Freshman Admissions

Freshman Admissions The war had manifested itself in my racing thoughts and bitten nails when I decided that I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let it win. This ambiguity of existence, however, has granted me the opportunity to absorb the best of both worlds. This mélange of cultures in my East-meets-West room embodies the diversity that characterizes my international student life. Leaving home in the beginning of my adolescence, I was sent out on a path of my own. Trying to be proper or trying to impress or trying to be intellectual can be a drag. What you should be are doing is getting noticed as unique. It’s like you are on a date with the admissions reader and you want to be asked out again. Tell the reader what you do NOT want to do in your writing. Styled in a t-shirt, shorts, and a worn, dark green lanyard, I sprint across the quad from the elective ‘Speaking Arabic through the Rassias Method’ to ‘Knitting Nirvana’. This afternoon is just one of many at Governor’s School East, where I have been transformed from a high school student into a philosopher, a thinker, and an avid learner. While I attend GS at Meredith College for Natural Science, the lessons learned and experiences gained extend far beyond physics concepts, serial dilutions, and toxicity. I learn to trust myself to have difficult yet necessary conversations about the political and economic climate. Over time, however, I grew determined to improve the quality of life for my family and myself. As undocumented immigrants and with little to no family around us, we had to rely on each other. War followed me to freshman year of high school when I wanted more than anything to start new and check off to-dos in my bullet journal. Every time news of a terror attack spread, I could hear the whispers, visualize the stares. Instead of mourning victims of horrible crimes, I felt personally responsible, only capable of focusing on my guilt. A description of these extracurricular activities may have sounded like a laundry-list of the author’s accomplishments. But because she’s naming other stickers (which connects them to the essay’s thematic thread), she basically gets to name-drop those activities while showing other parts of her life. If you wrote “chef,” for example, push yourself beyond the common value of “health” and strive for unexpected values. I shattered my school’s 1ooM breaststroke record, and learned how to play the clarinet, saxophone, and the oboe. Plus, I not only became the first student in my school to pass the AP Physics 1 exam, I’m currently pioneering my school’s first AP Physics 2 course ever. Fearing that any disclosure of our status would risk deportation, we kept to ourselves when dealing with any financial and medical issues. I avoided going on certain school trips, and at times I was discouraged to even meet new people. I felt isolated and at times disillusioned; my grades started to slip. One important difference between the Type A and Type C essays is the ending. You’ll recall a Type A essay discusses a potential career aspiration, whereas a Type C essay ending may be a bit more open-ended. First, let me share an example of how I helped one student find her essay thread, then I’ll offer you some exercises to help you find your own. I also worked to apply myself constructively in other ways. I worked hard and took my grades from Bs and Cs to consecutive straight A’s. How has cooking taught you about “accountability,” for example, or “social change”? We’ve already read the essay on how cooking helped the author become more aware of his health. An essay on how cooking allowed the author to become more accountable or socially aware would be less common. Don’t crowd your essay near the top of the page, but balance it on the page and attend to soothing margins. Separate paragraphs in a consistent way, either by indenting each paragraph or by using block style, keeping all the words to the left margin but spacing extra between paragraphs.