Undergraduate College Application Essay Sample

 

From the time I was able to realize what a university was, all I heard from my mother’s side of the family was about the University of Michigan and the great heritage it has. Many a Saturday afternoon my grandfather would devote to me, by sitting me down in front of the television and reminiscing about the University of Michigan while halftime occurred during a Michigan Wolverines football game. Later, as I grew older and universities took on greater meaning, my mother and uncle, both alumni of the University of Michigan took me to see their old stomping grounds. From first sight, the university looked frightening because of its size, but with such a large school comes diversity of people and of academic and non-academic events.

 

In Springfield High School, non-academic clubs such as the Future Physicians and the Pylon, both of which I have belonged to for two years, give me an opportunity to see both the business world and the medical world. These two clubs have given me a greater sense of what these careers may be like. In Future Physicians, I participated in field trips to children’s hospitals and also participated in two blood banks.

 

Currently I hold a job at Maas Brothers. This lets me interact with people outside my own immediate environment. I meet different kinds of people, in different moods, with different attitudes, and with different values. This teaches me to be patient with people, to have responsibility, and to appreciate people for what they are.

 

In the community I am active in my church Youth Group. As a high school sophomore, I was our church’s representative to the Diocesan Youth Fellowship. I helped organize youth group events, the largest being “The Bishop’s Ball”, a state-wide event for 300 young people. I also played high school junior varsity soccer for two years. As a senior I will be playing varsity soccer, but in the off-season. As a junior I coached a girls’ soccer team for the town. This gave me a great deal of responsibility, because the care of twenty-four girls was put into my custody. It felt very satisfying to pass on the knowledge of soccer to another generation. The girls played teams from other parts of Florida. Though their record was 3-8, the girls enjoyed their season. This is what I taught them was the greatest joy of soccer.

 

The past three years of my life have given me greater visions of my future. I see the University of Michigan as holding a large book with many unread chapters and myself as an eager child who has just learned to read. I intend to read a probe into all the chapters. The University of Michigan offers me more than the great reputation of this fine school, but a large student body with diverse likes and dislikes, and many activities, both academic and non-academic, to participate in. With the help of the University of Michigan, I will be successful after college and be able to make a name and place for myself in our society.

 

Things to Notice about This Essay中文點(diǎn)評(píng)
 
1.  It follows a general essay organization, with an introduction, several body paragraphs about different activities, and a conclusion that returns to the earlier idea of Michigan’s diversity.
2.  It has no focus but rather jumps around from the school to the writer and from point to point.Notice especially the lack of transition from the first paragraph to the second:  how did we get from Michigan’s diversity to the writer’s clubs?
3.  The body paragraphs lack proof:  What are these clubs and jobs, what did he do in each one, how many field trips were taken, and what was his role?
4.  What’s Pylon?  What does he do at Maas Brothers?
5.  There are plenty of generalizations but no evidence to back up any of them.  How did these activities give him a greater sense of the career world?  “Participated” and “interact” are pretty vague words.  Compare the discussion of Maas Brothers with the hockey ref’s story
6.  There is very little specific knowledge of what the University of Michigan has to offer.
7.  The style is rather stuffy and awkward (“while halftime occurred”, “the care of twenty-four girls was put into my custody”).
8.  Most important, nearly everything described here appears elsewhere on  the application, under sports, jobs, extracurricular activities, and alumni connections.
9.  The writer would be well advised to focus on one of the things discussed in this essay.  Perhaps he could show the reader his work with the girls’ soccer team.  What he did to make Jennifer and Gretchen and Courtney enjoy soccer even though they only won three of their games would be more vivid than a lot of talk about passing things on to future generations.
10.  In short, the essay seems full of information and displays adequate form, but it lacks focus and proof.