Fiske Real College Essays That Work - Softcover

Fiske, Edward; Hammond, Bruce

3.95

40 ratings by Goodreads

9781402225109: Fiske Real College Essays That Work

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1402225105 ISBN 13: 9781402225109

Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2009

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The #1 book on college admissions essays, completely updated and revised

From the most trusted name in college admissions, Fiske Real College Essays That Work is the first application essay book designed for those who need it most: bright students who aren't natural writers.

College experts Edward Fiske and Bruce Hammond offer readers the best, most student-tailored advice on how to choose their topic and write their essay. Students can learn by example with more than 100 real sample essays, chosen from all degrees of writing proficiency, including 20 brand-new essays from students who got into the most up-and-coming, in-demand schools. Examples are also given to show how an essay is edited from initial to final draft.

Fiske and Hammond give students an all-inclusive guide to writing an application essay that will open the door to the college of their dreams.

"An excellent purchase for libraries..."
School Library Journal

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About the Author:

Edward B. Fiske served for 17 years as Education Editor of The New York Times, during which time he realized that college-bound students and their families needed better information on which to base their educational choices. He is the author of the bestselling annual, The Fiske Guide to Colleges and The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College.

Bruce G. Hammond co-authored The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College and Fiske Countdown to College, and was editor in chief of The Insider's Guide to the Colleges. He is the author of Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges and is the school and college expert at Parent Soup, a division of iVillage.com.

1. What Makes a Great Essay?
Mention that you're writing a college essay and you'll probably get an earful of advice:

� "Write about your trip to Mexico," offers your mom. "You can show that you've broadened your horizons."
� "Community service always looks good," says Dad. "Talk about your work with Habitat for Humanity."
� "Write something funny," advises your best friend. "They love essays that make them laugh."
� "Make yourself stand out," says your guidance counselor. "In a pile of one thousand essays, yours should be the one they remember."

If you're lucky, you won't hear all of the above-at least not all at once. But the odds are good that you'll get some of it, particularly the one about making yourself stand out. How, exactly, do you accomplish that one? Have you scaled Mount Everest? Overcome a terminal disease? Saved a toddler from a burning building?
Of course not. Neither have 99.9 percent of the rest of us. The best essays are seldom about a dramatic event or "significant experience" that changes the author's life. Real people don't get hit by lightning and suddenly realize that they should live their lives differently. Human development is a step-by-step, day-by-day process that happens almost imperceptibly.

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