Friday, July 11, 2008

Essay Questions for the 2009 Application!

Today on the website, we're publishing the seven questions that will be the options for the long essay portion of the First-Year Application this year. A lot of thought and debate goes into these questions--we end up reading hundreds of these essays, so for our sake as well as yours we do our best to make them interesting!

Here are the 2009 essay questions:
  1. We tend to spend our time doing the things we know we do well—running because we’re good runners, or painting because we’re talented artists. Tell us about a time when you tried something for which you had no talent. How did it go?
  2. If you were principal of your school, what one thing would you change first, and why?
  3. What one thing would you hope to be remembered for after four years at Carolina? What do you hope would be your most memorable contribution—to the life of our community and the experience of your fellow students?
  4. Is there someone in your school who should attend college but for some reason can’t or won’t? What's standing in this student's way? What might help this student move forward?
  5. Carolina seeks students who are exceptionally curious. Tell us about a time when your curiosity led you someplace you weren’t expecting to go.
  6. Tell us about your best teacher ever—or your toughest, or your worst. What distinguished this teacher from the others you’ve known?
  7. If you have written an essay for another school’s application that you really like, feel free to use it as your longer essay for us. Please be sure to tell us (a) what essay you are answering and (b) why you think this essay represents you well (your explanation will not be included in the essay word count).
Last year, I posted my Top 10 Tips for Essays. Check it out.