Does the essay seem to be the right length to answer whatever question was chosen without either being too short to adequately make the point, or else droning on unnecessarily? Too long can get boring, and shorter than one single-spaced page doesn't give much opportunity for details or fleshing out the topic. Does the essay actually answer one of the questions, or, in other words, can you tell which question the essay is meant to answer?

Two – Tone, Honesty, Engaging Writing Style, Clarity, Organization

On the first read, does the student seem unique, honest, and thoughtful, or do you get the feeling you've read this essay before 100 times? Does the opening sentence pull you in, and is the rest of the essay organized clearly to get you neatly to the end? Would the essay give an admissions evaluator good cause to admit this student to his college's incoming class if the rest of the file (grades, etc.) were top notch? Would her new roommate and her freshman advisor look forward to meeting her? Would she "add” in some way to some facet of the college community?

Three – Good examples and supporting tidbits

Are the salient points supported by concrete and interesting examples, or good stories, or fun tidbits? Do you find yourself asking, "Why do you say this?” "What brought you to that conclusion?” "What's an example to support that statement?”

Four – Language

The same goes for using the right words. Could the student use much more descriptive and less generic words, without making the essay longer or more wordy? For example, "VW Bug” for "car,” "Big Mac” for "burger,” "Aunt Muriel” for "my aunt,” "trudged up Half Dome” for "climbed a mountain.” On the flip side, is the essay full of big words that look as though they were pulled from a thesaurus? Are all the words used correctly? Are there unnecessary, profane, vague words, or clichés that need to be discarded?

Five – Sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, spelling

Sentence fragments? Do all the sentences take the form "subject, verb, object” (which can be very boring!), or is there some variety? Are there too many semi-colons, ellipses, dashes creating run-on sentences? Has spell-check created havoc?

Six – Subjective Reaction

On the final read, do you want to jump up and show another admissions evaluator this essay because it makes you laugh out loud, cry, giggle, say "Wow!” or impress you with its fluid, succinct writing style? Or is your reaction, "Okay, hmmm.” All technical items aside (and already corrected), what can the student improve to make the essay "sing?”

How It Works