Anyone else surprised by the college essay prompts this year? I went through this process with ds#1 about five years ago and the prompts were all very standard-why do you want our school blah blah. This year, the prompts are different at each school and really seem to have the purpose of “holistically selecting a type”. In other words, Unis can say that there’s “no bias” in the admissions process because they can point to the essay results. I wish when we’d visited the schools they’d simply said they were now actively looking for a certain type or demographic! Anyone else finding the essay questions tailored to promote certain demographics in the admissions process? Thoughts on this? One particular school, I’m wondering if my son should even bother applying because of its new admissions process and publicized aim, which clearly can be accomplished through one of the essay Qs. With another school, a very pointed essay Q works in his favor but since it’s a state school, I still find it to be unusual.
Can you give an example where you think this is true? With the “before” and “after” question?
We found most of the college specific essays were very tailored. That’s why I couldn’t imagine my kid applying to more schools because nothing could be reused.
That’s a really interesting insight- I noticed that the prompts were very different from 2 years ago. On 2 separate schools I saw the question about how a student would contribute to the diversity of the campus. And I am seeing some pretty “witty” questions. One, describe MLK’s speech in a tweet (UVM). Another: What’s a blackberry (aha) moment for you (UGA)? I wonder if the schools are trying to weed out poor writers, or perhaps these type of questions might encourage kids to not apply?
Michigan had a “how will you contribute to diversity” question when my S’04 applied. I did not feel then that he was weeded out by that question (white middle class boy). He was admitted very early with large merit scholarships. I think everyone should be able to answer that–I felt it was more about awareness, not your demographic slot.
So am I. I thought that my straight daughter’s involvement at lgbt group would do the job, if she needed to answer that.
I think the worst question is that generic “why do you want our school blah blah.” You can write a meaningful and honest response to maximum one school, and that’s only if you had a set dream school that you spent a lot of time researching found one true fit.
^ that’s not at all what they’re asking. Diversity can be geography, your grandparents’ or community’s story and how it shaped you, any particular interest…
@SculptorDad my kid has 3 schools with ‘why us’ questions and hasn’t had any problem coming up with reasons why. We did a lot of research before each school visit and I forced him to make notes on the way home from each one.
My daughter received questions from one college, specific to a creative major, like “What kind of animal are you and why?” “If you saw a penguin wearing a sombrero, what do you think he’d say?”
“You can write a meaningful and honest response to maximum one school”
I don’t agree. If the question were “Why are we your first choice?” then that could only be one school. But every school on the list should be on the list for good, thoughtful reasons. If it isn’t, then the student didn’t get the counseling they needed.
I’m glad that was just for creative majors. A huge number of STEM majors would have answered “Human” and “Trick question. Penguins can’t talk.”
But I want to answer the penguin one: “Please take this sombrero off my head. I can’t reach it.”
My point was that it would difficult to write a response that’s both “honest” and “meaningful”, unless it is your first choice.
What’s on my mind is this: A student chooses 5 additional schools in addition to his top choice to have two each in safety, target, and reach, with some knowledge but not enough to write a meaningful essay response.
For those schools, the honest response is because I need a safety school and your fit the bill. While a meaningful response would be “coming up with reasons” that were not really genuine and making it sounds like what he wrote for his first choice school, when in fact he doesn’t feel the same way for those schools.
Nope. The honest response is to explain why they fit the bill. ARe they the right size? Do they have the right classes, majors, clubs? You should LIKE your safety and there should be reasons why. If your safety is a nearly open admission school, my guess is they don’t ask the question in the first place.
^^^ Exactly. There are at least a thousand colleges in the US that are a safety for most of their applicants. If you picked Whoville State over a thousand competitors, there have to be reasons. I consider size, location, academic fit, family history, proximity to home, etc. to be meaningful reasons.
Both of my kids would have loved that essay prompt on “what kind of animal are you?” #1, who had zero interest in creative arts major, could have raved on about killer whales, sharks, dolphins, and penguins. He was surrounded by them as a kid, and now as an adult he still has some of those original stuffed animals. He’d have probably gone with “Sharky” as his favorite. #2, who was applying to art schools, also had numerous sea creatures, and would have handled the question probably by adding a drawing. This interest in “stuffed marine life” was accompanied by interest in real marine life, by both kids. It was one of the few things in which they had common interests.
General comment. I don’t regard essay prompts as looking for students with very specific interests or experiences. They are meant to stimulate reflection, perhaps some revelation of non-superficial interests, or of an ability to think (as well as to write). On the “diversity” prompt, I doubt either kid would have taken that as reason to say “I’m gay” (even if it might have been true). They likely would have taken it as a way to talk about their interest in unconventional, creative, or special topics – away from “modal” ways of thinking, dressing, or acting. Or they might have spoken about their friends and family.
Absolutely right. My (white) D wrote an essay to a top NE school about peeking out from the cornfields of her hometown area. It really was about how she felt about getting out of what she saw as her kind of farmy-rural-small town bubble.
It’s not uncommon for kids (and parents) to overthink and see deep inner meanings in prompts. My son thought one prompt was directed at students who had gone to exclusive prep and charter schools and was intended to weed out public high school students like him. I agreed that the prompt was biased but it was nothing he couldn’t handle, and I pointed out that the college already knew where he went to high school.
For diversity prompts, my kids treated the questions as what have they lived/experienced that is different than most students and how those experiences would allow them to have a positive impact on the collegiate community.