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Welcome to Part Two of our blog series, “The Voices of Olin's Class of 2027: College Essay Snippets”! In this series we are hoping to debunk one of the major myths about writing college essays; the idea that there are certain topics that are better or more persuasive than others.
To demonstrate our point, in this blog we give you even more stellar examples of the range of college essays done by students of the Class of 2027. Our incoming Olin students wrote about it all.... everything ranging from issues of equity in public transit to a passion for potatoes. Check it out now!
Personal Statement Essay Prompt: 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.
EXAMPLE 1: Using the prompt above, Esther 27’ reclaims and takes pride in their identity by saying goodbye to the other self they created to blend in:
“To Melody, when I created you, sitting in my 4th grade English class, you were an escape from the 87 other pairs of green or blue eyes that were always locked on me...I aspired to become you....you had straight and controlled hair, while mine is chaotically coiled. You had a light complexion that blushed red, while mine is dark. You had beads on your bracelets, while mine is knotted in my hair. You were quiet and dainty during lessons while I started to feel insecure about how many times I was told to be quiet.
By the end of the essay Esther implores, "who will they remember for years to come: the one who sat perfectly, who had such an essay name? Or the one who corrected them to make sure her name was right, because her culture was important than delaying the swiftness of attendance?" and decides they now want to be precisely themselves, sending this farewell to Melody, "the years I have spent unlearning your lessons and living just for me have been the happiest years of my life."
Personal Statement Prompt: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own.
EXAMPLE 2: Fionas’s love letter to potatoes weaves together history, sustainability, and engineering to show the ties that bind us:
Using examples like the potato famine to show, "innovation in agricultural and engineering tools that can help mitigate losses in the food supply chain" such as the how the, “NASA Harvest project utilizes satellites to predict and respond to food security issues.”
For Fiona, "Although my love for potatoes began as a simple food preference as a picky eater, the food has come to symbolize tending my relationships, purposeful engineering, and socio-political conflicts and their consequences. While I will always love snacking on a fresh cut, roasted, and likely heavily salted potato, I also hope to remember the connections I can draw to potatoes, and be fed (intellectually) by those too.”
Olin has a mandatory supplemental essay, like many colleges do. The purpose is to get a deeper understanding of you as an applicant and how you could thrive in the Olin community. With our deep desire to do good in the world we ask applicants to answer, What change do you hope to be a part of? Why is this particular change important to you?
EXAMPLE 3: Alex’s thoughtful, nuanced essay about public transportation captures the essence of the supplement:
“I see the issue of transportation as of special importance because of how often it is overlooked. While there are plenty of people who are committed to tackling the world's most frequently-discussed issues, from climate change to world hunger, both incredibly noble goals, the issue of inadequate public transportation feels unjustly underrepresented... I see this as both the result of powerful corporations in the auto industry acting in their own self-interest, creating and maintaining a dependency on cars to preserve their fortune, and our modern complacency with this flawed system. This is one reason why I am especially intrigued by this problem it needs a solution deeper than a singular innovation or design.”
Each student's essay spoke authentically about a passion, interest, or identity that they feel is important. Since these essays are personal to them, they are never quite the same. So, before you start writing, take a second to think about important pieces of yourself you feel may not be conveyed in other parts of the application. The essay is the perfect time to share those stories!
Stay tuned for our final installation of "The Voices of Olin's Class of 2027: College Essay Snippets" blog series!
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