San Ramon Valley High School

Essays & Personal Statements

See the Seniors "Class of 2018" tab for more information on College Applications Information
 
The College Essay Guy has numerous FREE Resources, webinars and tutorials to assist with essay writing: 
 
Four Qualities of a Great College Essay:
 
Many colleges require students to submit written essays or personal statements as a part of their application. These writings give an applicant an opportunity to personalize his/her application and should be written in the student's voice and exemplify something about the student that sets him/her apart from his/her colleagues--something that exhibits that students uniqueness and "fit" for college life, or a particular college (if applicable). 
 
UC Personal statements - UC's require applicants to select 4 of 8 insight questions to reply to as a part of the application process.   Each response will be limited to a maximum of 350 characters. 

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/personal-statement  for more details regarding UC personal statements.   
 
College Essays - This type of writing may hold various forms. Students must read each application (institutional, common application or coalition application) and determine the type of response that the college is requesting.  Some may be similar to a personal statement, others might ask why a student "fits" a particular campus, what they know about a campus, what they learned from a particular extra curricular activity, etc. 
 
The Common Application and the Coalition for Student Access Application will require personal essays, including potentially asking for students to complete supplemental essays unique to their school. 
 
In all cases, students should put focused effort into  writing their essays and personal statements as it can be their only chance  to "personalize" an application beyond the numbers  (GPA, test scores,  etc.).  See the attachment below for "Top 10 Tips  for Writing Essays"  provided by your SRVHS counselors.