College Admissions/Scholarship Essay Prewriting Assignment MAJOR Grade

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1 English IV AP/Dual 2 Summer Reading Assignments 2015 For students enrolled in English IV AP (#1430) and English IV AP D2 (#1457) Your assignment is tripartite: 1. First, closely read How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. Take good notes over the advice you encounter in this text. (Expect to submit these notes.) 2. Then, closely read Charlotte Brontë s Jane Eyre like a professor. Annotate the text and take good notes over the various symbols and patterns you encounter - based on what you read in in Foster s book. (Expect to submit these notes.) NOTE: You will probably want to read Jane Eyre once just to get the gist of the text. Then read it a second time, making meaningful observations about the symbols and patterns. Expect an exam and a major writing assignment over your summer reading. 3. Also, work on your college-admission and scholarship essay pre-writing. This will be a MAJOR grade in the first six weeks, but more importantly, working on this assignment during the summer will help you tremendously in the college and scholarship application process during your senior year. If you draft these essays during the summer, you will be able to spend more time thinking about the prompts and thus produce better writing (and a whole lot less stress during the school year). NOTE: We will revise at least one of these essays in class, but the primary purpose of the prewriting is to give you a bank from which to work with later in the year when you are completing applications. Reminder: This is a significant amount of writing. Save it to a couple of places (desktop and a flashdrive) so you don t lose it. You will upload it to turnitin.com when we return to school. College Admissions/Scholarship Essay Prewriting Assignment MAJOR Grade 15 pages TYPED, MLA-format (I inch margins; size 12 Arial font) due to turnitin.com by 5:00 pm, Tuesday, September 8, Each page must include your MLA-format heading and the prompt you are addressing (bolded). Rationale: Most universities require at least 2 essays for admissions purposes. The following are topics taken from the ApplyTexas Application, which the major universities in Texas use. (Be sure to check which topics are required by the universities you want to apply to and focus on those. If you are applying out of Texas, you might consult the U.S. Common Application or check the university s website.) Since the topics are extremely broad, most students have difficulty in focusing on a specific subject. I don t know what to write about is the most common complaint. Most universities suggest that you spend lots of time thinking and processing your ideas in order to help you produce the best examples of your writing ability. To assist you in focusing on potential topics, you will write on at least 15 different topics, one page minimum for each. (If you want to write more and finish each essay, then great. But, you are required to address 15 DIFFERENT topics. Remember, a big part of your purpose is to generate a bank of ideas from which you can withdraw later.) Think about the colleges to which you want to apply, and focus on those topics that will most benefit you. You can also address scholarship essay topics and topics from the U.S. Common application.

2 Essay A Describe a setting in which you have collaborated or interacted with people whose experiences and/or beliefs differ from yours. Address your initial feelings, and how those feelings were or were not changed by this experience. 1. Describe a time you were forced out of your comfort zone. Whom did you encounter? Where were you? What did you learn from this experience? 2. We all learn from unexpected people. Describe a time you worked with someone very different from you and how this encounter changed you. 3. If you have strong religious/spiritual convictions, describe a significant time you remember encountering someone without these convictions. What did you learn from this person? 4. Where is the most interesting place you ve ever spent a significant amount of time? How did this location influence who you are? 5. When have you been an other, the person who did not fit in to a group? How did this feeling of alienation affect you then and now? 6. Have you ever had the chance to spend time/work with an elderly person? What happened? How did it go? What did you take away from the experience? 7. Have you ever had to work on a team or in a group with someone you really disliked? How did you make it work? 8. Have you ever had the chance to travel abroad and really experience a very different culture? Did you experience a language barrier? How did you cope with that? Essay B Describe a circumstance, obstacle, or conflict in your life, and the skills and resources you used to resolve it. Did it change you? If so, how? 9. What is the biggest challenge you ve ever faced in your life? Describe the change you experienced in a mental, emotional, financial, physical, and/or educational way. 10. When you experience challenges, who/what/where are the resources you draw from to help you resolve the conflict? 11. Describe a time you reached (or did not reach) your goal and how that affected you. 12. What is the biggest mistake you ever made? How did you fix things? 13. When did you learn about the kind of person you are under stress? How has this realization affected your behavior now and in the future? 14. Have you endured loss (death of a loved one, parents divorce, etc.). How did you cope with it? 15. Have you ever been falsely accused or unfairly judged? How did you deal with it? 16. What makes your life complicated? How do you deal with it? Essay C Considering your lifetime goals, discuss how your current and future academic and extracurricular activities might help you achieve your goals. 17. What are your biggest lifetime goals? Describe your current plan to achieve these goals. 18. What experiences led you to create these goals in life? Who or what is your inspiration? 19. How has your school career (academic and/or extracurricular) prepared you for life after high school? 20. What experiences do you expect to have this year that will prepare you for college? 21. What one extracurricular activity (club, sport, organization outside of school) has most strongly impacted the person you are today? How do you apply this experience to your school experiences? 22. What is something you feel really passionate about (political issue, social concern, etc.) Do you see yourself pursuing a career that deals with this passion?

3 The following topics are from the U.S. Common Application Essay Prompts. NOTE: The U.S. Common Application and essay topics for should be available online on August 1, 2015 at (You may address those topics, too.) 1. 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. 2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? 4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. 5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. To be clear: If you want full credit for this assignment, you will produce 15 FULL pages of writing on 15 different topics, so if you wrote on a topic and could generate only a partial page, add an additional prompt and respond to it. If you responded to a topic and wrote more than a page, that s great. You still have to address at least 15 different topics. (You are generating a minimum of 15 different rough drafts on at least 15 different topics so that you can explore ideas and have a pool of resources for revising essays at a later date. This will generate a fabulous bank of pre-writing for you.) Typed, double-spaced, Arial, size 12 font, 1 inch margins, MLA heading on first page only, header (last name and page number on subsequent pages). Have a great vacation, but be sure to complete your reading and writing assignments! Questions? Contact Roberta.Schulze@nisd.net or Rachel.Gray-Castro@nisd.net.

4 Brainstorm Common Scholarship Essay Questions Check out these thought-provoking questions for scholarship essays. By Roxana Hadad March 10, 2015 The essay: It s the most important part of your scholarship application, and it can be the hardest. But, the essay shouldn t keep you from applying. Take a look at some commonly asked essay questions and use them to prepare for your scholarship applications. Brainstorm ideas, do some research or create your own stock of scholarship essays. Your Field of Specialization and Academic Plans Some scholarship applications will ask you to write about your major or field of study. These questions are used to determine how well you know your area of specialization and why you re interested in it. How will your study of contribute to your immediate or long range career plans? Why do you want to be a? Explain the importance of (your major) in today s society. What do you think the industry of will be like in the next 10 years? What are the most important issues your field is facing today? Current Events and Social Issues To test your skills at problem-solving and check how up to date you are on current issues, many scholarship applications include questions about problems and issues facing society. What do you consider to be the single most important societal problem? Why? If you had the authority to change your school in a positive way, what specific changes would you make? Pick a controversial problem on college campuses and suggest a solution. What do you see as the greatest threat to the environment today? Personal Achievements Scholarships exist to reward and encourage achievement. So you shouldn t be surprised to find essay topics that ask you to brag a little. Describe how you have demonstrated leadership ability both in and out of school. Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart. Describe your most meaningful achievements and how they relate to your field of study and your future goals. Why are you a good candidate to receive this award?

5 Background and Influences Who you are is closely tied to where you ve been and who you ve known. To learn more about you, some scholarship committees will ask you to write about your background and major influences. Pick an experience from your own life and explain how it has influenced your development. Who in your life has been your biggest influence and why? How has your family background affected the way you see the world? How has your education contributed to who you are today? Future Plans and Goals Scholarship sponsors look for applicants with vision and motivation, so they might ask about your goals and aspirations. Briefly describe your long- and short-term goals. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? Why do you want to get a college education? Financial Need Many scholarship providers have a charitable goal: They want to provide money for students who are going to have trouble paying for college. In addition to asking for information about your financial situation, these committees may want a more detailed and personal account of your financial need. From a financial standpoint, what impact would this scholarship have on your education? State any special personal or family circumstances affecting your need for financial assistance. How have you been financing your college education? Random Topics Some essay questions don t seem directly related to your education, but committees use them to test your creativity and get a more well-rounded sense of your personality. Choose a person or persons you admire and explain why. Choose a book or books and that have affected you deeply and explain why. While you can t predict every essay question, knowing some of the most common ones can give you a leg up on applications. Start brainstorming now, and you may find yourself a winner! Source: