College application essay

put words like steez in there

yeah i was thinking the same for a little, but we had a speaker come in and talk to us and we were told you don't always need something dramatic because the people in the admissions office really want to know who you are and what you have a passion for.

I think when they say passion, they meant what you want to do in the future.  For instance, if you wanted to major in engineering, you would say something like you have a passion for snowboarding so you want to come up with new snowboard tech to enhance the sport or something, which gives the admissions a better sense of who you are.  A ski bum with a drive to enhance the sport that you love, rather than a ski bum that is just a ski bum.

yeah we were actually told that we shouldn't put much like that in there though...they apparently want us to write about something that changed our life or at least influenced. I'm pretty sure snowboarding is something I could write a lot for..

do some searching online for previously used (*successfully*) letters as guidance.  be sure not to overstep the guidance line and plagiarize.  remember, if you could find something through a simple google search, then so can the folks you're submitting to.

see i find it a good topic and im pretty firm on that. I'll let the guidence office tell me what they think once im done...But I had a friend who wrote about how dressing differently made him different...and he got into Boston college haha.

its more along the lines of how it changed my personality and work ethic

Think snowboardings a cool topic to write about, just make sure you relate it to something tangible, like how it's helped you mature, come to appreciate things more, etcetc

Are you writing a pretty open-ended 'personal statement' type essay?  Though you can work your passion for snowboarding in there somehow, I personally wouldn't suggest making snowboarding the main subject of the essay (unless you have some great story about getting injured while snowboarding and the whole experience inspired you to become a doctor, or being a snowboard instructor helped you realize your passion for teaching, or something like that).  The admissions committee wants to see that you are a mature, well-rounded, and motivated individual that is going to succeed academically in their program and also be an asset to their community.  If you can convey all that and more in an essay about snowboarding, then great :).

some of these folks make a really good point, which is to differentiate between writing about something you are passionate about vs. writing about something you are passionate about that actually conveys some kind of relavant life experience that will really speak to a reviewer.

Just stick to the essay format you learned in school. If you follow that with correct grammar and spelling then you should be fine.

good advices so far, just remember to focus on the content and not the structure or format or grammar of the essay.  it may be called an essay, but like some ppl already said...they just want to know you better.  so dig deep and look for something about u that separates you from everyone else.

exactly! i'm not sure how an essay about snowboarding might help you out.

Although snowboarding has a lot to do with us, it isn't necessarily the best topic. You should re-pick a topic that has cliche characteristics. Maybe a story about a life revelation or some crazy incident in your life that made you more motivated. Things like this is never a bad thing when promoting yourself. The biggest thing to do after picking a story is trying to subliminally express how different you are from others. Keep in mind that everyone else is probably trying to make themselves look different too--so add in that special jazz you got.

Not to let you down or anything--either way, the fact is that the readers that review your paper have probably heard it all.

FOR SURE YOU NEED TO HAVE PROPER GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION! FLUIDITY IS KEY! I'm guessing vocabulary wouldn't hurt either.

GOOD LUCK!

p.s. I'm an engineer and I work with numbers =) so don't take my word for it

I agree with twoscoops, maybe you have gained confidence and team building. Or how it has helped you meet others and how you work hard at it? Idk something like that, or just disregard snowboarding and talk about your school skills

I didn't really read most of the comments because most of them were shear quick-witted comments that didn't really provide good advice.

The best advice I can give you, from somone who has applied to many opportunities requiring essays and reviewed many applications submitted with essays is be genuine and concise.

It honestly doesn't matter what you write about as long as you can convey what you're trying to say effectively, which is what they typically like to see. The content is nice of course and can help, but honestly, they are going to see the same type of generic essay write up from hundreds of applicants.

For college admission essays, they like to know, or like to think, you'll be contributing or adding something to the university by your diversity, which is a huge "buzz" word these days.

Good luck.

Just out of curiosity, do you know what major you'll be applying for?

If you want us to read it (or me), you can definitely send it along. I'm in the process of writing I wrote about music for college, and how my experiences built character and leadership, but honestly, if you do something like snowboarding, you'll definitely stick out from the crowd - you just have to spin it in a way that will show off your strengths.

Gamma has it right, and you can use it to set up your essay with a hot hook. Develop it with some story of how you overcame your fear of jumping or something and make a comparison to your own boldness in real life. Or if you've ever done any work on your snowboard, you can talk about how it sparked your interest in physics or engineering, as gamma said.

try harder

I agree that snowboarding may not be the best topic unless, you can weave in some sort of hard learned lesson. Even then its too difficult. I'm going to be writing app essays this year too so I'm also looking for ideas.

Originally posted by pibimbap I seriously think any topic is fine... My friend's brother wrote about chapstick and got into Brown. Not bad at all...

I agree, as stated before, topic doesn't matter, delivery does.

Don't make any grammatical errors. Proofread, revise, proofread, revise, etc.

Thinking outside of the box is definitely a good thing for a college entrance essay. However, if you're going to write about boarding, I would definitely take on a "work hard, play hard" kind of tone with it. Sadly, a lot of people do associate boarders with the party animal slacker crowd... just sayin'. What cool things have you done with boarding? How has it enriched your life in a positive way? Like others have said, has it helped you overcome any adversity? Oh, and which colleges are you writing this for? You should think about your audience too.

Yeah im going to try majoring in either business, architectural engineering, or architecture in general. I can post my essay in a little (its on my other computer). just keep in mind it will be a rough draft so sentences will eventually be restructured. But I personally find it pretty good for being a rough draft. As I'm sure you'll probably see I have a little bit of repetition in the 2nd paragraph....Maybe you'll disagree idk...

hey im writing my college essay as well, im wonder what you are wanting to major in, also i wouldnt write about snowboarding unless it has really changed your life, if so how? :p you can answers all your questions by yourself