As promised, here are the essay questions for the 2013 First Year application. The application will be available in mid-August. 1. Choose an intellectual or creative opportunity (for example, community involvement, a summer program, a unique project, travel abroad, etc.) from your high school years that you have enjoyed and highlight how you have grown […]
At this time of year, we start looking at the freshman application, and what need need to tweak/alter for following years. We often debate back and forth about our four short essay questions (150-200 words), and what we could ask that is creative yet specific, allows for an applicant to share more about themselves, but […]
While we are still in full swing reading freshman files, I thought I would share a few essay examples from this year that I think are impressive. Please understand that while some people believe that great essays should have as many impressive words as possible, or flow like a poem cascading through the mind (okay […]
A number of you are now starting to write the four short essays for UGA, either because your decision was deferred or because you are finishing up your Regular Decision application. As such, here is some advice on good essays, and how telling a joke well and writing a good essay are similar. Just to […]
Yesterday, a recently admitted student and her parents visited the Admissions Office, and they asked to speak to me. It turned out that she was one of the students that I had mentioned in a previous post concerning the strength of her essays (see the Random Thoughts post from January 26, 2011), and they wanted […]
I am guessing that for a number of the deferred students, they are looking at part II of the application and wondering what they should write about in their essays. I am also guessing that most of you do not want a long post about how to write essays, so I will make this quick. […]
In reviewing the UGA admissions process and the information that we ask for on the application, we started looking at Part I and Part II of the application more closely. While the separation into two parts has worked well for UGA (and for the applicants), we want to make sure we have enough information from […]
For part II of the essay examples, we have actually included two essays from a particularly strong writer who will be here next fall. All of her essays were great, making it too difficult to choose just one. I hope these samples give everyone a little insight into the strength of our applicants, and as […]
In continuing with the theme of working with rising juniors and seniors in high school, the question of admissions essays always comes up. In our file reading this year, our counselors read a lot of essays, from the great to the less-than-great (a kind way of saying bad), and we were given permission by two […]
Here is the second installment of the UGA holistic file reading overview, with a focus on the area of an applicant’s writing, self-expression and creativity. I know, it is a mouthful, but this is the section where we look at the student’s overall writing (both the essays and any other written areas on the application), […]
