The most common format required for essays is double-spaced, font type Times New Roman, and font size 12pt. With that in mind,1,000 typed words is about four pages.The average person types40 words per minute, so it would take about 30 minutes to finish 1,000 words of writing. And while they may not be the most important part of your application, they can differentiate you from similarly qualified applicants. Standardized test scores remain important at many colleges. Examinations such as the SATand SAT Subject Testsâ„¢, or the ACT, allow colleges to compare students from across the country. Although still reviewed by many colleges, class rank has declined in significance as many private and religious schools have eliminated student ranking. In most cases, your essay isn’t the factor that determines your admission to college. However, an offensive, off-putting, or forgettable essay can hurt your chances. By avoiding the topics listed above, you’ll ensure that your essay helps â€" instead of hurts â€" your chances of admission. If you do write about someone who influenced your life, make sure that you only briefly describe them. However, it’s important to do so without implying that your religion is better than others or attacking people who don’t practice your religion. College application essays are often the most challenging part of the application process. Spend most of the essay focusing on yourself and how your personality or choices have been shaped because of this person. In some cases, it depends how you frame the topic. For instance, if church was a major part of your upbringing and is very meaningful to you, you could mention this aspect of your identity in a college application essay. Is this really something that’s worth complaining about? The important issue is to write the best essay you can, not the length of words. If you’re focus in only on the words and not what you’ve written, your writing is never going to be good. Focus on what’s important, not on things like this. Since there can be a large variation on the number of words needed to fill a page, most papers are no longer assigned by page count. My teacher told me that I needed to write an essay that had 2500 words. I got marks off for not writing an essay with exactly 2500 words. That’s completely ridiculous but my teacher refuse to reinstate the point she took off because she said 2500 words and not 2498 words. I could’ve just said that my was 2500 words and she would’ve never known the difference. I don’t understand why I’m being punished for being honest. When answering this essay question, use specific details. Students should elaborate on campus organizations or programs that fit certain goals, and specific aspects of the campus community that make it a good social and academic fit. Be as detailed as possible, but be sure to relate these details to specific goals and interests. Don’t just rattle off some course names and expect to wow the admissions committee. Put some virtual blinders on and write your little heart out. Correcting an existing essay is MUCH easier than writing a perfect essay from the gecko. That is, an assignment, essay or paper will likely be assigned as 1500 â€" 2000 words rather than 3 â€" 4 pages. This way it is much more difficult for the writer to “game the system” by using large fonts and excessive spacing to meet the writing criteria.