Supplemental Application Essays

Supplemental Application Essays Especially if you’re recounting an event, take it beyond the chronological storytelling. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 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. Understand that just because someone else wrote ten drafts doesn’t mean you should. Repeat the above suggestions as many times as you deem necessary. Tell us something different from what we’ll read on your list of extracurricular activities or transcript. Essays should have a thesis that is clear to you and to the reader. Do not sell yourself out hoping that will get you in. Write an essay that you are proud of and that is true to who you are, and let the chips fall where they may. Sign up for our newsletterto receive FREE articles, publishing tips, writing advice, and more delivered to your inbox once a week. Formatting and presentation cannot replace substance, but they can certainly enhance the value of an already well-written essay. Choose one of the four topics below and submit a written response in about 250 words. For more information about how the classes are run, please read about online classes. It might be easy while telling your story to go off on a tangent and give too much necessary backstory or summary or just irrelevant information. Outlining your essay and coming up with topic points is a great way to reduce the likelihood of getting off-topic. When all is said and done, this essay has to be for you. If there is something specific you’d like feedback on, ask for it. Some reviewers may be better equipped to provide feedback on individual aspects of your essay. Turn off your cell phoneâ€"at least your notificationsâ€"and any other distracting technology. There are plenty of online applications that prevent you from being distracted by the internet. Envisioning helps you establish your central narrative that you will focus your essay on, but is actually a bit of a misnomer. While it sounds like this is something you do in your mind, it is actually best done on the page. 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. If it isn’t, identify why not and consider either changing the outline or selecting a different prompt more aligned with your developing story. Don’t trap yourself with the 5 paragraph structure, but do focus on a few central moments in time. Although you may have a million ideas and pieces of information you believe are important, it is imperative that you discern what is most significant to propel your narrative. The envisioning process is both strange and abstract, but crucial to creating a successful outline. If you need to listen to music to drown out noise, use lyricless music. Ambient electronic and mellow piano are good places to start. Double check that your outline is aligned with the prompt.If it is, proceed with writing your first draft. For the first Villanova-specific essay, we have offered a range of topics to pique your interest. We hope to gain a deeper understanding of your thoughts, experiences, and opinions. Your thesis should indicate where you’re going and what you’re trying to communicate from the outset. Feel free to tell us about a time you stumbled, and what happened next. Don’t be afraid to reveal yourself in your writing. Focus on one event, one activity, or one “most influential person.” Tackling too much tends to make your essay too watered down or disjointed.