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Essay #1 Common Application

+Getting Started…

Answer the prompt directly and completely

Be personal and specific … this should be an essay nobody else could write

Know your audience.

Focus on a message about yourself

+Answer the prompt directly and completely

Essay Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Break it down: What are the key words in the prompt?

+Answer the prompt directly and completely

Essay Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Key words: “accomplishment/event,” “formal/informal,” “transition to adulthood,” “culture, community, family”

+Be personal and specificACADEMIC:

•    Did you make your government and economics education come alive by registering to vote on your 18th birthday?

•    Have you taken a class on a college campus, and lived the life of a college student during that time, or taken an internship where you’ve worked as an equal with a group of adults?

•    Did you become a U.S. citizen and experience studying for and taking the test, and the ceremony that goes along with that milestone?

EXTRACURRICULAR:

•    Has your talent allowed you to participate at such a high level that your teammates, band-mates, or co-workers are all adults, and they treat you as such?

•    Has one of your activities taken you out of your own community, so you learned to travel and cope with new situations on your own?

•    Did you come up with the funding for your most meaningful activity on your own, so you’ve assumed a heightened level of adult responsibility and appreciated the activity all the more for your independence in making it happen?

PERSONAL:

•    Does your family rely on you for adult responsibilities such as childcare for siblings, translation, transportation, or housework?

•    Have you taken on financial responsibilities to help support your family?

•    Do you come from a single-parent family where you play a role as the man/woman of the house, with all its attendant responsibilities?

+Be personal and specific… beginnings

Beginnings…

I realized I was an adult when I started my job at Panera Bread.

Until last summer I was the kid with a thousand excuses. It seemed like everything I had to do, school reports, mowing the lawn, or attending baseball practice was a pointless mandate from my parents. It wasn’t until decided on my own to look for a summer job that I began to understand what responsibility is all about.

The sun was shining and it was a summer day that could have been filled with time with my friends, driving around, or kicking a soccer ball, but I was all nerves. I donned my ridiculous paper hat, opened the door to feel the annoyingly chilly air conditioning smack my face, and I entered the front door of Panera Bread, ready for my first day on the job.

+Be personal and specific... details

Be specific…

My grandmother’s moving in is when I learned I am reaching adulthood because she taught me the most about life.

My 78 year old grandmother, who is afraid of heights and has climbed Mt. Fuji, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Mt. McKinley, taught me being an adult is living life to the fullest.

My grandmother, who knits in her rocker on the front porch, cooks cookies from scratch for the neighbors and rescues stray cats, taught me that being part an adult in a community means giving back.

+Know your audience

College admissions officer

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Write your focus on the top of your page...

“I want the admissions committee to know that…”

Focus on a message about yourself…