Colleges frequently ask applicants to write an essay describing a favorite role model or hero/heroine, someone who provides inspiration or someone who is a major influence on academic or career decisions. Colleges even might ask applicants to describe the influence of a non-human entity, such as a song, a film or a play. Applicants should make this essay as relevant as possible by describing, in detail, how this person or thing led to their decision to apply to that particular college.
The college often wants to know about applicants' goals and how they plan to use the college to attain those goals. Applicants might be asked to describe a goal they set and attained, or they may be asked about their career aspirations. Other colleges, often those interested in creative thinking and problem-solving skills, ask how students deal with failure to reach goals or what past actions have resulted in setbacks. They also might measure goal-setting skills with questions about both short- and long-term goals. Set specific, relevant, measurable goals to make a good impression on admissions officials.
To find out more about an applicant, colleges sometimes ask questions that require a student to describe her character or personality. The college might ask how an applicant believes he is perceived by friends, classmates or teachers. A student might be asked to define her moral code or define abstract concepts, such as integrity, loyalty or fairness. Applicants might be asked to simply describe their good and bad characteristics.
Asking for an applicant's opinion is a way to uncover thinking patterns, personality traits, political leanings and values. Colleges might ask an applicant's view on a controversial current event or issue, for ideas on how to solve an ongoing global problem or reactions to dramatic social change. They also might ask an applicant's opinion on the most important or useful thing from a series of options and to explain her choice.
More progressive colleges tend toward essay topics that force students to think outside the box. They might ask what an applicant would do if he were president of the United States, what kind of animal he would most like to be or to choose a dead person to interview and then write an imagined transcript. Applicants could be asked to describe what they would do with an unexpected financial windfall or what the world would be like without money. Questions of the imagination uncover information about an applicant's attitudes, interests and values.