Unknown
On Writing The College Application Essay
The Key to Acceptance at the College of Your Choice
Harry Bauld
Book Notes / Summary
Harry Bauld is a former admissions officer at Brown and assistant admissions director at Columbia. “On Writing The College Application Essay” is the leading authority on college essays.
Introduction
“What are they looking for on application essays?” is the wrong question to ask Two reasons that the essay needs a lot of your concentration and energy: 1. It’s the hardest part of the application process
2. “The essay can be your ticket out of the faceless hordes and into First Choice University” - the essay, unlike other parts of your application, is in your complete control and an opportunity to show admissions officers who you are.
Two things to do before writing college essays
1. Read other essays
2. Practice - “to write well, you have to write”
“A warning: There's no magic formula for writing the college essay. "
Writing," s
aid E
. B
. W
hite, "
is a
n a
ct o
f f
aith,
not a trick of grammar." It's not any kind of trick at all, in fact. Your writing is your way of seeing and of thinking.”
“How an essay really works: it shows you at your alive and thinking best, a person worth listening to—not just for
the ten minutes it takes to read your application, but for the next four years.”
Chapter 1: The Gray Area
Overview of College Admissions
The Gray Area - “the murky netherworld peopled by those whose credentials a re n
either e
asily a
ccepted n
or e
asily
denied” 99% of us are in “the gray area”
If y
ou're n
ot f rom one o
f t
he b
uilt-in L
obby G
roups i n the p
rocess: recruited a
thletes, development p
rospects (
people
who c
an s
pare a
f ew million i n p
ocket c
hange t
o b
uild a
n
ew g
ymnasium), m
embers o
f a
f
ederally d
esignated m
inority
group, or children of alumni. All these a
pplicants h
ave s
pecial a
dvocates for t
hem i n c
lose c
ontact w
ith t
he a
dmissions
committee. Everybody else is Just Folks.
“At best, life in the Gray Area means the admissions committee suspects you're someone who can do the w ork a