The Freshman Application
Why CMC Should Maintain an Application that's Distinctive
Patricia Ingrassia
Last Updated: 12/29/09 Section: Campus News
As winter break looms, high school seniors must work feverishly on finalizing their college applications. The extensive sections on the Common Application allow students to share their family background, recent accomplishments, and extracurricular activities, but CMC's supplemental essay should give students a chance to demonstrate to admissions officers whether or not they are a right fit for the school.
The topic this year calls for an analytical piece on leadership. Students must choose an influential person in any arena - literature, the arts, science, politics, history, athletics or business - and examine the ways in which that leader has shaped culture and thought. The analytical essay may assess the applicant's ability to write cogently, but it fails to do what previous years' supplemental essays have offered: insight into an applicant's character and personality. Many current students well remember the infamous "Superhero Question." Few things will get high school senior's guard down like that, allowing admissions counselors to get a real idea of a student's "fit" for CMC.
This is not, of course, to belittle the importance of being able to write a sound essay drawing connections between leaders and society. But the CMC essay should demonstrate more than just that. Because the options for the Common App essay already offer ample demonstration of extended analytical writing ability, the CMC supplement should do something different - provide a more personal window onto applicants interests, ambitions, and idiosyncrasies.
Some may argue that the short answer section takes care of that. It consists of five fill-in-the-blank questions such as "If I could take anyone in the world to lunch it would be..." as well as a longer thought provoking one: "What influenced you most in your decision to apply to CMC?" Granted that current students could write whole volumes on why Claremont McKenna is the best place to attain an undergraduate education, it seems counterproductive for the admissions office to allow only 400 characters or approximately one hundred words for applicants to respond to this question.
The topic this year calls for an analytical piece on leadership. Students must choose an influential person in any arena - literature, the arts, science, politics, history, athletics or business - and examine the ways in which that leader has shaped culture and thought. The analytical essay may assess the applicant's ability to write cogently, but it fails to do what previous years' supplemental essays have offered: insight into an applicant's character and personality. Many current students well remember the infamous "Superhero Question." Few things will get high school senior's guard down like that, allowing admissions counselors to get a real idea of a student's "fit" for CMC.
This is not, of course, to belittle the importance of being able to write a sound essay drawing connections between leaders and society. But the CMC essay should demonstrate more than just that. Because the options for the Common App essay already offer ample demonstration of extended analytical writing ability, the CMC supplement should do something different - provide a more personal window onto applicants interests, ambitions, and idiosyncrasies.
Some may argue that the short answer section takes care of that. It consists of five fill-in-the-blank questions such as "If I could take anyone in the world to lunch it would be..." as well as a longer thought provoking one: "What influenced you most in your decision to apply to CMC?" Granted that current students could write whole volumes on why Claremont McKenna is the best place to attain an undergraduate education, it seems counterproductive for the admissions office to allow only 400 characters or approximately one hundred words for applicants to respond to this question.
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