Comments on: College Chaos

By: frank uible

frank uible — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:35:27 +0000

Ah – for the good old 50s. I never received or read any college or university propaganda. I never toured any campus. I never expressed an interest in attending any college or university. I never applied to Williams or elsewhere. I never submitted anything. I never signed anything. I certainly never wrote an essay. I never interviewed with any college or university representative except for a 7 minute visit with Fred Copeland – a visit which I found insignificant. I comported myself in my usual surly manner. I didn’t show nobody no stinkin’ badges. Presto chango – I was accepted. I matriculated. Instead I should have taken at least a few years of military service as an enlisted man in accordance with my original intentions.

By: Parent '12

Parent '12 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:05:49 +0000

hwc- thanks for providing the common app essay questions.

I also agree with you. An additional essay will probably not dramatically change the number of applications. My guess is that a student would revise an essay for another application so that it would work with the window.

By: hwc

hwc — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:49:47 +0000

I don’t think this additional question will lower Williams’ application numbers at all. It was one of the very few elite colleges that didn’t ask a supplemental question. I remember my daughter asking me to take a look for the question on the Williams app because she figured she must be missing a form or something.

By: hwc

hwc — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:11:29 +0000

Here are the two required essays on the Common Application itself:

Short Answer

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences in the space below or on an attached sheet (150 words or fewer).

Personal Essay

Please write an essay (250 words minimum) on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below. Please indicate your topic by checking the appropriate box. This personal essay helps us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.

1 Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

2 Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

3 Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

4 Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

5 A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

6 Topic of your choice.

By: hwc

hwc — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:02:33 +0000

[quote]As I recall from last year, the open-ended question was one without any prompts. The student could come up with any topic. Am I misremembering?[/quote]

What’s the difference? Any applicant with half a brain will look at the Wiliams prompt, decide what he or she wants to write about and then come up with a way of framing it in a window view. The topic will dictate the window, not vice versa.

It’s a perfectly fine open-ended essay prompt. If anything, it nudges the applicant to write an effective essay that brings the reader into a scene. However, it is essentially a duplicate of the common app personal statement.

By: Parent '12

Parent '12 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:55:09 +0000

hwc- I don’t mean to quibble… I’m asking for clarification & I don’t want to go to the common app website, but-

As I recall from last year, the open-ended question was one without any prompts. The student could come up with any topic. Am I misremembering?

The new Williams supplemental essay question reminds me of the choices that Amherst provided last year, or a less quirky Chicago essay prompt.

By: frank uible

frank uible — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:32:20 +0000

Of course none of them would lie about it.

By: Jeff Z.

Jeff Z. — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:15:51 +0000

Good for Williams. This will undoubtedly lower application volume, because people who have very little interest in Williams won’t bother to take a shot in the dark. On the other hand, it will (in addition to providing an additional example of writing ability — even if I’m not that excited by the question itself) surely enhance yield, as the most marginally interested candidates will cease to apply. Question: on these essays, do people have to represent that they do not receive substantial help from parents, college counselors, etc.? If not, they should.

By: hwc

hwc — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:44:21 +0000

Williams has added an essay to the 2008-2009 Williams Supplement (PDF) that is required along with the Common Application:

Additional Personal Statement (required) Imagine looking through a window at any environment that is particularly significant to you. Reflect on the scene, paying close attention to the relation between what you are seeing and why it is meaningful to you. Please limit your statement to 300 words.

IMO, this essay prompt is a variation on the open-ended personal statement prompt that is already on the Common Application rather than asking something different.

By: frank uible

frank uible — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:49:48 +0000

Bismarck might add the Admission Office acceptance process to his list of things that one should not see performed.