"What matters to you and why?"
"Please write exactly five sentences that best describe you."
"What do you wish you were better at doing or being?"
"What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?"
"Where is Waldo, really?"
How am I supposed to answer these questions? How am I supposed to write an essay-- 500 entire words-- to convince someone that I am not only a good writer but also someone special enough to be accepted? Beats me. I'm stuck.
Writing is a difficult task, especially when you're asked to show yourself through your words. I have a mathematical mind. My mind is familiar with the definite outlines of biological processes, derivatives and integrals, and algebraic equations. If I could express myself in the form of a math equation, life would be good. But unfortunately, written English is the standard. Apparently, written language is more personal than math.
Maybe so. But that doesn't make writing any easier. It is daunting to think that my words are supposed to be a representation of me and my persona. Am I really capable of truly capturing my own essence in a group of organized sentences? Can a stranger read my words and know who I am? I have my work cut out for me. If only I could get past this brick wall.
Writer's block is a pain.
When I saw your post, I wanted to wish you good luck with all of those essays!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read of your writing, what you write always seems to be effortless yet well-thought out (even though you say it can be difficult).
It also seems that you're especially good at reflective writing (like on this blog)- which is wonderful when tackling essays.
And I hope you find Waldo :)
Haha, thanks Julie! I hope I can find Waldo, too.
DeleteI totally feel you on this one. This whole applying to college thing is daunting, but the scariest part for me is definitely how important the essays are. Trying to get across everything about you that you can in 500 words or less is a challenging thing. But don't worry- I'm sure you'll end up getting in SOMEWHERE eventually :)
ReplyDeleteI think colleges ask us these broad and ambiguous questions on purpose. They want to see our creativity and our personality through these essays. I'm afraid that if I answer the essay prompts straightforwardly, then my essays will all be cliched. For me, the most important aspects of these essays are to stand out and write well. I have been taking many risks with my essays and I hope it pays off. Hopefully on December 20th, the first blog post after our early action college decisions, we will all be talking about how all our hard work paid off. Let's hope for the best :)
ReplyDelete