Admission Essay

Admission Essay The book, or so my dad told me, had been given to him as a gift from a patient, but he had never even opened it. Instead it had been reconciled to a life on the shelf, watching the world but not participating in it. The tone of each book seemed to have a distinctive resonance; they quickened different parts of my being. I was raised on Roald Dahl, J.D. Salinger, C.S. Lewis, John Steinbeck, and J.R.R Tolkien. They were approachable, easy enough for a child to follow, and yet monumentally more vast, multifaceted, and meaningful than they appeared to me at the time. Even so, from a young age, I could tell a good book from a bad one. It wasn’t until my teenage years, however, that I could tell you what made these books good, or express what they meant in terms of almost anything but plot. My reaction to literature was largely emotionalâ€"I could sense the tones and vaguely grasp the meanings of the novels. I could not, however, decode them in a way that allowed their import to live on, linguistically, within me. The Book Thief, in exploring such a profound theme, stood in a stark contrast to the mechanical nature of the public education system through which I’ve journeyed. In my prior schooling, we were taught to accept only one truth as the absolute truth. It changed my perceptions of myself and of the world around me. More pieces of the puzzle left by my forbearers, both Jewish and German, fall into place. At the end of my eighth grade year we moved to Texas and as I was packing, I stumbled upon my copy of Pride and Prejudice. It was all bent and worn and it looked longingly at me as if it had been waiting for me. I picked up the book and read it in a single sitting, almost five consecutive hours enraptured by it. The Book Thief offered my first insight into a world painted in shades of grey, my first introduction to what would become my quest for understandingâ€"of humanity, of the world around me, of myself. It inspired me as a learner and as a writer to explore and question and, above all, to define my own truth. It had a distinct new-book smell, fresh and crisp and full of promise. Inside the front cover was scribbled a name, illegible. Have a few people review it.Once you have completed a draft, ask someone you trust to review your work. Ask them to check for grammatical errors and provide feedback. My first introduction to The Book Thief came when I plucked it from the bookshelf in my dad’s officeâ€"with permission, for I felt no desire to fulfill the irony of stealing a book about thievery. Fingers fumbling over the smooth cover and crisp spine, I prepared myself for a new journey. It became a holy scripture I would follow for the next few years. Austen had written Elizabeth as a woman with dimension, not an object of perfection but a woman who had her faults as well as some of the most virtuous qualities. She was outspoken but not rude, intelligent but prideful, but most of all she was dynamicâ€"she was what a woman should be. I had nothing but admiration for the complex lead that Austen had created as well as the role model who also helped me unfold some great universal truths. Understand that just because someone else wrote ten drafts doesn’t mean you should. Excessive editing exists and can hurt your essay. Repeat the above suggestions as many times as you deem necessary. If there is something specific you’d like feedback on, ask for it. Remember to limit the number of people who review your essay to one or twoâ€"too many opinions can muddle your voice. For lots more information on applying to college, see the links on the next page. When you actually paste your essay into the Common Applicationâ€"read your essay once again and fix any formatting errors that may have occurred in the system. After all your hard work, you don't want careless errors to detract from your message. Try to step away from your essay for a few days between drafts. I had never been in a classroom where we were so freely allowed to ask questions. I realized that was what learning should be and that is how I want to learn. On second look it was more than just a love story.