College Essay
The application essay, along with its mythical importance, is a recent invention. In the 1930s, when only one in 10 Americans had a degree from a four-year college, an admissions committee was content to ask for a sample of applicants’ school papers to assess their writing ability. By the 1950s, most schools required a brief personal statement of why the student had chosen to apply to one school over another.
Schools usually require essays of their own, but the longest essay, 500 words maximum, is generally attached to the common app. Students choose one of six questions. Applicants are asked to describe an ethical dilemma they’ve faced and its impact on them, or discuss a public issue of special concern to them, or tell of a fictional character or creative work that has profoundly influenced them. Another question invites them to write about the importance of diversity, a word that has assumed incantatory power in American higher education. The most popular option, write on a topic of your choice.
Talking to admissions professionals you realize that the list of “don’ts” in essay
writing is much longer than the “dos.”
The greatest strength you bring to this essay, says the College Board’s how-to book, is 17 years or so of familiarity with the topic: YOU. The form and style are very familiar, and best of all, you are the world-class expert on the subject of YOU … It has been the subject of your close scrutiny every morning since you were tall enough to see into the bathroom mirror. The key word in the Common App prompts is you.
College admission contains the grandest American themes—status anxiety, parental piety, intellectual standards—and so it was only a matter of time before it became infected by the country’s culture of obsessive self-esteem, sometimes called narcissism. It is revealing that essay questions are called prompts, a word suggesting that all a healthy, red-blooded American high-schooler needs is a little nudge to start yapping about himself without pause till he hits the 500th word. Even essay questions ostensibly about something outside the self, describe a fictional character or solve a problem of geopolitics, invariably return to the favorite topic, what is its impact on YOU?
Many admissions officers say they spend less than a couple of minutes on each application, including the essay. According to a recent survey of admissions officers, only one in four private colleges say the essay is of considerable importance in judging an application. Among public colleges and universities, the number drops to roughly one in 10.
Andrew Ferguson
Newsweek Magazine
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