November 1st

Today officially marks the day that UC schools will start accepting applications. Scary? Unbelievably. My plan was to have my applications complete and ready to be submitted today, but I learned that it's not as simple as that. Being a senior in high school is great because you're almost done, but the work load and stress level does not decrease like you may have heard. Applying to colleges is like having another academic class. So say you have 7 classes your senior year, call it 8 because it's almost crucial that you spend at least an hour a day working on applications. And don't think about slacking off 2nd semester senior year either...I've heard horror stories about students' acceptances being taken back because they let their grades drop. Full ride to UC Berkeley taken away because you decided to let your 4.0 GPA drop to a 3.4? Yes, I've seen it.

My personal statements are all I have left to complete on my application. I have written some rough drafts and have brainstormed some ideas, but I can't seem to find something I'm truly passionate about writing on. And it's not as if I can just write a quick response to the personal statement questions and hit submit, no, these two essays can make a difference in whether I am accepted to a UC campus or not. What do you guys think are important topics to discuss in a personal statement?

Here's are some general guidelines you may want to follow when writing your own essays that I have picked up from research and when discussing college essay writing in my AP Literature class:

1. Authentic Real Voice. (The language--word choice, sentence structure, examples--seem like the real person and are truly your own.)

2. Focused. (Deals with a clear, single idea or topic and everything about the essay deals with that idea or topic.)

3. Concrete, specific. (Uses details, examples, experiences that are vivid, relevant and effectively developed.)

4. Logical, organized. (Follows an organizational structure that complements the ideas. Each paragraph flows logically from the one before and the one after.)

5. Interesting, memorable for positive reasons. (Creates an image of the person that the college would want to have on its campus.)

6. Clear, mechanically correct, fits requirements. (All sentences are grammatically correct, all words are spelled correctly, all elements of presentation are polished and professional.

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Comment by elsey lizbeth arreola on February 18, 2011 at 1:31pm: Thank you for the advice!! I'll use them for now on! :]

Comment by Kathryn Hanson on November 2, 2010 at 9:49am: Olivia,
This is a great guide to writing applications, and especially the essay tips!
Kathryn