College Admission Essay Suggestions

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d057
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05 Jul 2010, 4:32 pm

My college admission essay is due at the beginning of September. How should I format and head my admission essay and does anybody have topic suggestions for it? For the school I am applying for, it is not required to write an essay, but I decided to do it anyway so I can have a better chance of being accepted into that college. I would appreciate it if somebody could give me some guidance.

Thank you,


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Awesomelyglorious
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05 Jul 2010, 5:41 pm

d057 wrote:
My college admission essay is due at the beginning of September. How should I format and head my admission essay and does anybody have topic suggestions for it? For the school I am applying for, it is not required to write an essay, but I decided to do it anyway so I can have a better chance of being accepted into that college. I would appreciate it if somebody could give me some guidance.

Thank you,

Give more information. Usually they suggest some topics for you to use. Also, there is often a length they want.



cthulukitty
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05 Jul 2010, 9:58 pm

It also depends on what sort of college you're applying to and what program you plan on entering. Colleges, and particularly graduate programs, will often ask for a an autobiographical narrative essay. I feel like the personal narrative format is somewhat unfair to autistic people, because we tend to define ourselves by our current interests and activities more than by our personal history, and the things that stick out in our memories are often very different from what NT people would consider important. I recently got into Goddard College with an essay that talked about this very dilemma, while also attempting to bring the reader into my autistic phenomenological world. It was probably the most unusual personal essay that had come across their admissions desk in a long time, and they loved it.

I think that you're best bet is to write about something that's really important to you, but to make sure that you inject some amount of what NT people would call "yourself" into it. Passion and honesty will do you much better than an essay tailored to win over a hypothetical admissions committee.

Good luck, and feel free to PM if you'd like to see my recent admission essay or for any advise on writing or editing.


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AHAA
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05 Jul 2010, 10:26 pm

I did my essay on my AS and how I was able to overcome some of the major challenges that come with it. You can possible start with something that you achieved in life and state how you were able to overcome the challenges associated with it. For me it was several challenges associated with AS and I used specific details and some "Aspie" associating to hint out that I had it as well.
In an essay you have to show not tell which can be hard for people with AS to understand so the best way I could say this is do indirect example that express what you are trying to say.

Good Luck with your essay :D


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astaut
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06 Jul 2010, 1:49 am

Unless they give a certain format, you don't have to be terribly fancy about it. I just did my name and date at the top (in typing, not writing) and a title for the essay. I thought it looked better with a title and made it a bit more memorable. It was about 250 words or so. This is for the college I decided to go to, I applied to another college and had to write two essays on a particular topic (which I had no interest in) with approximately 500 words each :eew: I wrote about a major disease I was diagnosed with and everything that comes along with it. I mostly wrote about how I came about being diagnosed, because it was years before it actually happened. If you write about something like health or AS and the struggles of it, try to not mention stuff that makes you sound like you'll be a burden on the college.

At bookstores (borders, barnes and nobles) in the college section there are books about writing admissions essays and stuff.


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