Marcus Said:

Writing my college essay?

We Answered:

I would not write this as a stream of conciousness type essay. It needs to be superbly organized, though they want you to think it's pretty laid back. Superbly organized does not however, mean that it has to be choppy or stiff. I would frame the essay around one event that was significant, and use that to show what and how you think. What did X event make you feel? see? learn? The best way to accomplish this is through the descriptions of the event itself, rather than by writing "Event X taught me Y" after your description. When you're writing about the event, just launch right in. Something like" Mrs. R was a deaf lady who blahblah blah, every day I would yadaydayada... If you just start the story your reader will be captivated and want to read more. If you start with "I think that world hunger and war are bad, but free medical care is good" type of stuff, your reader will vomit on your essay before they can finish it. good luck

Dorothy Said:

How do you start an essay about yourself?

We Answered:

maybe start with your earliest memory or the best/worst day of your life so far then move on the more mundane facts in the middle and end with maybe your hopes aspirations something about who you are what you stand for.... good luck

Christopher Said:

Do you think its okay to write about Prop 8 for college essay?

We Answered:

If you write about prop 8 be sure to include some FACTS that the activist/anti-prop 8 side likes to forget about.

Include the FACT that young children were being taught about gay marriage in the schools without parental knowledge/consent. Parents could not opt out their children. This did happen, even though they deny it.

Don't forget about how churches were threatened with lawsuits if they refused to perform gay marriages. Some churches could not perform gay marriages since they are against the practice and they would be charged with discrimination and hate speech. This did happen, even though they deny it.

Then there's the fact that millions of voters had their votes thrown away by 4 activist judges that are supposed to interpret law, not make it. What's the next vote they will throw out?

Oh and you are aware that there is no federal "right" to get married? Gays have legal rights already. Prop 8 defined marriage. It is not about gay rights.

Dwight Said:

How to write a college application essay?

We Answered:

You have to have an attention grabber to begin with. DO NOT!! respond with "I will enrich the community because..." Guarantee you that 98% of the essays they read start out like that and let me tell you how BORING they are. Think about the person who has to read those admissions essays- they must read hundreds of thousands of essays and if the majority start out like that you can only imagine how boring they are.
I say start out by describing yourself in a story like way.

First plan ahead. Get a scrap piece of paper and write out the reasons you want to talk about. Develop the essay from there. Once that's out of the way, you can work on the hardest part which is the intro to your essay. You want it to be different and the best way to do that is to paint a picture for your reader. Write something that describes yourself in a story-like fashion, such as an anecdote of community service or a job you had. Just write a couple of sentences, for ex: "A colorful poster draped over one of the walls in Ms....'s 1st grade classroom. It was a thank you letter from the class to me for helping them out throughout my senior year of high school. Everyday I arrived in Ms.'s class and I helped struggling students. Not only was I doing something for the community, I was doing something for each of those individual students. This experience has made me a better person, and I know I can bring this and other experiences with me to the university's community..." go into your essay.

This way of writing grabs your reader immediately and you won't put them to sleep. Talk about how good you are with other people, what you plan on doing when you get there (clubs you want to join), and things of that nature.

On that second essay, if you can try to incorporate some of what I said earlier about a story somewhere in that one, that would be great. Do stray away from feel-sorry-for-me techniques- "Something I want you to know is that it was a struggle for me to get good grades throughout high school, because my grandma had cancer..." Yes that is sad and no one deserves that, BUT that is not what they want to hear. They don't want you pulling the sympathy card. Keep it all about you. Like I said before, talk about hanging out with your friends, things you've done for your community or job that was above and beyond the call, how your family has helped you, etc.

Tips:
*Just make it interesting and paint a picture for your reader. Don't put them to sleep.
*Ask other people to read your essay. Someone you can trust to give you their true opinion- not your mother or father! You don't want someone who reads something that sucks and tells you it's awesome. *Have them actually read a copy of it (don't read it to them), they will more likely catch your mistakes.
*Write it with plenty of time in advanced. If you write last minute you are more likely to submit an error filled essay.
*Make sure if you write the name of the college in your essay you write it RIGHT! ("That's why I want to go to NYU")!!! When I went to tour the university I am at now they told us they couldn't count how many essays they've read that had the wrong school written.
*Best way to avoid the mistake said above is write out the entire school's name instead of the initials. Ex: New York University rather than NYU.

I hope this helped! Good luck!

Philip Said:

can someone help me choose a topic for a college essay?

We Answered:

I think that is an excellent topic. For one, people who read your essay are much more likely to be moved by something that YOU feel passionate about. Not only is this topic something that affects you, I think you can help others by sharing your experiences. Please do not feel that it has ruined you. Don't give the people who bullied you THAT kind of power. Bullies, whether in real life or in cyberspace, are COWARDS. You sound like a person who is going places. Use that past experience to strengthen you. I am very sorry that it happened to you. And yes, I think it's a great topic. (And I think you could make the essay even stronger by discussing ways to combat bullying and recover from it as well.)