1. THE college application essay Unit
English 12 and A.P. English: October 2 and 3
THE college application essay Unit

2. Aim: How can we review the common application college essays, and start brainstorming for a successful essay?
Do now: Please turn in your Wide Sargasso Sea essays.
This can be a very stressful topic for many of you. Let’s take a moment to relax.

3. The common Application essay
Let’s review the basics of the common application essay.
I will post this PowerPoint online, so you don’t need to take notes.
Poll: How many have written at least 1 college essay? How many want to work on an essay you’ve already drafted? How many want to work on a new essay? Common app? Other?

4. Common Application Questions 2013-14
Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
Length: words. Aim for ~ words.

5. Which essay do you think works better?
An essay called “Why I love dogs”
An essay about accidentally bringing home the wrong beagle from the pet store.
Let’s see a show of hands.
Why?

6. General tips
Think small. Don’t tell your whole life story in 500 words. Find a story in your life that meant something to you, then ask yourself: Is this story representative of my larger, more valuable qualities?
 Feel lost? Ask yourself: What am I trying to say about myself, and am I using a specific, compelling example to tell my story?
Write now; edit later. You’re often your own worst critic, but great material can come from pouring it all out on the page. We’ll have time to edit.

7. Which sentences work better?
“I’ve had a hard knocks life. I’ve been through some difficult stuff, but the most important thing is that I’ve overcome that stuff, and now I feel as strong as steel, and I can soar like an eagle.”
“My brother and I dub the summer of 2010 ‘The summer of chills.’ It wasn’t any colder than the summer of 2009 or There were just as many dips in the pool to seek relief from the heat and humidity, and just as many sleepless sweaty nights. But it was in the summer of 2010 that both of our beloved grandmothers passed away, leaving us with a chill that no amount of flannel blankets or warm hugs could relieve.”
Let’s see a show of hands.
Why?

8. General tips II
It’s all in the details. Many students tend to be generic when they talk about their life. Details give a reader a clear picture and paint a memorable portrait of you and your experience.
Beware of clichés. Original phrasing keeps writing vibrant.
Entertain your reader, whether your subject is serious, sentimental, pithy, or uplifting. To do so, you’ll need a compelling subject, a direct and powerful narrative, and a memorable style. As you read over your drafts, ask yourself, is this essay fun to read? It doesn’t have to be funny (although it can be), but it can’t be boring. 
Whichever prompt you choose, the point is to reveal your personality and character. Portray yourself positively. This doesn’t mean you can’t reveal weakness or difficulty, but show how you learned from it and came away stronger.

9. Common app q#2: Failure
Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
But wait, aren’t I supposed to showcase my strengths in my college application essay?
How would you respond to this?
What do you think of this topic? “Because of my lousy 12th grade English teacher, I never learned to analyze texts well, and so I haven’t succeeded in high school. I learned that it’s important to have good teachers.”

10. Common App Q#2: Failure
Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
But wait, aren’t I supposed to showcase my strengths?
Consider: Growing and maturing is all about learning from our failures. It's easy to boast about accomplishments, but takes more confidence, skill, and introspection to acknowledge and examine our failures.
Let’s break down the Q: 1. Recount the failure (plot summary, with clear, efficient language). 2. How did you respond (what feelings did failure evoke? Be honest). What did you learn (be introspective, self-analytical, and self-aware).
Lastly, don’t blame your failure on others. You must show you’ve learned from your failure.

11. Failure q: writing exercise
Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
What kind of failure? Let’s brainstorm.
Free write: 4 minutes.
Share out with a partner, then the group. Hearing others’ ideas can spark your own. Jot down any ideas you have as you listen. Offer positive feedback.
Failure to apply yourself, failure to behave appropriately (conduct insulted or hutr someone, how should you have behaved?), failure to act (do nothing when you should have), failing a friend of family member (letting someone down), failure to listen (think you’re right, don’t listen), failure under pressure, lapse in judgment.
Whatever you choose to write about, should reveal personal growth—show how you’re a better person bc you learned from this failure.

12. Prompt #2: Failure sample essay
College essay packets: Let’s read a sample essay aloud (answers Option 2: Failure prompt).
Jot down: What did this writer do well and what could he or she improve upon? Share with a partner.
Let’s read an admission officer’s comments.

13. Thursday, October 3: Common App essay
Aim: How can we hone in on a college application essay topic, and discover what makes a strong essay?
Reminder: Make-up Jane Eyre exam tomorrow, P.3, Room 233.
If you were out yesterday and are turning in your essay, you need to attach a parent/guardian note explaining your absence, or you will have points taken off.

14. Common app q#3: challenging a belief
Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
It’s open-ended: What kind of "belief or idea" could you explore? Ideas?
Which essay topic do you think works better?
“How I heroically convinced my school’s ignorant cafeteria workers to serve healthier food.”
“The struggles I experienced getting my parents to accept my atheism and take it seriously.”

15. Common app q#3: challenging a belief
Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
Be honest as you explore the difficulty of working against the status quo or a firmly held belief. You don’t need to seem like a hero who bravely challenged an idea and easily triumphed.
Whatever your approach, you need to reveal a core personal value and give the college a window into your interests, passions, or motivations. So pick something you’re passionate about.

16. Common app q#3: challenging a belief
Let’s break it down:
Reflect (more than summary; describe, but also analyze and contextualize).
Explain why you acted how you did.
Look at the big picture. What were the results? Was your action worth the effort? Did you pay a price for your challenge? Did you or another learn and grow from your efforts? (Your answer doesn’t have to be "yes.”)
Note: College education is all about challenging ideas and beliefs, so this prompt speaks to a skill that’s key for college success (and success in this class!). Use this essay to demonstrate that you have this skill!

17. Challenge belief q: Writing exercise
Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
What kind of belief or idea? Let’s brainstorm possibilities.
Free write: 4 minutes.
Share out. Hearing others’ ideas can spark your own. Jot down any ideas you have as you listen. Offer positive feedback.
The belief can be your own If you are able to reevaluate and challenge your own beliefs, you are demonstrating that you are a student who has the type of self-awareness, open-mindedness, and maturity that are essential ingredients for college success.
a political or ethical belief; a theoretical or scientific idea; a personal conviction; an entrenched way of doing things (challenging the status quo); and so on. Realize, however, that some beliefs can send your essay into controversial and potentially risky territory (drug use, sex life, jail time, heroism)

18. Common App Q#4: happy place
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
Let’s break it down. 1. Describe (use detailed, evocative language). 2. Explain why—this part is crucial. You need to be introspective and share what it is that you value.
Let’s brainstorm places and environments. Think beyond the obvious.
A "place or environment" could be many things--a house, a classroom, a tree top, a church, a stadium, a stage, a family, a country, an imagined space, a book, an internal place, and so on

19. Happy Place Q: Writing Exercise
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
Free write: 4 minutes.
Share out. Hearing others’ ideas can spark your own. Jot down any ideas you have as you listen. Offer positive feedback.

20. Common App q#5: coming-of-age
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
This prompt works to explore a single event or achievement that marked a clear milestone in your personal development.
Which essay works best?
“I scored the winning touchdown in the play!”
“My bar mitzvah/quinceanera was very meaningful.”
“X tough experience taught me Y and Z, and when I faced the situation again the next year, I brought more maturity and self-awareness to it.”
Let’s break it down: “Discuss” is vague. Describe the event, and explore how it marked this significant transition. Address how you’ve changed and what you’ve learned. Be self-reflective.

21. Common App Q#1: identity story
Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
What is it that makes you you? Look inward and explain how and why your identity was influenced by your background or story.
Your "story" or "background" isn't a single event.
Keep diversity in mind. Colleges want unique individuals, so make sure you’re not telling a story many others could tell. That said, you don’t need to have grown up in an igloo in Alaska to have a story. Everyone has a story to tell!

22. Identity story/ coming of age Q: Writing exercises
Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Let’s brainstorm: What might this background or story be?
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
Let’s brainstorm: What kinds of accomplishments or events?
Free write: Pick one of the above prompts and write for 5 minutes. Share out. Hearing others’ ideas can spark your own. Jot down any ideas you have as you listen. Offer positive feedback.
Did you grow up in a difficult domestic situation? Did you live in an usual place that had a significant impact on your childhood? Did you or someone in your family have significant challenges to overcome? Were you surrounded by people who had a major influence on your development? Did you move frequently? Did you have to hold a job from a young age? Do you have a particular obsession or passion that has been a driving force in your life for years?

23. Prompt share-out Pick two prompts to share with a partner.
Pick one and expand on in writing for 4 minutes. Continue writing on the topic, or jot down ideas on how you might expand upon it.

24. HOMEWORK
Jot down 3 possible ways to expand on one of the free writes you completed in class today or yesterday.
Reminder: The Jane Eyre make-up exam is on Friday, October 4th, Period 3, in Room 233. Please study!
Wordly Wise chapter 1 is due on Monday.