how to write a prompt for an essay

Your admissions essays are your opportunity to make yourself come alive for the essay readers and to present yourself as a fully fleshed out person. Why did you spend your summer vacations this way? Are you hoping to be one of the less than 5% of students admitted to Stanford this year? Google Scholar is also a great source of information for credible academic articles. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. Instead of saying that you can't wait to participate in clubs, pick one (like the Food and Agribusiness Club) and discuss why it's so exciting to you. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. My introduction paragraph might go something like this: Pro wrestling has gone through its ups and downs. Don't leave your college application to chance. For my topic, Pros and Cons of Being a Pro Wrestler, I might look at biographies of famous wrestlers or the WWE website. Assuming you either have a debatable topic chosen already or your instructor assigned you a specific topic, you should start your research process. In fact, picking a learning experience in a different field will better show that you're curious and open to new ideas. All you need to do is write your conclusion. Make sure you cite the sources you use, such as philosophers, books, and theorists. For instance, if you helped care for your younger siblings, you can explain that family is important to you, and that's part of why you're driven to get a college education. If you’re still not feeling sure about the flow or style of your essay once you write it—or if you just want an extra set of eyes to look it over—send it to the Kibin editors. Your response doesn't have to be flashy -- you don't have to have spent two summers participating in scientific research! How to Write a Great Stanford Essay. When she's not working, she's constantly trying to expand her creativity through music, writing, art, and animation. Now that you have your pros and cons fleshed out into a list, it’s time to organize them into an outline. Prompt 1: Briefly elaborate on an activity, organization, work experience, or hobby that has been particularly meaningful to you. The most important step in writing an essay or research paper is to fully comprehend the essay question. This is a good time to share it with the admissions committee! Strive for originality. Stanford requires that you complete a total of four essays as a part of your application for admission. Sometimes, broad prompts can be more intimidating than prompts that have a very narrow focus. What is one—again, just one—thing you can't wait to learn, experience, or participate in as a Stanford student? Similarly, you want to write about something that you're genuinely passionate and excited about. This Stanford essay prompt is very broad. Maybe you want to develop better water decontamination systems! (Read more about essay transitions.). His short fiction has appeared in many publications including Litro Magazine, one of London's leading literary magazines. When an instructor provides you with a prompt that your essay must be based on, you need to start by finding the index. Or perhaps you're more interested in medicine, so you'd have loved to witness Wilhelm Röntgen discover x-rays. Your thesis statement serves as the central focus and position of your essay. This involves making paragraphs that not only flow from sentence to sentence within the paragraphs, but also between each paragraph. In this case, take time to answer the questions as they apply to the quote and the goals of the course as a whole. We live in a world where most issues are in a gray area without clear black-and-white answers. With your thesis statement and outline complete, writing your body paragraphs should be fairly straightforward. The index is the focus of the prompt on the most fundamental level. A wrestler learns all the skills needed to transition into a full-time movie or television career, such as memorizing lines, doing stunts, interacting with other actors, improvising, and dealing with fans. All in all, the Stanford roommate essay is a great opportunity to have some fun and show off some different aspects of your personality. Regardless of which Stanford essay prompt you're responding to, you should keep in mind the following tips for how to write a great Stanford essay. If you find that your claims deviate from either the thesis or the original prompt, you may need to re-examine and rewrite some sections to ensure that your writing stays focused. Stanford's roommate essay question is notorious. When writing your Stanford essays, try to avoid using cliches or overused quotes or phrases. Similarly, avoid using cliches, which take away from the strength and sincerity of your work. Why do you participate in that activity? You'll need to spend some time on the Stanford website looking into the different opportunities available to students. It has positives and negatives just like any other job in the entertainment industry. For this question, avoid discussing something that's already evident from the rest of your admissions packet. Regardless of which Stanford essay prompt you’re responding to, you should keep in mind the following tips for how to write a great Stanford essay. A creative thinker and logical problem-solver. Also, the best answers to this question are going to be specific. Check out our guide on how to get good grades in high school for some tips and strategies! You'll submit the Stanford supplement essays online with your Coalition or Common app. Analyze the essay prompt. You'll also need to respond to three Stanford-specific short essay questions. If you find that your claims deviate from either the thesis or the original prompt, you may need to re-examine and rewrite some sections to ensure that your writing stays focused. For instance, do you make awesome, screen-accurate cosplays or have a collection of rock crystals from caving expeditions? Give the admissions counselors new information about yourself that they wouldn't be able to learn from other parts of your application. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Here are the 2020-2021 Stanford essay prompts: #1: The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. The point of a college essay is for the admissions committee to have the chance to get to know you beyond your test scores, grades, and honors. That would be a great thing to discuss here, especially if you haven't had a chance to talk about this elsewhere in your application. Despite some risks, there are many rewards to be gained, especially if the wrestlers go in with the intention of presenting a pure form of entertainment to the masses. The Stanford roommate essay is your opportunity to show a different side of your personality than the admissions committee will see on the rest of your application. The committee doesn't want you to wax poetic about the virtues of remaining eternally curious; they want to see how a real-life example has affected you. Many pro wrestlers, such as Andre the Giant and Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock), have gone on to very successful acting careers. Here’s an example: In my example outline, you’ll notice two things under the introduction section—the hook and the thesis statement. Along with her BS in marketing from Florida State University and MA in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, she has spent the past 7 years learning how best to reach and teach people using the power of words. Have them check and make sure you haven't missed any small writing errors. However, despite its drawbacks, if actors and athletes turn to pro wrestling for the right reasons, it can be an extremely rewarding career. You'll need to answer a prompt provided by the Common Application or Coalition Application, depending on which one you use to submit your Stanford application through. Get inspiration from over 500,000 example essays. who make up your current life. Research your topic You should talk about something that is uniquely important to you, not the other thousands of students that are applying to Stanford. The admissions counselors don't want to read a list of your responsibilities. Go into detail about how that one experience affected you. However, it has brought joy to millions of people, including the wrestlers who stay in shape due to the nature of the job and those who move on to more lucrative acting careers. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: © PrepScholar 2013-2018. They'll be more impressed by a meaningful experience that rings true than one that seems artificial or implausible. For my topic, I’m choosing one of the greatest, most lucrative cons of all—pro wrestling. Tell us about something that is meaningful to you, and why? But admissions counselors want to see that you're going to be a thoughtful, involved member of the Stanford community. Our recommendation would be to leave the chores out and focus on the bigger, more notable aspects of your summer vacation. Or perhaps you weren't able to take on extracurriculars because your parents needed your help caring for your younger siblings. SAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. Learn more about your extracurricular options and why they matter. Make sure to run your essays through a spelling and grammar check before you submit. Go into detail about what it means to you. Instead, it’s more of a freeform list. Instead, you should synthesize the information, determine your own position on the topic, and state your position clearly. How to Write a Great GRE Argumentative Essay, How to Analyze an Article to Write an Essay. However, it is difficult to get diverse roles. A pros and cons essay is a type of argumentative essay that encourages you to look at both the pros (positives) and the cons (negatives) of a given topic. If you have difficulty putting the relationship of the thesis and prompt into words, rework the thesis until the connection is clear. Pro wrestling is certainly hard on the bodies and careers of the actors, and may be seen as trickery to the fans. The roommate essay is also a great time to show off your community—the friends, family, teammates, etc. Make a list of everything you did the past two summers, then parse it down so that you're including the most important aspects. The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. A bookworm and a backpacker. What Is the Most Important Key to an Effective Essay? (Or at least if you write about a mountain, I hope you can’t describe how tastes.) First things first: limit your answer to academics or academic-leaning extracurricular activities. You should, then, make sure that the person you're presenting in your college essays is yourself. It’s pretty simple—in fact, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You can seek a second opinion on your work from a parent, teacher, or friend. To write your body paragraphs, all you need to do is expand the ideas in your outline. Once you’ve spent time interpreting the assigned prompt, your next step should be to form a thesis statement with the index in mind. Have you ever tried to debate (or argue with) someone who just cannot see your point of view? After you have constructed a solid thesis formed a clear argument, the body of your essay should be used to offer specific claims that support your position. Rather, it’s the kind of essay that says, “There are many different points to consider, and after evaluating all of them, here is my opinion.”. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. After all, it says so right in the prompt! While all three of the Stanford essay prompts are fairly broad, the third Stanford essay prompt is by far the broadest. After you write a rough draft, read through the essay again. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. Your work should be free of spelling and grammar errors. You can write about anything that's meaningful to you here—the prompt doesn't specify that you have to talk about something academic or personal. You may carry an opinion about a certain topic, but try to leave that behind as it may skew the information you gather. Stanford doesn't require that you pick and stick with a specific major for your application, so you don't have to write about a moment here that relates to your predicted course of study. Why do you think this challenge is significant? Get the latest articles and test prep tips! What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? The college admissions committee has probably seen numerous essays that state, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Despite the fact that you still have some degree of freedom in terms of how you may interpret the prompt, there are several key factors to keep in mind when writing a guided essay. Let yourself shine! Choosing a debatable topic allows you to select a balanced number of pros and cons. You'll only have 50 words to answer each one...so you'll need to make it count! The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. In fact, in many great pros and cons essays, you cannot tell which side the author favors from just the pros and cons alone—you have to look at the thesis statement and the conclusion. Don't try to emulate what you think the committee wants to hear or try to act like someone you're not. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. Don't feel limited to your potential major. So while these things are true and fun, this question is your chance to explain how you're going to get involved on the Stanford campus...and maybe even give back, too. You’ll risk alienating your reader(s). Let's take a look at each of the three Stanford short essay questions and see how to write something meaningful for each. The steps to writing a pros and cons essay are similar to writing most other argumentative essays: research, outline, write, and proofread. All rights reserved. Don't, for instance, say that world peace is meaningful to you because it won't sound sincere. For instance, instead of talking about how a trip to a foreign country opened your eyes to different cultures, pick a specific moment from your visit that really hammered home the importance of curiosity. Maybe you love legal history, so you would have loved to have attended Ruth Bader Ginsburg's swearing in ceremony. 5 Best Resources to Help With Writing a Research Paper. Bonus Tip: You want to approach your research with an open mind. Name one thing you are looking forward to experiencing at Stanford. You should be able to clearly explain how the assigned prompt relates to the thesis statement. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now. First, you can choose a significant social challenge that matters to you. You have to answer all three of the Stanford essay prompts well in order for your application to stand out. That would be a great response to this question. The trick here is to (again) pick something specific and stick to it. Along with your essays, you'll also need to answer five short questions. If you’ve never written a pros and cons essay, it might be a little intimidating. Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Education. In this case, it is important to analyze the quote, searching for what it is about, who it may be directed toward and whether or not it applies to a particular text assigned by your instructor. Pick something that is really meaningful to you. #1: Use Your Own Voice. My pros and cons list might look something like this: Pros: Make lots of money, can turn into an acting career, helps with fitness, entertaining fans, Cons: Can get seriously injured, may be typecast in any other acting gigs, deceiving fans. But I’ll fill in some of the finer points in two additional steps to help you make the most out of your writing experience. You can talk about the deep bonds you have and how they have affected you. Stick to telling real stories about the person you really are, not who you think Stanford wants you to be. Answer the prompt Write your essay using the ideas you have developed. Andre was almost always typecast as a “giant,” and while Dwayne Johnson has had arguably the most successful acting career out of any pro wrestler, it took him many years to get a serious role. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, 'f20994d3-fd87-4c1e-988d-22ad8d920c1a', {}); Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. Make sure you include these answers in your response! You aren’t just making a pros essay or a cons essay. It should be an idea or argument that you can take an opinionated stance on. We'll also go over the five short answer questions that are part of the Stanford supplement. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—know you better. The hook gets your readers’ attention and makes them want to learn more. Have any questions about this article or other topics? Remember, every applicant must answer every one of the Stanford essay prompts, so you don't get to choose which essay you would like to write. For this post, I’m not going to write a body paragraph for every single point in my outline, but here’s an example of what I would write for the first body paragraph: Because pro wrestling is a staged event, it is considered an acting job. If so, you'll need to write some amazing essays as part of your application. Want to write the perfect college application essay? Think back to your history classes. Pro: Can expand acting career after wrestling, Con: May be typecast into physical/action roles, Fooling some fans into thinking the drama is real and that stunts are not planned. #3: Tell us about something that is meaningful to you, and why? How has it impacted you as a person? Don't repeat information that the committee can find elsewhere on your application. When you’re writing a pros and cons essay, you must follow two important guidelines. The 12 descriptive essay prompts here, give you the freedom to develop your content in different ways, and with a lot of sensory details. Writing a synopsis for an essay or any other piece of literature is simply about determining the most important parts of a piece of work and using this information to provide a brief summary. They’re so caught up in what they think is right that they won’t even consider opposing evidence. By analyzing these key factors, you will be able to not only present an argument, but create an essay that is interesting, effective and successful. You can adopt a more informal, fun tone with this essay, because the prompt indicates that it's going to someone who is your age. Look at credible sources of information. In order for your essay to be successful, it is essential that all claims and evidence you present work together. The great thing about writing classes is that they teach you to think about things analytically. Each one of the Stanford essays has a 100-word minimum and a 250-word maximum. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—know you better. Whatever topic you choose, your essay should feel sincere. If you want to be one of the 6% of students accepted to Stanford, you'll have to have a great GPA. You need to respond to all three of the Stanford essay prompts for your application. Ask them whether your work represents you as a student and person. The other approach you can take to this question is linking it to your academic interests. There are two ways you can answer this question. How to Write Stellar Stanford Essays: 3 Expert Tips, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, three Stanford-specific short essay questions. You can find more information about the Common Application essays here, and more info about the Coalition essay prompts here. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. Labor issues are a major social issue both in the US and abroad, and because you're impacted by it, you'll be able to put together a very compelling and powerful answer. You can sort by all pros first, followed by all cons (or vice versa), or if your pros and cons relate to each other, you can sort them that way. Our best advice for answering this question is to be specific and original. And how are you planning to help solve this problem? 1. For example, say you volunteered at a summer camp for the past two summers, but you also helped your family with chores and volunteered with a political campaign. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. It should almost go without saying, but you want to make sure your Stanford essays are the strongest example of your work possible. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. Your essay, however, should not just be a list of pros and cons. Keep looking at the prompt to guarantee that you are addressing all aspects of the question/issue in your response. Eden Meirow is a full-time copywriter and part-time freelance writer. Perhaps you want to major in mechanical engineering. For instance, maybe you help your dad out with his lawn care business in the summers. Having a second opinion will help your work be the best it possibly can be. Before you turn in your Stanford application, make sure to edit and proofread your essays. If you lie or exaggerate, your essay will come across as insincere, which will diminish its effectiveness. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT?

Academic Writing Course Nz Dissertation, Auburn University Creative Writing Dissertation, Mrs Phelps Fahrenheit 451 Quotes Research, Theory Of Writing Examples Research, Ielts Writing Task 2 Samples Band 8 Pdf Thesis, Ielts Writing Evaluation Services Coursework, Writing Comprehensive Coursework, About Writing: A Guide Thesis, Helping The Poor Islamic Quotes Thesis, Write About Yourself In 200 Words Sample Coursework, How Positive Attitude Helps In Career Development Coursework, Usc Creative Writing Undergraduate Essay, Creative Writing Journal Research,