College Admission

The increasing number of college entrance essays that schools require are overwhelming students and their parents.

So says Anne McGraw Reeves, a Patriot News writer whose second child just finished applying for colleges. “... I have to tell you,” she writes, “I’m exhausted. The stress was killing all of us.”

Each of the schools her daughter applied to wanted two or three supplemental essays in addition to the one required with the Common Application. And, she said, while the application may have been “Common,” the essay questions were not.

Asked one: “Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, ‘Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.’ Give us your guess.” (That’s from the University of Chicago, which also asks, “What does Play-Doh have to do with Plato?”)

And another: “According to Henry David Thoreau, ‘One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.’ What is your something?” (That’s the University of Maryland.)

The unusual questions aim at finding unusual answers as schools try to learn more about applicants in 250 words or less.

Reeves writes that she’s glad the essay promote “thoughtfulness,” but she wonders if the essays really help decide who’s in and who’s not.

“The college-admission process puts a ton of stress and pressure on 17- and 18-year-old kids,” she writes. “I’ve heard stories of students spending months writing their essays while also trying to juggle schoolwork, extracurricular activities and community volunteerism.”
The (Harrisburg, Pa.) Patriot News, January 2012

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