College Essay Tips

College Essay Tips In another week I will cross the globe to start a new life in a foreign land called Charlotte. Luckily, I board my train with seconds to spare, and without being turned into a pancake â€" always a plus. At last, it is time to return home to Shanghai. My poem told my story, beginning with rosy-cheeked five-year-old me landing in America on a snowy night and rubbing my eyes in awe of the whiteness covering the new world. Then, as an excited six-year-old starting school, I became self-conscious of how different I was when an intrepid boy welcomed me, “Ni Hao,” his butchered pronunciation tinged with contempt. They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It has been my experience that the way to ANYONE’S heart is through the stomach. The time that I spend in my kitchen, the effort and care that I pour into my confectionary creations, is a labor of love that brings me just as much satisfaction as it does my hungry friends and family. For as long as I can remember, baking has been an integral part of my life. Thanks to busy parents and hungry siblings, I was encouraged to cook from a relatively young age. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.Ed. Prior to coming to Tech, Rick was on the admissions staff at Georgia State, The McCallie School and Wake Forest University. He and his family live in Avondale Estates, Ga. Rick Clark is the Director of Undergraduate Admission at Georgia Tech. To check out her drafts and writing notes, click here. The idea I settled on was my Asian-American identity, but how I wrote about this broad idea really evolved through my drafts. When I was eleven and received a 100 on a math test, my pride and hard work were stomped on by my classmates exclaiming, “It’s because you’re Asian! ” At thirteen, I was caught between my Peranakan roots and American upbringing, unable to understand the idea of being both Asian and American. After a decade of living in America, I don’t understand why I’m still a foreigner. Knowing the topic won’t differentiate you, it has to be something else, right? And like the list of extra-curricular activities, it needs to be clear in the first sentence or two. I know many readers who read the first and last paragraphs and only go back if those are compelling. Coincidentally, this was also the day my young sibling came down with a skin ailment that the doctors have not yet been able to determine what it is. It’s not like his skin condition was a direct result of the terrorist attack, but it probably didn’t help. But I also feel that I could contribute vitally to society even if I were a liberal-arts major, for instance majoring in writing for television. With better understanding comes, I believe, the desire not to fly planes into each other’s skyscrapers. The truth of this was brought home dramatically on September 11, 2001. Despite the fact that I was only twelve at the time, the images of that day will not soon ever be forgotten. Though technically not a New Yorker , I felt, as Donne would put it, “Part of the main,” as I watched those buildings come down. I chose to write about it because it was so integral to my identity through my extracurriculars and my experiences growing up as an Asian immigrant in the American South. Beyond the hook, you will want a successful thesis statement that you work into your introduction to establish your main idea which will run throughout the essay. I feel like I should feel disturbed, but I’m not. I read the last page and close the book, staring out the window at the shining fish ponds and peaceful rice paddies. I feel like a speck of dust outside the train, floating, content and happy to be between destinations. It is the summer of 2012, and Shanghai isn’t to be home for much longer. In this role, he directs the Institute’s recruitment and enrollment efforts, manages the review and selection of all undergraduate applications, and leads the admission team. Under his leadership, the Institute has dramatically increased brand awareness, improved overall academic class profile, and exceeded goals for geographic, gender and ethnic diversity.