PB1A: College Admissions Essay

College admissions essays are essential in the process of a student getting accepted into the college they are aiming for.  It is basically a textual genre that one uses to persuade the college admissions officer into accepting them into the university.  Written towards the end of a student’s four years of high school during senior year, it is important that traits that define them are explained and written down in the essay.  This is a type of genre written for a specific audience, and so most college admissions essays are generally written in similar styles.

Rhetoric is using language to persuade, and analyzing the rhetorical features of a textual genre consists of audience, purpose, context, style, and tone.  The power of persuasion is important so that the audience, the admissions officers of the college applied for, will deem the student worthy of attending.  The admissions officers receive the letter, and they are responsible for solving the problem of finding who is best fit for the college.  Aside from those editing the essay for improvement, the admissions officers are generally the only “audience,” or recipients of the papers because only they decide who gets in.  That is their job.  It would be a waste of time and not really helpful if someone else were to read it, because the sole purpose of this kind of essay is for entering college.  Students must make their letters seem professional, while they try to convince that they are likeable and are able to stand out from others in order to impress the readers.  So the purpose of this textual genre is to be able to impress the admissions officers.

The context of of a college admissions essay is as follows: many students want to go to college after high school, so it is their responsibility to create a formidable college admissions essay during senior year that would allow them to get accepted.  A prompt is given and the student must give an honest response that reveals enough information that allows for the audience to make the decision of either an acceptance or a denial.  The prompts are designed so that the candidate can reveal who they are and what positive qualities they can bring to the university.  There are several constraints to this essay.  There is usually a maximum amount of words that are allowed for each essay to make it easier on the admissions officer and so that the applicant puts down the most important information on the page.  Also, there is a deadline for the paper to be turned in.  The writer has to set an appropriate tone so that they will seem credible to the reader.  Credibility is gained by answering the prompt with clarity.  One must sound smart so that the admissions officer would believe the student is prepared to to spend the next four years at the university.  Adding in too much humor or negativity would not be appropriate for the setting.  Writing words down professionally and in a formal style in the college admissions essay is most common in answering the prompts.  

Most importantly, what makes a college admissions essay a college admissions essay?  When writing mine during senior year of high school, several conventions that came to mind were my accomplishments, elaborating on my academic achievements, important extracurriculars, and writing about my other traits that made me sound like a good student when answering the prompts.  These may not be present in every single college admissions essay, but these are things that come to mind when it is talked about.  A college admissions essay, in my opinion, is a very important piece of writing that will help determine the future success of a student.