Anthony, should I pause for a question?
“Engaging” just means, again, you have an audience here, so make sure that your essay is entertaining to read! Make sure, if you write that essay about failure, you’re not just dwelling in this sad, terrible moment that makes the reader feel bad. Make sure that you're bringing it back to you – and being engaging and exciting.
“Vulnerability” just means being honest with yourself. Being honest about your shortcomings. Being honest about where your weaknesses are. We're not bragging here! For the UCs, we're bragging. We're talking about, like, “This is what's great about me. This is why I'm awesome. Please pick me!” They want to get through this real quick. For the Common App, they want nuance. They want to understand, deep inside your soul, who you are. So it's a different approach.
Anthony Su: You're good so far. I'll put a comment in there, really quick, because we had BU – Elise Fisher – last week, who commented about essays as well.
Can you use questions in an academic essay
What we mean by “authenticity” is talk and write in the same way. So when you're reading your writing out loud, it sounds natural to you. It's in your voice. You can hear yourself saying it. If you're using all these technical terms and jargon, and saying, “I do not know the answer to that question, sir,” that's not how you talk, right? Make sure that when you're reading your essay out loud, it sounds like your voice. It sounds like you.
Contrary to the UCs, where you need to be straightforward, these essays are meant to to allow you some leeway in terms of your creativity. Again, you don't have to be “creative.”
Okay, so how long is this? The minimum is 250 words, but the maximum is 650. I wouldn't say you have to hit 650, but if they're giving you all of that space, and you're only writing 250, it feels a little lazy. I would aim to go for at least 500 – to make sure that they know that you took advantage of the opportunity that you were given to express yourself.
The second one is really focused on a challenge that you overcame, or a failure that you experienced and bounced back from. And writing about what you learned. Not focusing on the negative, but what you learned from that experience, and what you took away.
Is it acceptable to ask a question in an argumentative paper?
And who reads the main personal statement? It's all the colleges that you select on the platform. They have a limit of twenty. So let's say that you're applying to the UC campuses – which is nine. Let's say you're applying to twenty schools on the Common App. You're officially insane – that's too many! But you could feasibly apply to twenty-nine colleges with the four Personal Insight Questions, this main personal statement, and a few supplements. And, again, we'll go over the supplements in a little bit.
Guide: Using the Question and Answer Format in Essays
I was talking to a student today, telling him how lucky he was because he just happened to select schools that had very minimal supplemental requirements! So I do think it's possible to get through this process without writing a million essays. But it really depends on the schools that you choose – and we'll talk about those supplemental essays in a little bit.
Can you use questions in an academic essay?
How many essays do you have to write? Feasibly, just one: just one big personal statement that's going to go to all of your colleges. But you're going to be really lucky if you choose only colleges that don't require supplements. Most colleges require additional essays on top of this main personal statement.
How to Use Rhetorical Questions in Essay Writing Effectively
How do you know if your college is on the Common App? You can Google it, or you can take a look. You can actually make a Common App account right now, search for the colleges that are available on the application, and add them to your dashboard – so that you have all of your colleges handy. If you have questions about their deadlines or their requirements, you can check them out right there within the platform itself.
Can You Ask Questions in an Essay? Effective Strategies
The Common Application is a platform. It's just a hosting platform, and it hosts a ton of colleges. Colleges jumped on board with the Common App to make the process easier for students and for schools – so there's one common place where you fill in all of your information, and where you enter this one main personal statement. And all the colleges will be able to access it that way. So that's what the Common App is, if anybody says “Common App” to you.