LA303 – College Application Essay Assignment
This writing assignment in LA303 is intended to ease the workload you may face early this fall, as you begin applying to colleges and for scholarships. You will write an essay now and perfect it so that you have a draft ready for the beginning of your senior year. Once you have a clean draft of this essay on your computer or a disk or drive, the process of adjusting it slightly, depending upon the requirements of any particular application, is a simpler one than starting from scratch to write a brand new essay each time.
The final draft of this essay must be FLAWLESS. There should be no errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, or clarity. It should be one of the, if not THE, best thing you have ever written.
You have been invited to locate an application for a particular college or scholarship that is of interest to you, if you desire. If that is your choice, be sure to submit the application or a copy of it with your essay rough draft. If you were not able to, or did not want to find your own essay topic, a few generic options have been provided for you here:
1)From the UW System application:
“Applicant’s Statement: Provide any additional information (such as your aspirations, work experience, creative talents, factors affecting your academic record, etc) that you would like the admissions committee to know…This is an important part of your application.”
2)From the Common Application (a vast number of colleges and universities require the completion of this universal application):
“This personal statement helps us become acquainted with you in ways different from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will demonstrate your ability to organize thoughts and express yourself. We are looking for an essay that will help us know you better as a person and as a student. Please write an essay (250-500 words) on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below…
- Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
- Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
- Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
- Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
- A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
- Topic of your choice.”
DUE DATES:
Rough draft (TYPED) due Thursday, April 23, at the beginning of your class period.
Final draft (with rough draft, etc. attached) due Tuesday, May 12.