The Personal Statement is part of Michigan State's ...
College Application Essays
2012-2013 academic year
Michigan State
400 words or less
1. Michigan State University recognizes that an assortment of interests, viewpoints, and life experiences are important in student learning and enhance the university community. Describe an experience, passion, or characteristic that illustrates what you would contribute to the MSU community and how this will add to the overall richness of campus life.
2. Describe a significant experience from the past two years which required you to interact with someone outside of your own social or cultural group (ethnic, religious, geographic, socioeconomic, etc.). How did this impact you? What did you learn and what surprised you?
The University of Michigan
Essay #1 (Required for all applicants. Approximately 250 words.)
Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.
Essay #2 (Required for all applicants. 500 words maximum.)
Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?
The University of Chicago
ESSAY OPTION 1.
"A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies." –Oscar Wilde.
Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).
Inspired by Martin Krzywy, admitted student Class of 2016.
ESSAY OPTION 2.
Heisenberg claims that you cannot know both the position and momentum of an electron with total certainty. Choose two other concepts that cannot be known simultaneously and discuss the implications. (Do not consider yourself limited to the field of physics).
Inspired by Doran Bennett, BS'07 Chemistry and Mathematics.
ESSAY OPTION 3.
Susan Sontag, AB'51, wrote that "[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech." Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend. The Aesthetics of Silence, 1967.
Anonymous submission.
ESSAY OPTION 4.
“...I [was] eager to escape backward again, to be off to invent a past for the present." –The Rose Rabbi by Daniel Stern
Present: pres·ent
1. Something that is offered, presented, or given as a gift.
Let’s stick with this definition. Unusual presents, accidental presents, metaphorical presents, re-gifted presents, etc. — pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it.
Inspired by Jennifer Qin, admitted student Class of 2016.
ESSAY OPTION 5.
In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.
ESSAY OPTION 6.
So where is Waldo, really?
Inspired by Robin Ye, admitted student Class of 2016.
Other UofC essay topics
Essay Option 7
How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.)
Inspired by Kelly Kennedy, a fourth-year in the college.
Essay Option 8
From game theory to Ultimate Frisbee to the great Chicago Scavenger Hunt, we at the University of Chicago take games seriously. We bet you do, too. Even if "just a game," sport, play, and other kinds of games seem to share at the very least an insistence that we take seriously a set of rules entirely peculiar to the circumstance of the game. You might say, in order to play a game we must take it seriously. Think playfully-or play thoughtfully-about games: how they distract us or draw us into the world, create community and competition, tease us and test us with stakes both set apart from and meaningful to everyday life. Don't tell us about The Big Game; rather, tell us about players and games.
Essay Option 9
In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk and have fun.
The Common Application
250 words or less
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given you personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
University of Notre Dame
Essay
Please write a response (250 words minimum) to one of the following topics.
1. The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, said in his Inaugural Address that, “If we are afraid to be different from the world, how can we make a difference in the world?” In what way do you feel you are different from your peers, and how will this shape your contribution to the Notre Dame community?
2. Discovery may be the truest form of learning. Notre Dame is a place where your academic passions will be engaged and encouraged through undergraduate research. Describe an academic project that you have already pursued in high school, and tell us how this project inspires you to engage in further discovery.
3. In a homily during his visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI stated, “Today's celebration is more than an occasion of gratitude for graces received. It is also a summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope for coming generations.” How will a Notre Dame education enable you to answer the call to “use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope” for others in your own way?
Harvard
If you wish to include an additional essay, you may do so.
Possible Topics:
• Unusual circumstances in your life
• Travel or living experiences in other countries
• Books that have affected you the most
• An academic experience (course, project, paper or research topic) that has meant the most to you
• A list of books you have read during the past twelve months
Yale
You have already told us about yourself in the Common Application, with its list of activities, the Short Answer, and the Personal Essay. While we leave the topic of the second essay entirely up to you, try telling us something about yourself that you believe we cannot learn elsewhere in your application. Please limit yourself to fewer than 500 words.
College Essay/Personal Statement Topics (continued)
Choose one of the following to answer in a typed essay of 2 pages.
1. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
2. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
3. If you believe your academic record is not as strong as it should be, please attach a statement that helps us understand why you believe you can be academically successful following high school.
4. Describe your educational achievements in the face of any challenging social, economic, or cultural circumstances that you have encountered.
5. History continues to play a role in our daily lives—whether in the classroom, books and newspapers, or as stories that
are passed down through families. While reflecting on the past, one might imagine what it would be like to grow up in a
different era. Tell us about a decade you would choose to live in and why.
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