I’m going to be applying soon, and I’ve come to the following conclusions:
Essays should only make subtle references to what you already have lined up on your résumé and in recommendation letters, such as academics and service projects, as such boring minutiae can drag an essay to a crawl.
The essay itself is essentially a cry for attention. If someone actually reads your entire essay for non-ironic reasons, you’ve been successful.
But what thought I’m entertaining now is whether I should just embellish reality or flat out fictionalize entire personal experiences for the sake of drama and entertainment. I’m good with restraint and I still have a grasp of reality, so I wouldn’t be authoring the tale of my quest to retrieve the heart of the dragon of the island in the sky or something. What do you see as the pros and cons to either approach?
Usually over here in the States (not sure but by your calling it a “university” application, rather than a college application- it makes me think you’re in England, but I’ll still give you my opinion), when you go to interview, one of the things they look over is your College/University application, and they use that as a starting point to ask questions to better get to know who you are.
So put me down for the: “fictionalizing your personal experiences” as probably not a good thing, as you’re basically then misrepresenting who you are to the college/ University, and if they call you out on your bullshit, then you better be able to recover quickly as to why you felt that you had to misrepresent yourself rather than just being yourself in order to join the university/College.
I wrote a humorous short-story about myself, my family, and my upbringing for mine. It seemed to work for the very competitive university I got admitted to and then attended. I don’t know how it is in other countries but admissions people get bored just like everyone else that screens people for anything. You can always take a chance and do something different that will catch their eye. If you do it the standard (boring) way, you will be in a pile with 300 other people exactly like you.
The application essay is your chance to show your personality and a place to show that you can write. This isn’t the place to talk about the stuff that is already on the application- they have that. This is the place to show the part of you that isn’t on the application letter. Be (moderately) creative, insightful and interesting. Think about what kind of essay you’d like to read after reading thousands of them.
I think I mentioned that I had an exceptionally large organ and would allow anyone on campus to use it anytime they pleased, even if they wished to perform duets.
For some silly reason, they thought I wanted to be a music major. I don’t understand boards of admissions people.
Unless they bring in a psychoanalyst to read my microexpressions, they wouldn’t be able to call me out on my lies, especially if it’s a “disturbing memory that I’ve managed to repress and obscure very much”, and I can guarantee an attention-grabber. I don’t want to stray to far from seriousness, like Shagnasty’s link (awesome), because my humor is too non sequitur.
I think I would regret wasting the opportunity in the long run, especially when my modest and honest essay gets used as tissue paper after I bore the board to the point of tears.
I was just at a college information session last night for my alma mater at a local high school, because I volunteer at college fairs when the rep can’t make it down. We do two essays - the standard “tell me about yourself” found on the common app, as well as a “pick a subject, any subject” open essay. The first should be used to flesh out any activities/interests you have that aren’t reflected in your application. But it’s the second that gets the most attention.
The admissions counselor spent a bit of time mentioning a few highlights from essays that clinched the applicant’s submission. One wrote about how much he loves mowing the lawn. Seriously - it blew everyone in the office away. It was very well written, was out of the ordinary, and gave great insight into the type of person on the other side of the paper. The second was about how addicted the writer was to the Discovery Channel. It focused on how he would become absolutely entranced by animal documentaries, and how it really solidified his desire to become a biologist.
She also always mentions that they’ll occassionally receive great tomes of literature as their submission, and then mentions how seldom (if ever) such entries will actually gain admittance to the university.
For my essay, I wrote a narrative about the auction of my grandparents’ estate.
We also don’t have interviews, so feel free to embellish!