College Application Hacked: Part 1. The College Essay
What's Inside:
1. Prologue: Who, How, Why................................................................................................... 8
2. The Three Things Colleges Really Want........................................................................ 12
3. The Only Thing That Matters............................................................................................... 15
4. A Seven-Step Program........................................................................................................... 18
5. Step 1: Study the Prompts.................................................................................................... 20
6. Step 2: The Facts of Your Life.............................................................................................. 23
7. Step 3: So What’s Your Story?.............................................................................................. 26
8. Step 4: A Horrible First Draft................................................................................................ 30
9. Step 5: Another First Draft..................................................................................................... 33
10. Step 6: The Hook(s)............................................................................................................... 35
11. Step 7: Revision and the Seven Stylistic Sins.............................................................. 42
12. What Got Me into MIT......................................................................................................... 47
13. Essay: The Activist Who Spoke Too Much..................................................................... 51
14. Essay: The Dentist Who Hated Bugs Bunny................................................................. 57
15. Essay: The Student and the Social Contract................................................................ 64
16. Essay: The Economist Who Forgot Word Economy................................................. 69
17. Essay: The Animal Lover with Attention Deficit.......................................................... 75
18. Essay: The Day Creativity Died........................................................................................... 80
19. Essay: The Student Who Forgot the Prompt............................................................... 83
20. Essay: The Bookworm Who Ate SAT Word Lists........................................................ 90
21. Essay: The Boy Who Ignored Word Limits...................................................................... 94
22. Essay: We are All Chocolates............................................................................................. 98
23. Essay: The Romantic Aeronautical Engineer.............................................................. 101
24. Essay: Warning – Turbulence Ahead............................................................................ 104
25. ‘Why Our College’ & Other Supplemental Essays.................................................... 106
26. A Word on Cheating: Don’t............................................................................................... 111
27. Theorem: Applying to College is Stress-free............................................................... 114
28. The Greatest Finish Ever................................................................................................... 118
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................... 120
Preview: College Application Hacked – Part 2................................................................... 121
About the Author........................................................................................................................ 122
Index............................................................................................................................................... 123
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Acknowledgment: To: my family for all their feedback and support, and for sharing my excitement; my friends for helping me choose the cover and improve what’s inside; my cover designer, Omake, for being exceptionally talented (and exceptionally patient with all the revisions); Borislav for livening up the pages with his graphic art; all my reviewers for their feedback and testimonials; Jeff Brenzel for his sage advice; and, above all, to Mariam, Sabina, Omer, Samar, Mujahid, Hammad, Anya, Mirha, Sahlik, and all the other college applicants who generously shared their essays so that their experience may benefit future applicants, Thank You. |