How To Write The Best College Admission Essay

How To Write The Best College Admission Essay What excites me about St. John’s the most is that I have some previous exposure and that familiarity will improve both my understanding of these texts as well as my ability to discuss them. I have already read some of the books in the curriculum once, and so now I will be able to ‘read a book,’ during my second round of reading and discussion at St. John’s. My junior year in particular was my most interesting round of humanities. It wasn’t like reading Plato, or studying Mark Twain, where I feel cultured and empowered, adventurous and brave. My favorite protagonist and I grew up together until I moved on from the third grade, finally outgrowing that special connection. I will forever be aware of myself and others, and I hope to never act on an unconscious bias. I know that Descartes was thinking thateverythingtold to him by his senses might be wrong, but I think his revelation applies more usefully to behaviors and biases we learn from a young age as well. However, through my entire high school life, I was not allowed to have a conversation in classes. Being quiet was the unspoken rule of manner and etiquette, where the dominance of the teacher to teach and submission of student to learn by observation was naturally accepted by all members of every class. Not only that, for me, saying aloud my ideas helps me to better understand and clarify my thoughts, and thus myself. Before the series, I had no real interest in books. I loved stories, and I liked scribbling on pages and pretending to write books, but turning the pages of other people’s words never caught my attention. This double life that I live now is so different from what it was in the beginning, when I was a normal kindergartner, just like the heroine. The Junie B. Jones series, by Barbara Park, was my real introduction to reading on my own. Before the B, as in Beatrice, I was content to have my dad read to me until he fell asleep. I was in Kindergarten when I got my first Junie B. Jones book. It focused entirely on Greek works, starting with Homer and the playwrights, transitioning into Thucydides, and then on to Plato and Aristotle. I enjoyed reading and discussing these works very much. Kierkegaard and St. John’s are attractive for similar reasons. Either/Or ends with the statement, “Only the truth which edifies is truth for you.” A St. John’s student, Alec Bianco, shared how his music tutor commended him for trying to live musically throughout his life. There is an understanding at St. John’s that accumulating knowledge is not the end, but rather, being edified by truth. I couldn’t read it by myself yet, and my dad was in the middle of the first Harry Potter book, so the pick checkered cover was put on a shelf. When I was six, we moved, and a box of my books turned up in my new room. I collected the series, and when I finished with the ones I had, I reread them and begged for more. But reading the Junie B. Jones books taught me to connect in different ways with other texts. I knew what to look for, what it felt like, and I desired to find that connection in other places. Junie opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, and saved my dad a neck cramp from sleeping at a weird angle. It would be all too easy to let my constant busyness and the distractions of daily life keep me from trying to understand the world and my place in it, but I won’t let that happen. Just be yourself and write the best way you know how. The essay is one of the few things that you’ve got complete control over in the application process, especially by the time you’re in your senior year. college admissions, and I found my notes from the road trip I took with my daughter in 2011, the summer before she applied to college. The process begins with the questions and reflections required by a St. John’s. education, the kind of education I aspire to have. And so, I aspire to honestly pursue truth at St. John’s College.