Every college in Texas sets their own requirements for accepting students. One part of the requirement is that a potential student will write an essay the right way. If you are not too familiar with essays or you feel like you don’t do very well on them, you will benefit from this simple lesson on how to write one that will grab attention. This article will also go over what the admission department is looking for when it comes to essays and how you can use simple strategies to write an essay that will meet the requirements and satisfy their expectations.
The ApplyTexas application is found throughout the state of Texas, so every college uses the same format or version for this type of essay; this goes for all Public universities as well as some of the private universities. There is also the Common Application which is also accepted wherever the ApplyTexas application is. The App found on the ApplyTexas website has a lot of useful information that can help you apply to the college of your choice, but it’s always a good idea to visit the admissions website to make sure you have everything you need for that particular college.
Why do Colleges Require an Essay with your Admission Application?
The admission department works diligently to create classes that are filled with students from many different backgrounds bringing their strengths as well as their weaknesses, dreams, and goals from each one. The college essay gives them a different perspective that they can carefully read and consider when viewing an application.
When you write an essay, you have the opportunity to make a difference and show the admission department a different you that they wouldn’t normally be exposed to during an interview. You have the chance to write about what matters to you or what you are passionate about. This will also reflect on your values, and the officers get a better idea of how they can help you reach your goals. While they read your essay, they get an opportunity to see just how mature you really are and how you, like many others in your generation, can change the world.
The Essay Requirements
When you are on the website, you will find four essay prompts geared toward freshman admissions. These are topics A, B, C, and D. You will also see three essay prompts that are not on the ApplyTexas application itself. These three prompts are found on the UT Austin Essay Application though. They are topics N, S, and W. When writing an essay, you will see that there are no word limits; however, many colleges will suggest that the essays be a total of 1 to 1 1/2 pages long.
What do Texas Colleges and Universities Require with the Admission Application?
In addition to the application and the essay, some colleges will also use that essay to help determine potential scholarship awards, honor programs, and other special majors that not everyone will qualify for. Find some essay submission requirement examples for each school are below.
Essay Requirements for UT Austin
- Write an essay on Topic A
- Write an essay on one more topic B, C, D, N, S, or W.
- Your second essay will be on Topic D if you are applying to enter into Fine Arts, Art and Art History, or Architecture.
- Your second essay will be on Topic N if you are applying for the nursing program.
- Your second essay will be on Topic W if you are applying for the social work program.
Essay Requirements for Texas A&M
- You will need to write essays on both Topic A and Topic B.
- If you find that you are not meeting automatic admission standards, it is recommended that you also write an essay on Topic C. This is not a requirement, only a suggestion.
Essay Requirements for Southern Methodist University
- You can choose which APplyTexas prompts you want to write about, as long as it follows the Southern Methodist University FAQ.
- Southern Methodist University accepts the Common App and its online application when applying.
Essay Requirements for Texas Christian University
- Write one essay on any of the topics that interest you
- Texas Christian University accepts the Common App as well as their own online application.
More Information about the ApplyTexas Essay Prompts A, B, and C
There are three essay topics that you will find on the ApplyTexas website. Each one of these prompts is designed to get to the heart of what really matters to you. This happens in three different ways. While you may feel like writing an essay would be easy to do, you would be surprised at just how close people come to not completing it. Whether they doubt their ability to write a complete essay or if they simply don’t know what to put on paper, it’s not always as easy as you would imagine. When you first read through these prompts, you are going to feel like they are very similar but they are not. While Topics A, B, and C are very similar, Topics D and S are very different, so there is no real reason to duplicate these.
Topic A – Prompt: Describe the environment that you were raised in at home. Include your neighborhood and/or community. How did these factors contribute to who you are today?
Topic B – Prompt: Considering your own unique talent, interest, and identity, tell us about you.
Topic C – Prompt: You are holding a ticket. Where will that ticket take you? What will you do once you get there?
Telling Topics A, B, and C apart from each other
The best way to figure out which topic is which is to read over the prompts, close your eyes and imagine what each one would look like, the big picture. For example, Topic A – Outside, Topic B – Inside, Topic C – The future.
How does this make sense? Take topic A, for example. This topic wants to know the influence you received from the outside world and how you handled it. Topic B is going to focus on the passions that you have on the inside and how these passions define who you are. Topic C will want to know where you plan to go when you leave your hometown.
It’s not always easy to get the words out and on paper. These essays give you the opportunity to think deeply about who you are and where you have been. This is a very important journey you are going to embark on soon. Reflecting back will give you a sense of belonging.
Look Deeper into Topic A
Topic A is the first prompt on the ApplyTexas application. This prompt is asking you to think back to your past when you were small. The question from topic A is:
What was the environment in which you were raised? Describe your family, home, neighborhood or community, and explain how it has shaped you as a person.
You need to consider that this topic question has two parts. The first part, you are going to explore the environment you were raised in. The second part of this is to describe things; people, home, community or neighborhood.
When you consider the first part of the question, you are going to think back and probably picture running outside as a child. You can’t be too vague when describing your environment. The essay should include lots of details to keep it interesting. This prompt has you using your complete surroundings to focus on this question. Find something that you can focus on and describe every detail of it, clearly. Your environment doesn’t really have to be a positive environment if you feel that it wasn’t.
How has this Helped you?
You are defined by your environment so don’t just describe your everyday circumstances in sketchy detail. Discuss how that type of environment influences you today. While you are thinking back, you will need to remember a couple of stories that have been a big influence on you. You can’t just sum it up in a few words, like ” My family had a farm. I had to help around the farm every day. I am now a hard worker. ” While this statement is true, there is not much detail. You can work on a farm and still not develop good morals so how do they become a part of life?
What Do Readers Want to Learn About You?
Of course, these essays are also to help the department heads find out more about you. Readers will want to see how mature you have become and how much of a part your surroundings had with that. If you haven’t been very observant and appreciative of where you are today, you may not be able to list anyone who has been a part of your life and has had a positive influence on your personality.
What Do Readers Want to Learn About You?
Of course, these essays are also to help the department heads find out more about you. Readers will want to see how mature you have become and how much of a part your surroundings had with that. If you haven’t been very observant and appreciative of where you are today, you may not be able to list anyone who has been a part of your life and has had a positive influence on your personality.
Second, they want to see if you can stand out from a crowd. To do that, you can place emphasis on how being in a different environment has made a difference in your life and what positive qualities you have now you because of it.
How to write an essay that will be exactly what they want to see
You want to do a great job so how can you be sure that your essay is really targeting the main question on the topic?
Plan: remember what you have learned when writing essays; always have an outline of information to help. You need to choose a particular person, place, or thing that you can use as a focal point. While the Topic A suggests that you focus on your family, your home, neighborhood or community, you could run in different directions with them. Use your outline to determine what really played a part in your environment and what would you change if anything. Details are very important in this type of writing.
Telling your Story through Writing
Consider the different aspects of a movie. Your life in the path has been a movie that you love to watch. A movie will include the setting, stakes, external conflict resolution, and internal conflict resolution.
Setting – Describing your environment may help you to reflect on some really important moments. You will be able to use the setting to describe your physical environment in more detail. You can include a list of your main characters that you remember was there too.
Stakes – There is a theme in movies today; good vs. evil, win or lose. You will most likely also reflect on a couple of conflicts that occurred when you were living in that moment. How did you overcome these obstacles?
External Conflict Resolution – You can add conflict to a certain degree in your essay. If you do have conflict, you want to quickly write in a resolution to your conflict so the board can see that your problem was solved and how. Your conflict could be with a sibling, a neighbor, a kid from school, another family member, or a teacher.
Internal Conflict Resolution – The inner conflict is basically how you have changed due to some event or experience. You need to detail what actually happened and what changes you went through to move forward from that moment.
Additional information such as more details, descriptions, and examples
If you were young and learning how to get around the public transit, you may feel on top of the world when you’re done with it. You can write about that experience in two different ways.
The first version
You felt nervous about taking public transit for the first time. While standing at the station, you could see so many people running around on and off the transit. While I was afraid of getting lost, I quickly realized that I had to go.
The second version
I was so nervous and excited at the same time that morning. I was walking on the red line leading to my first public transit ride. As the butterflies danced in my tummy, I started to question myself. “What if I don’t get on the right bus?” “What if I fall asleep?” Every adult around me was pushing up together tightly as they awaited their arrival. Everyone seemed to be sad or even angry that they had to ride the public transit. Who would be angry? Do they see me down here standing and waiting? What if I get separated, will they look for me? Finally, the doors open, I can feel a tall man wearing a Long brown jacket nudging me onto the train, and for a second, I thought he would choose to ride with me, but he just wanted to get around me so he could grab a seat in the corner. I see a seat facing side is free and run to it to sit down. With my small messenger bag in my lap and sketching supplies inside; if I decide I’m bored, I set off for my first trip to school. There was an old map above me, clinging for life as though it had a reason to stay there, to help someone find their way home. I looked around at everyone. Those angry faces were not tired faces; happy to be resting while they were riding. I see my first sign. It was red with black letters in the distance and start counting until I get to my stop; One – two- three. There it was. The museum ma said she’d meet me by. I waited until the train stopped, stood up, and quickly hurried to the platform outside so I wouldn’t get trapped and get sent to a new place. Ma was waiting for me as she promised. Today, if I see children on the platform who look nervous about riding public transit, I like to send them a smile to let them know it will be okay.
After reading both versions, you can see where version 2 has more meaning and more details to help you imagine what it was like for that little girl riding the train for the first time.
In version two, there are visual cues that include long brown jacket, Red with black letters.
Emotional Responses: The little girl was scared and nervous, and she’s not afraid to admit it.
Differentiation: Young versus old, happy versus sad
Essay Ideas: ApplyTexas Topic A
For this topic, you won’t find just one point that is great, but you will want to include the most important details. Again, brainstorm and put your thoughts out there. Be ready to describe in detail particular things that were important.
- Maybe you helped organize a group for a local event that was important to you.
- Revisit your close relationships with your family members.
- Naming a particular place in your neighborhood that you visited often.
- Being part of a minority in school
- Going through a cultural change or religious change in life
- Moving into a strange place
Topic B
Prompt
Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.
What does this mean?
When you first look at it, you may think that it’s too vague. The request for you to tell us about yourself is also a different approach. However, careful examination shows that there are two things in this question that you should answer: what defines you? And how does that discovery define who you are?
What is it that defines who you are?
You will want to consider yourself in the group of regular students. Even though the regular students are classified in the same group, they each have a special talent, interest, or some may call it a curse that sets them apart from all the other regular students.
How does that trait define who you are?
Since you know that you have some defining trait, it doesn’t define who you are completely, and you can’t be who you are because of it. A trait is an additional activity that you are capable of doing.
Your essays will give them two things to think about:
- What are you passionate for? Genuine passion is not made up. It’s the craving that you get to be a part of something and to get involved. This shows your professors that you will rise up to the challenges in school.
- How to communicate with the individualized you and how to see yourself. You will go through many changes throughout life, and you want to be comfortable in your own skin. Don’t keep your uniqueness hidden; instead, let it shine through.
Putting your best foot forward when giving an essay
You want to show yourself by creating an essay that will reflect on the real you. Be focused; be comprehensive. Be ready to explore the new you. It’s not always easy to define yourself and learn to love it, but we have to at some point.
Defining your Message
You are going to tell a story that you wouldn’t normally tell anyone. But you will today because your life is changing. You are going to become the grown-up version of you and take your education to a whole new level.
Whether you are a redhead or you have had a hard time getting your color right, whether you are tired and overweight or skinny and healthy, you have your own defining features, and you want to portray them to your essay.
You can’t just turn your talent or interest on and off like a switch. If you are going to embrace the talent, you need to do it full strength. So don’t testify that you are some magical genie and when someone wants to see you get back in the bottle, you can’t. You can be a part of these crucial moments by placing one foot in front of the other.
Once you are there, you will then need to determine how you can best handle your talent. Is there a special way to present your talent that will make it unique?
ApplyTexas Essay Ideas – Topic B
As stated with Topic A, you simply need to purpose an outline that will list your ideas by topics.
- Does everyone refer to you as an expert in something particular? If so, what is it that sets you apart?
- How are you involved in a certain extracurricular activity and what does this activity mean to you? Are you excited to go to it?
- What have you done extensive research on in the past? Why?
- What is an obvious personality trait that you possess? Has this trait influenced your life, good or bad?
- How important is the LGBTQ identity to you?
- How would you describe an experience you had as a member of a minority, if any?
ApplyTexas Essay – Topic C
You have a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?
Topic A and B were about your past experiences; now you have Topic C which wants you to focus on what is yet to come. You can approach this question in two ways:
- Describe your long-term goals – You have the opportunity to create new goals all the time, and while many of these goals are short term, you should have one or two long-term. For example, if you are in college, your long-term goal is probably to graduate with a degree. In this question, you are asked to describe your long-term goals for both your life and your career. Some students may already have this under control. They may want to be a doctor, go to college, volunteer all the time, help out at the parents’ practice, specialize in a particular field, and then live the life they have dreamed of for so long. But not everyone can plan a lifelong goal. Some simply do not know what they will be doing next year, let alone after they finish college. In Topic C, you will need to describe your goals.
- Can you add a little imagination to it? Picture the ticket in your hand. You can go anywhere you want to, you can be anything you want to be with that ticket in your hand. The ticket could put you back in your parents’ farmhouse, herding sheep in the misty morning in Ireland, or visiting the Metropolitan Museum. Better yet, why not stop by a time machine to use your ticket to transfer everywhere you want to go.
Your Readers want to know a little bit more about you
If you want to go to a chosen field of study, you will most likely be independent, have goals that you can succeed in, and so passionate about something that is important to you. There are clubs and organizations that you can join to get the most out of your skill but these are many times short-lived, and that makes them hard to depend on.
You have two choices; you can either stay put and hope that things change or you can take your ticket and run. Often, it’s easy to get bombarded with the issues that surround us in a day. It’s important that you have a way to explore what you are most interested in.
It’s your Journey
You are on your way to finding a great escape or section of the universe reserved just for you. You need to take your journey and ground it. If you do that, you can learn what to do at any time. You can go anywhere you want to go, be anything you want to be, and stand beside the people you love.
Topic C wants to know how you feel about possibilities of the mind. Do you have it in you to dream? There are two approaches to Topic C.
- Describing a long-term goal: Your long-term goal is going to become tough if you don’t do something first. Your long-term goal may be to become a vet and help sick animals on the farm. You know that there are several years of college ahead of you. You have spent countless hours volunteering with a local vet hospital to help a doctor when they are on call. With these goals, you can put your ticket inside of a picture frame and hang it up on the wall so you can always see what your goal is for the future. Or maybe you wanted to be a vet, but then after graduating high school, you find out that you want to become a dentist instead. You may not need to go to school as long as you did if you want to be a vet and you still enjoy the work. Everyone knows that you can change your mind, so keep things as open as possible if you have to report on what you want to do when you graduate.
If you chose Topic C, you are also going to use the imagination a little and dream. Your ticket will then be placed anywhere you want it to. You can use your ticket anywhere you want to.
What About you?
If you have a certain interest, don’t be afraid to let the admissions officers know that you already have a plan. This shows them that you are hard driven, focused on your goals, passionate about what you believe in, and have great potential to discover the real you. Joining clubs and activities can help you reach your goals and look better on your application, but you don’t want to overcrowd your schedule so much that you can’t find time to do anything.
Can your essay give them what you want?
The answer to this question is yes. Your essay can shine the light on so many angles that must be considered before a student can be accepted. Your essay along with several others will be read in order to determine student’s eligibility, so you want to stand out from the crowd. How do you do that?
Consider your plan. The first thing you want to do when you are making a plan is to jot it down and elaborate. Choose the destination you want and determine the length of time it takes to enjoy your vacation and place you on the right path. These plans are also going to help you search your heart for answers.
Don’t go overboard with your goals and that goes for anything. For example, if you want to be involved in politics, get involved but do so in a manner that you won’t be over-stressed and short on time. At the same time, don’t underachieve your goals. You can be too cautious, and when you are, you miss a lot of life that way.
Moving on to Topic D
If you must write an essay in the Topic D category, you may feel inspired and ready to write. Remember to brainstorm your ideas and prepare them in a neat way so you can focus on the important things. If you are writing on Topic D, you must be focusing your studies on architecture, fine arts, or art history. You will need to write an essay on art that has inspired you.
The good news is that this is such a wide topic that it makes it easier to write on. So you will be able to write about things that matter to you when you have such an interest in art.
If you are applying for art, art history, or architecture in UT Austin, you need to write on this topic.
Do you remember a time when you felt that you were just blown away by something man-made? Do you remember that feeling you had at that very moment when something unusual happened?
Focus on a learning experience that left you feeling inspired and somewhat overwhelmed. What did you do? How did you handle it? You don’t have to just choose a topic that is based in school. You are the only limit to your focus.
You can admire the arts of the past and be moved by them, but this is also a sign of maturity in your mind. The admissions department wants to see enthusiasm and excitement no matter what field you take.
The Prompt
There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.
UT Austin – Topic N and Topic W
Topic N
If you plan to attend your first year in nursing as your major, then you will want to discuss your current and your future academic activities as well as extracurricular activities which can help you reach your goals.
Topic W
Discussing the reasons why you should socialize at work or with your coworkers and how you can benefit from being a social worker. Topic N and Topic W are very similar.
What is Topic N and Topic W Asking?
There are two questions being asked with these prompts.
- How have your experiences in the past led you up to joining a nursing program or social worker field?
- What do you intend on doing when you have successfully graduated with your degree from UT Austin?
You can give the admission officers what they are looking for and show that you are truly interested in this particular field. If you have completed any clinical studies, research, or volunteered in this field, you need to make sure that the admissions department knows about your experience and how it has helped you along the way.
The admissions department should also be able to see your interest in a program that appeals to you in particular. At the same time, they need to know why you consider yourself a good fit for this school.
You need to have clear goals, and that is what they are looking for.
Admissions officers have a tough job. So many applications come in every day and it can be overwhelming at times trying to choose someone who will be right for the course. You want these admission specialists to know every step you have taken in order to put yourself close to the topic. You’ve tried hard to get where you are, and you don’t want it to seem like no big deal. It is a big deal and you want everyone to know about it as soon as possible.
If you are applying to more than one college, you will need to ensure that you don’t use the same essay over and over. You will want to find out what the requirements are for an essay and then fill out the paperwork accordingly. The choices you make are vital and you want to make sure that you have the right education to back you up.
Take your first steps as soon as you are out of high school but if you don’t go to college that soon, go as soon as you can. Don’t give up on an education because you feel that you’re too old. Getting an education is more than just putting money in the bank, it’s about a state of mind and self-worth that you can’t get in any other place. Feel confident in the essays you submit to colleges by practicing on them as soon as you can. Feeling comfortable with the essays will ensure that your papers are written with the right feeling.