GMU Conference Presentation

7/27/2019 GMU Conference Presentation

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A Brave New World

The Transformation of College

Application Essays in Recent Years



Getting into college has gotten

harder



Acceptance Rates

• Northwestern:o 1974: 46.6%

o 2007: 26.8%

• University of Pennsylvaniao 1991: 47.0%

o 2012: 12.3%

• Admittance to colleges in general since1972 dropped at least 9%1

1: Kadden, Jack. "It’s Harder to Get Into Elite Colleges, Researchers Find." New York Times [New York]

25 Aug. 2009: n. pag. Print.



Why?



The Problem

• The number of applicants has increased by

49%+ since 19901

• Colleges can't grow at the same rate as

applicants• As such, they become more exclusive in

admissions process1: "Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education

Sciences National Center for Education Statistics, 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.



Could I be Wrong?

● Dan Edmond argues that “More and more

people who aren’t necessarily qualified are

applying to top schools, inflating theapplication numbers while not seriously

impacting admissions”

1: Edmond, Dan. "The Myth of Higher Selectivity." Time Magazine 20 Mar. 2013: n. pag. Print.



What does this mean for students?

● More applications1 per student

● More essays per student

● More essays=more pressure

● College Essays are reflective

● Most students aren’t familiar with

reflective or personal writing

1: Suriana, Jordana. "Commentary: Too Many Applications May Be a Crapshoot." New York Times

[New York] 12 June 2012: n. pag. Print.



What does this mean for writing

center tutors?

● Tutors need to be familiar with demands of

essay before senior year

● Think of alternative ways to bring in

applicants

● Learn to accommodate the different essays

● Create a low-stress environment to

alleviate pressure



How should we address

these issues?



Educate tutors

● Tutors can be trained by director/alumni

● Tutors need to learn different factors about

the college essay○ The Common App

○ The Sea of Monotony

○ Types of Prompts/Questions



The Common App

• Created: 1975

• 15 initial colleges

• 517 colleges

o 1/3 exclusively

• Allows students to submit more

applications11: "About Us." The Common Application. Common Application, 14 June 2013. Web. 24 Sept.

2013. <http://commonapp.org>.



An Increasing Sea of Monotony

● Parke Muth advises avoiding the “McEssay-

usually five paragraph essays that consist

primarily of abstractions and unsupportedgeneralizations” 1

● This is what students are used to writing

● This is what tutors are used to tutoring● By getting tutors out of the rut, students

can get out of it too

1: Muth, Parke. "Writing the Essay: Sound Advice from an Expert." U.S News and World Report : n. pag.

Print.



Which is the McEssay?

From an early age, we accept death

as the inevitable, but do not

comprehend its actual

denotation. Death is the

impending future that all people

must eventually grasp. In myearly teens, my grandfather

tragically perished. As a youth

who did not identify with such a

cataclysm I was saturated with

various emotions.Initially, I was

grieved by the loss of a loved oneand could not understand why

this calamity had to befall upon

my family. I always considered

death to have a devastating

effect, but was shocked by the

emotional strain it places uponan individual.

The coughing came first, the hacking

in the middle of the night. Then

there were the multiple doctor

visits, each one the same: the

little white rooms with

magazines where I tried not tostare at the bald, gaunt woman

across from me. One of the white

coats finally said something,

steadily, forecasting an 80

percent change of rain. The list

of second opinions grew too longto count, looking for someone to

say the right thing. Finally, there

was relief in hearing the name of

a kinder killer: lymphoma.



Types of Questions

● "You" Question

○ Topic concerns applicant

● "Why Us" Question

○ Topic concerns why applicant applied to that

university

● "Creative" or "Issue" Question

○ Topic tests applicants ability to write creatively



Question Examples

• You Question○ What is the best advice you ever received? Why?

And did you follow it? (University of Pennsylvania)

• Why Us Question○ “Why is this college a good choice for you?”

• Issue Question

○ What do you think has been the most importantsocial or political movement of the twentieth

century? Do you share a personal identification

with this cause? (Trinity College, CT)



Workshop Examples

● When juniors and sophomores take PSAT,

senior workshop to help with college essays

● Near winter break, bring in former tutors

who went through application process



Discussion

• What is something your center has done?

• Share a way you think a center can stay on

top of changes and/or change its own

strategies

GMU Conference Presentation

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