User:Miya Johnson/Application essay

Application Essay
An admissions or application essay, sometimes also called a personal statement or a statement of purpose, is an essay or other written statement written by an applicant, often a prospective student applying to some college, university, or graduate school. The application essay is a common part of the university and college admissions process.

Some applications may require one or more essays to be completed, while others make essays optional or supplementary. Essay topics range from very specific to open-ended.

United States
In the United States, these essays give admissions officers at the schools you are applying to insight and perspective on who you are. Not just about your academics.

The Common Application, used for undergraduate admissions by many American colleges and universities, requires a general admissions essay, in addition to any supplemental admissions essays required by member institutions. The Common Application offers students six admissions essay prompts from which to choose. According to Uni in the USA, the Common Application essay is intended as a chance to describe "things that are unique, interesting and informative about yourself".

The 2023 prompts, which are subject to change next year, can be found on the Common App website or the app. Some include:


 * 1) Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
 * 2) Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and new understanding of yourself or others.
 * 3) Some 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 University of Chicago is known for its unusual essay prompts in its undergraduate admissions application, including "What would you do with a foot-and-a-half-tall jar of mustard"?

United Kingdom
In the UK, an application essay is more commonly known as a personal statement. This personal statement is part of an application sent to UCAS by a prospective student at a UK university. In a personal statement, the student writes about what they hope to achieve in a UK university course, what they hope to do after the course and why they are applying to this particular university. The type of writing required in personal statements are no so much creative, but more simple and straight to the point. The information wanted is more academic based and interested in what you want to study and why you chose it.

The basic format is 4,000 characters, 5-6 paragraphs, and you only need one essay.