Personal Essay Primer

1. Personal Essay Primer Senior Colloquium Ms. Briney & Mr. Hayes Created by: Ms. Shalabi

2. Define: Personal Essay/Statement • A written document describing the author’s personality, positive traits, successes, explaining shortcomings. Generally, it is written in order to be submitted to an admissions committee for a job or post-secondary education.

3. Writing the Personal Essay/Statement The personal essay/statement, your opportunity to sell yourself in the application process, generally falls into one of two categories: • The general, comprehensive personal essay/statement: This allows you maximum freedom in terms of what you write and is the type of statement often prepared for standard medical or law school application forms. • The response to very specific questions: Often, business and graduate school applications ask specific questions, and your statement should respond specifically to the question being asked. Some business school applications favor multiple essays, typically asking for responses to three or more questions.

4. U of I Admission Essay Prompts Students are asked to write two essays: 1.) How have your past circumstances and experiences (such as your upbringing, community, and/or activities) impacted who you are, your future goals, and your choice of major? If you haven't decided on a college or major yet, briefly explain your intentions and aspirations for your first year at Illinois. Please limit your response to approximately 300 words. 2.) In no more than 300 words, tell us something about yourself that isn't covered elsewhere in this application, some interest or experience of yours that you think the University of Illinois should know about as part of the admissions review. Important factors considered by the review committee when evaluating the essays are: How the applicant ties his or her academic interest to the desired major or, if applying to the Division of General Studies, how the applicant explains his or her varied interests and need for exploration. How the applicant showcases his or her passion through chosen activities, work experience, research, or course selection in high school. How the essay reveals maturity and growth through past experiences, evidence of character development, cultural insight, community awareness, and/or leadership. Strength of writing is carefully considered throughout all the application essays. http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html#essays

5. Example of an actual Personal Statement submitted to ISU • “I am unique among most people because I am able to excel in many areas. I am talented in the areas of athletics, music, and schooling. I am in the Honors Program at my high school, on the varsity soccer team, in the jazz band, and in the highest orchestra at my school. Since I am able to excel in these areas, I also like them to be my focus outside of school. Outside of school I take bass lessons, I am in the All-City High School Orchestra, and I am also on a club soccer team. I believe that if you want to do your best at something, you have to practice at all times in order to succeed.” --Kane Pearson, prospective student • Key phrase from student’s first line: “I am unique among most people because I am able to excel in many areas.” Response from an ISU Essay Moderator (essay coach) to the student: “How modest of you. I see the rest of the essay goes on in like vein. You are a great student who has lots of extracurricular activities to list on his application. The problem is, they can see how good of a student you are by looking at your transcript, and what else you are involved in by looking over the rest of your application. So, you are bragging needlessly. What do you want the admissions officers to know about you that they can't tell from the rest of the application? How can you show this through a narrative anecdote? Answer these questions, and try again. You should end up with a much stronger essay.” —Sean, ISU essay moderatorhttp://www.essayforum.com/undergraduate-admission-2/illinois-state-admissions-personal-statement-9459/#msg45484

6. NIU Admission Requirements • Freshmen • An applicant for freshman admission must be a graduate of a secondary school at the time of enrollment or have attained high school equivalency through the General Educational Development (GED) test. Applicants must submit >A formal application for admission. >An official high school transcript indicating class rank, GPA, and courses completed or an official GED score report. >An official ACT score report sent to NIU by ACT Inc. or an official SAT score report sent to NIU by the College Board. >Application fee. • Individuals applying for admission will be evaluated and notified of their admission decision according to the “Criteria for Admission” and “Schedule for Application Review.” • Please note that the actual size of the new freshman class will be determined by the level of university resources available to maintain the quality of academic programs. The schedule on which applications will be reviewed provides for competitive admissions by class rank and ACT/SAT score on a space-available basis. • http://catalog.niu.edu/content.php?catoid=18&navoid=535#unde_admi

7. SIU Admission Requirements To be admitted, freshmen applicants must: • Have graduated from high school before beginning classes at SIUC. Exceptions are made for students participating in our High School Concurrent Enrollment program and for those who have earned the G.E.D. • Meet high school course pattern requirements. • Meet certain criteria based primarily on high school core grade point average, ACT or SAT score and course subject pattern. (The holistic review process also considers ACT or SAT subscores, high school rank, improvements in high school GPA from year to year, letters of recommendation, participation in service or extracurricular activities and extenuating circumstances.)” • Meet transfer requirements if college-level work has been taken after high school graduation. Additional Requirements • An additional step or screening process is required for certain programs. Requirements for direct entry into some programs exceed university admission requirements. Please be sure to read the Special Conditions section. http://admissions.siu.edu/apply/high-school/freshman-admission-requirements.html

8. College Essay Prompts, pt 1 • Below are a list of essay questions from a few Illinois colleges. Do NOT use these prompts as reference for your college applications to these schools! These are here to serve as examples ONLY! 1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) Essay 1: In an essay of 300 words or less, write about how your personal or academic interests relate to your intellectual or professional goals. Essay 2: In an essay of 300 words or less, choose one extracurricular activity, work experience, or community service project from the list you provided on the application and explain why you initially chose it, why you continued with it, and how you benefited from it. 2. University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Personal Statement: While not required, this personal statement is an opportunity for you to tell us more about yourself beyond your grades and test scores. Take this opportunity to let us know of any personal experiences, responsibilities, or challenges that have impacted your academic achievements thus far. You may also wish to tell us of personal skills, talents and career and academic goals you have that could positively impact your academic performance in the future.

9. College Essay Prompts, cont. • 3. University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) Generally, the personal and academic statement should be approximately 500 to 750 words and should reflect the applicant's best work - structure, accuracy, and overall quality will be considered. UIS would like two specific topics addressed in an applicant's statement: • * Personal Statement This is an applicant's chance to tell us about themselves. Describe interests and accomplishments which are not indicated elsewhere on the application. • * Academic Statement Tell us more about professional aspiration, intellectual interests, and personal experiences relevant to the choice of a specific academic program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. 4. Eastern Illinois University (EIU) Personal Statement: How will you achieve academic and personal success at Eastern? 5. Illinois State University (ISU) Academic personal statement - This is your opportunity to express your interest in Illinois State University and/or to explain circumstances that may have affected your high school academic performance. Your academic personal statement should be typed, double-spaced, and approximately 500 words.

10. College Essay Prompts, cont. 6. Bradley University (BU) • Personal Statement: The subject of this essay may be any subject that interests you (up to 750 words). For example, tell us about an experience or a person who has influenced you, or explain your perspective on an issue about which you feel strongly. Inform us of any circumstances that you would like the admission review committee to consider. 7. Northern Illinois University (NIU) • Personal Statement: A personal statement is strongly recommended only for students who do not satisfy the priority consideration parameters. The statement should focus on areas such as leadership experiences, expected contributions to the NIU community, and any personal experiences in overcoming adversity. http://www2.springfield.k12.il.us/attachments/a-21221-877-899.pdf

11. Moraine Valley (MVCC) Requirements You are eligible to enroll at Moraine Valley Community College if you are: • - A graduate from an accredited high school, • - A recipient of a GED certificate, or • - At least 18 years old and capable of benefiting from college-level instruction. High school students must be at least 16 years old at the time of registration and submit a completed high school authorization form. https://webadvisor.morainevalley.edu/WebAdvisor/WebAdvisor?TOKENIDX=9672646390&SS=1&APP=ST&CONSTITUENCY=WBAP (Registration page) http://www.morainevalley.edu/default.aspx (MVCC home page)