ChancellorRock10196
write a one full page or over one page reflection of your college…
write a one full page or over one page reflection of your college application essay( provided below ). In doing so, I want you to consider the “observed patterns” of the Rhetorical Situation as presented in the reading Rhetorical Situations, an Introduction by Itai Halevi. Think about where in the essay you might have considered (without realizing) or ignored (again, without realizing) the following ideas: exigence, purpose, audience, context, and constraints.
Some questions you might want to consider:
Exigence: Of course, the exigence was your desire to get into college. But this can come about in different ways for different people. Was the requirement of an essay in your application materials the only exigence? Maybe you were driven by a desire to enter a particular field. Hence you chose certain schools to apply to.
Purpose: Did you consider what you wanted to achieve in your essay? Sure, you tried to gain acceptance, but maybe you wanted to dazzle the admissions personnel with your skills or intellect (As Connor said, writing can make you feel smart!). Did your goal have further aims, such as being considered for a particular area of study that only admits a select few students?
Audience: Did you think about the audience? Did you take the time to imagine who it is that would be reading your essay? If not, what would you have changed if the audience had been considered?
Context: Was your essay geared toward the interests you intended to pursue while in college? Was it specific to your interest in a particular area of study, such as Environmental Science, Nursing, or English? Did your essay address things that pique the audience’s interest?
Constraints: Often, there are prompts for college essays. This can limit what you want to say about yourself and how you wish to tell it. What were the constraints for your essay? You might even think about how this differed from school to school. Did the constraints present challenges to how you like to write? Were the prompts uninteresting, boring, or uninspiring?
Be sure to refer to your actual college application essay. You can also directly reference or quote from the Halevi reading (Don’t worry about in-text citations).
Due by Saturday (11:59)
*FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT HAVE A COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY:
Since you don’t have a college application essay, you can work in hypothetical terms. What if you were required to write an essay as part of your college application? How would you approach this writing task? How do you approach any writing situation where the stakes are of a higher value? A writing prompt leads most college application essays. Given what you have learned about the Rhetorical Situation, how would you approach such an essay? How would you respond to one of the specific prompts below?
College application essay prompts:
Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Reflect on something someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
Talk about someone who has had a significant impact on your life. Who were they, and why are they important to you?
