While I do not remember the Hotchkiss essays specifically, my daughter had ‘fun’ with the short answer questions on the varying applications when appropriate. Remember applications are opportunities for schools to get to know you better: what you are passionate about; events that have impacted your life; choices you have made … the why, the how and the growth … successes and failures. They are not looking for laundry lists of ECs or perfection. They want to get to know you as a person, student, and citizen. They are assessing how you will fit into their community. Be true to your authentic voice and do not be afraid to show a fun side of yourself, if it matches the question and answer. Most important be yourself: authenticity matters. Remember to still be ‘appropriate.’ Good luck.
Thank you! Can I PM you?
In my opinion it would be great if you could talk about an aspect of yourself that doesn’t show up anywhere else in your application. For example when my oldest applied to college he wrote about how he was a news junkie for one of his supplementary essays. It’s not something that is organized, or has awards, or something you can achieve. Its just a big part of who he is that they wouldn’t otherwise know.
I only wrote like about 5 to 10 words for each question something short and funny and straightforward??
That was what I planned to do. Thank you
How many characters above the character limit is considered ‘bad’?
Guessing it’s not “bad” but that the answer gets cut off and isn’t read. But that’s a guess.
Hi! I just finished writing the Deerfield long essay prompt, but my essay is only 4100 characters long but the word limit is 6000 characters. But there isn’t much else that I can think of adding to my essay. Is it necessary to add more to my essay for Deerfield?
I don’t think so.
No! They aren’t looking for length, but WHAT you say. Have an adult look over the essay to give you feedback.
A word or character limit is just that - a limit. It’s not a goal to reach. But I agree with the other poster that you should run your essay by someone prior to submitting.
No, IMO what matters is the idea and how your writing is presented . quality over length
Could someone look over my essay for one school? I know its a bit late since its already submitted but I just want some feedback since I’ve been getting mixed feedback from different people.
My strong suggestion: if it’s already submitted then let it go. No good can come from deciding now how it could be better. (also, kind of a waste of the kind volunteer reader’s time). Congrats on submitting! That is no small feat!
Well its kinda submitted and kinda not, I might use it for another school which I’m deciding whether to not to submit or not since the deadline is in a few days. But I understand what you’re getting at, I’ll just ignore it since its the past and hopefully just think of smth else.
Another bit of advice is to not seek out the feedback that you WANT to hear. If you are already asking for feedback from folks, embrace their critique. It’s a gift!
I kinda want more of a critique, especially since the critique I gotten were people I know in real life, so I kinda want more of a harsher one since its online and people usually don’t hold back.
Isn’t there an essay review forum (or something like that) on cc? Or is that just for college apps?
I think it’s for college essays
Now that we’re just waiting, what did everyone write their essays on? I’m curious and maybe I’m not the only one who is so 