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RAINSTORM 2020Tackling the College Admissions Essay WorkshopSample Essays HandoutTable of ContentsThe Common Application Essay Prompts (2020-21)…………………………………………pg. 2Common App Essay Sample, “Breaking Into Cars” (Johns Hopkins)……………………...pg. 3-4UChicago Prompt Essay Sample ……………………………………………………………..pg. 5Why Penn Essay Sample…………………………………………………………….……...pg. 6-7The Common Application Essay Prompts – 2020-21Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design."Breaking Into Cars," by Stephen,?Johns Hopkins Class of '19?(Common App Essay, 636 words)I had never broken into a car before.We were in Laredo, having just finished our first day at a Habitat for Humanity work site. The Hotchkiss volunteers had already left, off to enjoy some Texas BBQ, leaving me behind with the college kids to clean up. Not until we were stranded did we realize we were locked out of the van.Someone picked a coat hanger out of the dumpster, handed it to me, and took a few steps back.“Can you do that thing with a coat hanger to unlock it?”“Why me?” I thought.More out of amusement than optimism, I gave it a try. I slid the hanger into the window’s seal like I’d seen on crime shows, and spent a few minutes jiggling the apparatus around the inside of the frame. Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I’d been in this type of situation before. In fact, I’d been born into this type of situation.My upbringing has numbed me to unpredictability and chaos. With a family of seven, my home was loud, messy, and spottily supervised. My siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing—all meant my house was functioning normally. My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed. “The water’s on fire! Clear a hole!” he shouted, tossing me in the lake without warning. While I’m still unconvinced about that particular lesson’s practicality, my Dad’s overarching message is unequivocally true: much of life is unexpected, and you have to deal with the twists and turns.Living in my family, days rarely unfolded as planned. A bit overlooked, a little pushed around, I learned to roll with reality, negotiate a quick deal, and give the improbable a try. I don’t sweat the small stuff, and I definitely don’t expect perfect fairness. So what if our dining room table only has six chairs for seven people? Someone learns the importance of punctuality every night.But more than punctuality and a special affinity for musical chairs, my family life has taught me to thrive in situations over which I have no power. Growing up, I never controlled my older siblings, but I learned how to thwart their attempts to control me. I forged alliances, and realigned them as necessary. Sometimes, I was the poor, defenseless little brother; sometimes I was the omniscient elder. Different things to different people, as the situation demanded. I learned to adapt.Back then, these techniques were merely reactions undertaken to ensure my survival. But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: “How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?”The question caught me off guard, much like the question posed to me in Laredo. Then, I realized I knew the answer. I knew why the coat hanger had been handed to me.Growing up as the middle child in my family, I was a vital participant in a thing I did not govern, in the company of people I did not choose. It’s family. It’s society. And often, it’s chaos. You participate by letting go of the small stuff, not expecting order and perfection, and facing the unexpected with confidence, optimism, and preparedness. My family experience taught me to face a serendipitous world with confidence.UChicago Prompt: “Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?”The only time I was scolded in elementary school was for returning a damaged library book. A drop in the bathtub had left the pages of Matilda irreparably wavy and crinkly. Even with a thorough blast from my pink Hello Kitty blow-dryer, the book could not be returned to its pristine condition. Librarians everywhere cringed; Jane Austen rolled in her grave. At eight years old, however, I was not deterred from finishing the book. I simply waited for the pages to dry and read on, eager to find out whether Matilda ever escapes evil Miss Trunchbull (Spoiler alert: she does). Never was the dichotomy between those who prefer well-loved books and those who keep their books pristine more evident to me.Though less aesthetically pleasing, I never regarded that copy of Matilda as ruined. Even eight year olds understand the function of a book. Its job is to tell a story, to allow its reader to sink into a different world while clutched in his or her hand. They're like presents on Christmas. The wrapping paper is simply a transportation device that needs to be ripped and damaged to get to your gift. People on team `well loved' are recklessly obsessive about their passions. We are the risk takers of the world. While others live repetitive lives of organized beauty, our lives revolve around spur of the moment creativity. Like our minds, the margins of our books are filled with scribbled notes. Functionality is key to our existence. We don't mind accidentally cracking the spine of a book if it was done in a wild frenzy to decipher a plot twist. People in this category are easy to spot in book stores. See a weirdo smelling the pages of used books? Probably a well-loved-book aficionado. The musky smell of old books is the smell of history. We revel in the knowledge that our favorite books were enjoyed (or critiqued) by owners prior to us. My used copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has a coffee stain on page twenty-three. Whenever I come across it, I cannot help but imagine an avid, young reader like myself, so engulfed in a different universe that they didn't notice their coffee dripping on the page.In contrast, there are those book lovers who refuse to keep their books anything but pristine. Their shelves are lined neatly with rows of perfect, hardcover books. They never dog-ear their books. Instead, bookmarks are kept readily available to avoid sinking to such destruction. For them, reading time is always separate from bath time and meal time. These are the type of people who take ten minutes to unwrap a gift, carefully smoothing and folding each piece of wrapping paper to be saved for next year. Their perfect libraries give them comfort, and they care about the condition of their books just as much as they care about the wellbeing of their favorite characters.Reading in public, I often get glares from pristine-book-lovers. I wonder why they look like they just saw a puppy getting murdered, until I realize that their gaze is zeroed in on the fluorescent highlighter I use to mark my favorite passages. Talking to them helps. Book lovers on both teams adore talking about books. They warm up to me when they realize that the book I'm marking up is a favorite of theirs and the line I'm highlighting is their favorite quote. We are all book lovers after all, and sometimes we become great friends. That is, until I ask to borrow a book.Why Penn? ExampleSince first setting foot on campus two years ago, I have found that Penn has always stood out in my search for the perfect university. Every aspect, from the flexible academics to its urban environment, to the diversity of the student body seems to readily match the setting in which I hope to immerse myself over the next four years.Academically, I hope to continue pursuing my interests in economics and business, international studies, and French. Unlike many other schools, Penn openly encourages such breadth of study, believing the skill sets developed through different subjects to be universally interdependent and pragmatic in the real world. Through Penn’s one-university system, I would work towards my B.S. in Economics through Wharton while simultaneously taking courses in international studies in the College, and even have the opportunity to hone my accent in France for a semester. In 2012, I would graduate from Penn knowing my education over the past four years helped build my foundation as a better critical thinker who can apply core business and teamwork skills in any field.All the while, I would be actively building on my high school extracurricular experience at Penn. I plan to continue my studies in economics outside of the classroom through Penn’s Undergraduate Economics Society both to continue improving my leadership skills and to join the club’s campaign to stimulate interest in economics on campus, an objective of mine at my high school since my junior year. I would also like to take part in editing and writing in the club’s unique International Undergraduate Journal of Economics. To stay active, I hope to join the Men’s Club Tennis at Penn, and I look forward to building on my experience with elementary-age children through the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project.But perhaps above all, it is the student community at Penn that has attracted me the most. My first time strolling down Locust Walk with my family seeing all the club representatives left and right trying to convince students to join their causes was just amazing. There was an air of perpetual excitement and community, a feeling that Penn’s student body is extremely tightly knit. In October, I was even lucky enough to shadow two Huntsman Program freshmen on my third visit to campus. Staying overnight with a student from Morocco concentrating in French, but who was studying Spanish, as well as a student from Oregon targeting German, I found that I felt very comfortable living and learning in the diverse environment at Penn.Sitting in on several classes, I also discovered Wharton’s unique MGMT 100 course to be perhaps the ideal class to tie together my experience in teamwork, interest in community service, and enthusiasm to immerse myself in a real-world business environment. Armed with an open mind and experiences from my travels to a multitude of countries across Asia, North America, and Europe, as well as my volunteer work at events such as the International Children’s Festival and the East African Center’s Evening for Africa, I believe I will bring a very unique and worldly perspective to campus, an outlook I hope to share and broaden working with some of the brightest students from around the globe at Penn.With so many new doors to open, I know a college experience at Penn will prove challenging, yet undoubtedly rewarding. I look forward to a fulfilling four years of hard work, fun, and cheese steaks. ................
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