By Shereen Ashai, Kirsten Kruus & HaeMee Lee
Ask any senior what they’re stressed about right now. Their immediate response will be college applications and essays. For the past months, they have been perfecting their essays to an exhaustive extent to enhance their applications.
The prompts for these essays vary from personal experiences to college specific to obscure topics. For instance, Towson University asks, “Your Youtube video just went viral. What is your video about?” These prompts can be answered in multiple ways; however, students struggle to find their perfect approach to answering them.
Many times, it becomes necessary for applicants to sit down and reflect on their past experiences. For freshmen, college is the least of their worries; however, they should keep the idea in the back of their minds.
The first freshmen English assignment forces them to describe a significant experience from their lives. This mirrors many of the prompts for college applications. Although freshmen should not be filling out college applications, they should be considering what characteristics about themselves they want to highlight.
Seniors, remember to amplify your characteristics in your essays through experiences gained in high school. If you’re having trouble or having a serious case of writer’s block, make a list of traits that you want college admissions to know about you. If you want to show that you’re perseverant, describe a situation where you strived towards a goal despite an obstacle, even if it may seem trivial.
For the remaining student body, make goals for yourself and actively involve yourself in a variety of extracurricular activities and experiences. Ask yourself, “What would I tell my freshman self?,” and work toward achieving your goals and improving your character before senior year. Good luck!