My Love-Hate Relationship With College Apps

Students across the country use The Common Application to apply to college. Photo courtesy of www.commonapp.org.

Students across the country use “The Common Application” to apply to college. Photo courtesy of www.commonapp.org.

Jessenia Zelaya '15, Staff Writer

What can you offer “Generic University”? Why “Generic College”? How will you bring diversity to our institution? What sets your heart on fire and brings you passion? But seriously, why do you want to attend this school?

While college prompts initially seem amusing, they quickly become far-fetched, time-consuming essays. As Marymount seniors juggle AP classes, rehearsals, sports practices, Ambassador events, and countless meetings, it can be quite hard to conjure up a response to any of the above prompts in 350 words or less. Actually, that’s an understatement: it’s basically impossible to sit down and tell a college what sets my heart on fire alongside the millions of other tasks I have to complete in my daily schedule.

As much as I love unique and quirky questions, there is simply not enough time to compose numerous supplemental essays without eventually burning out.  Of course, these types of essays are a refreshing take on the classic “Personal Statement,” but the questions still get old pretty fast. For those of you new to the college process, every applicant must submit a “Personal Statement” through the Common Application, an online form sent to schools that you are applying to; however, each of your schools is bound to require at least one or two additional supplements, and sometimes even more if you’re applying to an especially competitive program within the college.

For example, the University of Richmond simply asks prospective students on this year’s freshman application to tell them about spiders. That’s it. That is how they will assess your worthiness of being admitted to their institution. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Just wait, there’s more!  Lehigh University wants applicants to create an acronym for their name and explain how it reveals their strengths and traits. Meanwhile, the University of Virginia plainly asks the age-old question: “To tweet or not to tweet?” Notorious and widely publicized for its offbeat and brainy questions, the University of Chicago really is the quirky supplement king. Favorites from past years include: “So where is Waldo, really?” and “Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall?…Write an essay somehow inspired by super huge mustard.” This year, UChicago has stepped it up with this new pressing question: “What’s so odd about odd numbers?”  While the prompts may seem interesting to write, there are simply too many, taking the joy out of many of the questions applicants must respond to.

Despite the negative aspects of supplemental essays, their peculiar questions just may work in some students’ favor. You can answer with virtually anything and think outside the box with any of these prompts. Even though I am stressed out with everything else going on at school, I am strangely glad that I don’t have to write the same old essay for every single college I am applying to. In efforts to get to know an applicant better, institutions have turned to posing these questions to get a different perspective on a student. While this admissions strategy may challenge us and consume our weekends, it just might reveal our most creative sides to colleges and result in a much-deserved acceptance letter.