Diary of a College Application Essay – Entry #7

October 25, 2011

Common Application just about complete, essays totally under control. Except… Many of the schools I’m applying to want supplemental essays. More writing, but at least they’re shorter.

Some schools want to know, “why you want to go there” and isn’t it obvious, it’s a good school and maybe you’ll take me. But you can’t say that because, well, like I said, it’s obvious. And I’m really getting the idea that in every essay the important thing is to be…me… an individual. Put a little Judy dust on it. So, here’s what I’m doing. Every time a school wants to know why I want to go there, I’m closing my eyes and seeing myself walking across the campus, in my senior year of college. And I’m imagining who I am at that point, all the good things I’ve learned and done and then I’m trying to figure out how the school helped me get there. And that’s why I want to go there.

Another thing I’m doing with the supplementals is getting really specific about the school. Hitting their website, checking out the campus map, special buildings or programs or professors, seeing a course I like, trying to work all that stuff into the essay. ‘Cause, that way, I figure, they know I’ve done some research, I’m not just writing the same essay for every school. And if I’m them, it makes a difference in who I accept.

October 26, 2011

Just want to say that I am living for next semester, when all these applications will be done and I can finally enjoy being a senior.

October 27, 2011

More supplementals today, almost finished. Still trying to be “original,” without being totally bizarre. Like today, I wrote one where I said that when I toured Bucknell I was amazed to learn that I spoke their language. It was instinctive. I was fluent in Bucknell, because the way they did things was the way I like to do things, too. What was important to them, was important to me. I spoke their language. I speak… “Bucknell.” Pretty proud of that one. English test tomorrow. Do I care? Yeah, for like another six weeks…

For more personal help with the college application essay, please contact Craig Heller directly at [email protected] or 818-340-1276.

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