WORST college essay EVER

Senior0991
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:44:05 +0000

Well it’s a unique story. It answered the prompt of (I’m guessing) “explain an influence in your life.” It doesn’t pretend to have all the answers (‘I can’t imagine…’). It is appropriately written, where the language reflects the bare-bones nature of the mother’s childhood. It makes you root for the mother and, accordingly, her child (if the child fails, the mother fails in her task to raise a successful child). It earns its optimistic finish at the end.

One might be critical that, when the writer does talk about herself, she “tells” and doesn’t “show.” And yet, in my opinion, this writer was able to get away with that decision.

Also remember when this essay was written: 2000. My guess is that college essays were a lot simpler back then.