pennsylvania

Here's the prompt: "One of the core values of Villanova, as an Augustinian university founded on the teachings of St. Augustine, is that student and faculty learn from each other. As you imagine yourself as a member of the Villanova community, what is one lesson that you have learned in your life that you will want to share with others?"

in describing the essay on their website, they said this...

"The Admission Committee is not necessarily looking for what you say, but rather how you say it. We want to see you make a thesis statement and defend it."

do they mean they actually want a thesis statement? like the kind that they make us write on persuasive/research essays that goes in the first paragraph? ive never actually seen a application essay with one of these.
also, for application essays in general, should each paragraph start with a topic sentence like they usually require in graded essays, or no?