Application essays and college writing

sjmom2329
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 08:12:46 +0000

“Basically, you must always construct a careful, step-by-step argument, you must always define and thoroughly understand your terms and the terms of your text, and you must be willing to apply your ideas to hypothetical situations and difficulties in interesting ways. Arguments must be*characterized by a strict adherence to evidence and logic, with exploration via examples and questions. Making irrelevent points, trying to argue without strong evidence, and making assumptions without carefully defending them are all treated mercilessly.”

I think that this is a good description of what should be expected in college writing. I don’t think too many HS students would be able to fully construct such a piece. Most of them seem to learn how to write a decent expository essay or research paper, but really constructing an argument seems to require more analytical ability than HS may have. I think they should learn that in college, however.

As far as the application essay is concerned, there is no way to really determine how much help a student has had. At least the SAT essay is written in controlled circumstances. Perhaps college admissions people should compare both in order to determine a student’s true abilities. I don’t think the expectations would be the same for each type of writing, but the essential abilities of the writer should be clear.