Sample Common Application Essay Learn from Failure

The following sample essay responds to the 2019-20 Common Application Prompt #2: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Read a critique of this essay to learn strategies and tips for writing your own. Richards Common Application Essay on Failure Striking Out Ive played baseball ever since I could remember, but somehow, at fourteen, I still wasnt very good at it. Youd think that ten years of summer leagues and two older brothers whod been the stars of their teams would have rubbed off on me, but youd be wrong. I mean, I wasnt completely hopeless. I was pretty fast, and I could hit my oldest brothers fastball maybe three or four times out of ten, but I wasnt about to be scouted for college teams. My team that summer, the Bengals, wasnt anything special, either. We had one or two pretty talented guys, but most, like me, were just barely what you could call decent. But somehow wed almost scraped through the first round of playoffs, with only one game standing between us and semifinals. Predictably, the game had come down to the last inning, the Bengals had two outs and players on second and third base, and it was my turn at bat. It was like one of those moments you see in movies. The scrawny kid who no one really believed in hits a miraculous home run, winning the big game for his underdog team and becoming a local legend. Except my life wasnt The Sandlot, and any hopes my teammates or coach mightve had for a last-minute rally to victory were crushed with my third swing-and-miss when the umpire sent me back to the dugout with a strike three - youre out! I was inconsolably angry with myself. I spent the entire car ride home tuning out my parents words of consolation, replaying my strike-out over and over in my head. For the next few days I was miserable thinking about how, if it hadnt been for me, the Bengals might have been on their way to a league victory, and nothing anyone said could convince me that the loss wasnt on my shoulders. About a week later, some of my friends from the team got together at the park to hang out. When I arrived, I was a little surprised that no one seemed to be mad at me - after all, Id lost us the game, and they had to be disappointed about not making it to the semifinals. It wasnt until we split into teams for an impromptu pickup game that I started to realize why no one was upset. Maybe it was the excitement of reaching the playoffs or the pressure of living up to my brothers examples, but sometime during that game, Id lost sight of why most of us played summer league baseball. It wasnt to win the championship, as cool as that would have been. It was because we all loved to play. I didnt need a trophy or a Hollywood come-from-behind win to have fun playing baseball with my friends, but maybe I needed to strike out to remember that. A Critique of Richards Essay A lot can be learned from Richards writing by looking at all of its pieces. By thinking objectively about another persons essay, you will be better off when it comes time to write your own because you will understand what admissions officers are looking for. Title Striking Out isnt an overly clever title, but it gets the job done. It tells you that you are about to read an essay about failure and baseball. A good title  summarizes an essay and intrigues its readers but focus more on an appropriate title than on an interesting one. Language and Tone Richard leans into informal language such as I mean and youd think to make his essay conversational and friendly. He introduces himself as an unimpressive athlete who doesnt quite measure up to his brothers, this humility making him more relatable to his readers. While this level of informality is not preferred by all colleges, most are looking to learn as much about your personality as possible. Richards easy tone accomplishes this. The language of the essay is also tight and engaging. Each sentence gets a point across and Richard is economical with his use of words to clearly convey the setting and situation. College admissions officers are likely to appreciate the overall clarity and meticulousness of Richards essay. Richard establishes and maintains a self-deprecating and humble voice throughout his writing His willingness to be honest about his shortcomings shows that he is sure of himself and also tells colleges that he has a healthy self-concept and isnt afraid of failing. By not boasting about athletic prowess, Richard demonstrates a valuable quality of self-assuredness that colleges admire. Focus College admissions officers read many essays about sports, especially from applicants that are more interested in playing sports at college than getting an education. In fact, one of the top  10 bad essay topics  is the hero essay in which an applicant brags about making a goal that won their team the championship. Self-congratulatory essays have the effect of distancing you from the authentic qualities of successful college students and are therefore never a good idea. Richards essay has nothing to do with heroism. He is not claiming to be a star or over-inflating his abilities and his honesty is refreshing. His essay perfectly satisfies every aspect of the prompt by presenting a clear moment of failure and a significant lesson learned without blowing his accomplishments out of proportion. He managed to take the clichà © topic of sports and turn it on its head, which admissions officers are much more likely to respect. Audience Richards essay would be appropriate in most but not all situations. If he were hoping to play a sport competitively for a college, this would be the wrong essay. It would not impress NCAA scouts or make him likely to be recruited. This essay would be best for universities more interested in his personality than his baseball skills. Any college looking for mature, self-aware applicants with affable personalities would be drawn to Richards story of failure. A Final Word Always keep in mind that the purpose of the Common Application essay is for colleges to learn who you are. While grades  and test scores will be considered, admissions offices will also be using more subjective and  holistic  information about what you are like as a person. Richard succeeds in making a good impression by being a strong and engaging writer with a positive sense of self. Most would agree that he seems like the type of student who would be a useful addition to the campus community. While the essay is successful, keep in mind that your own essay needs to have nothing in common with this sample and you should not use it as a model. There are innumerable ways to approach the idea of a challenge, setback, or failure and your essay needs to be true to your own experiences and personality.

The Importance of College Education - 1366 Words

College. It is the seven-letter word that almost every child will hear thousands of times while they are growing up. They constantly are bombarded by the idea that they must go to college if they want to be successful. However, what if this is a false statement. What if college isn’t as great as everyone makes it out to seem. Well, these days some people believe that young people are better off, not going to college. Over the years the economy around the world has changed. It has prospered, and it has fallen. As the economy went downhill the government began cutting funds in areas that they felt were necessary to exterminate. One of the largest areas of funding that was cut was education. Colleges began receiving less money from the†¦show more content†¦This shows that the money that is paid for a person’s college education will help students find a job quicker. This will then help them earn their college investment back, and eventually make a higher salary tha n those whom didn’t receive a college education. Other than the great educational opportunities, and monetary advantages college gives a student, it also has some other advantages as well. College gives students a chance to explore new fields, and concepts. It helps students figure out what careers they want to go into, and what they want to do in their lives. (www.moneycrashers.com ). This career direction college provides is very important. In high school, students are not giving much time to explore different careers. They are given the building blocks, and learn the fundamentals, to majors that they can then pursue in college. Without going to college, it makes it hard for people to know exactly what careers they want to go into, and what they want to do with their lives. College also gives people valuable networking opportunities. As_____ says, â€Å"Contacts you make in college can help you advance in your field.† (www.moneycrashers.com). Most person will meet many people throughout their time in college, and often tim es these people will be majoring in the same majoras them. This means that the people a person meets in college will probably be in the same field as them. This gives college graduates a major advantage to people who didn’t attendShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of College Education1142 Words   |  5 PagesJacartier McGee Education is the single most important factor in the growth of our country. Specifically, higher education paves a future and provides opportunity for students that attend college and gives them a shot at a career. 50 years ago, college was strictly for the elite, high class Americans. Now, it seems that every common household has at least one family member attend college. But with the increasing drop out rate today, students seem less interested in learning at college and their prioritiesRead MoreThe Importance Of A College Education? Essay1692 Words   |  7 Pages A college education has a different meaning for every person in the world. To someone a college education could mean that they’re smarter than most, or it’s one more step closer to their future goals, or it could just be another piece of paper to make their family proud. The importance of a college education depends on what a degree means to the person. I think the true purpose of a college educ ation should be base more on a personal level, and not a broad level. The reason why I thinkRead MoreThe Importance Of College Education1257 Words   |  6 Pageswhen deciding whether to go to college or which college to attend. The importance of college has been a long-debated topic that is becoming more and more popular. It used to be that a high school education was necessary to succeed, and a college degree was merely beneficial. However, today college has escalated into something that is considered necessary to succeed. New York Times columnists, David Leonhardt, states that â€Å"if youre someone who can get into college, going is practically a no-brainerRead MoreThe Importance Of A College Education?1419 Words   |  6 PagesZhao English 101C Professor A.Pino Nov 13th 2017 The importance of a college education In the period of their high school career, the students shall begin to ask and consider the college education’s importance. The answer is that the accepting college education offers chances to graduates, which are more widespread to those who have the levels of senior high education or less. Most of people understand that they desire to accept a college education, but they do not know why or how it would fulfillRead MoreThe Importance Of College Education912 Words   |  4 PagesThe Importance of College Education 4. with a college education young adults are more likely to make more money or have better pay jobs than those without a higher education. In the article, â€Å"More Students Getting Graduate Degrees† writer Cecilia Capuzzi states that â€Å"in every academic major group, more education resulted in more money(2). With this said the more Knowledge and education a person gains the more likely they are to be financially successful. A person with an associates, bachelors, orRead MoreThe Importance Of A College Education1511 Words   |  7 PagesFor many Americans, a college education is essential to future success.† His statement taps into one of the biggest issues in America. While education is a strong value in this country, after high school, the percentage of people getting an education dramatically drops. Although many people choose to not go to college, there are also many people who do not go simply because they cannot afford it. Without the skill set that one acq uires during these crucial years of education, many Americans thenRead MoreThe Importance Of Education In College924 Words   |  4 PagesGonzalez from Resilient Scholar is helping me also by guiding me towards help and tutoring. I am currently taking two summer courses at Glendale Community College through a special program   EOP is hosting there.   Geology 101 and Astronomy 152 is what I am currently taking at GCC. I have met with Dr. Joong-won Lee a very respected professor in the College of Health and Human Development, and he has helped my set up a plan of which courses I should take until I graduate from Csun. He helped me make a veryRead MoreThe Importance Of College Education756 Words   |  4 Pages140 colleges/institutions in the United States today as confirmed by infoplease.com and job options are endless. These institutions offer people a â€Å"gateway† to achieve long term success. In today’s society, there is the ongoing debate on whether or not co llege is worth it. Various valid points are brought up from each side. These points are what make this topic so debatable. Although there is a debate on whether a college education is worth it or not, in my opinion the answer is clear. College educationRead MoreThe Importance of College Education705 Words   |  3 Pageswhether or not to attend college can be difficult, especially given the tremendous costs associated with tuition, books, and campus living. Moreover, getting a good job or earning an attractive income is not necessarily guaranteed with a college degree. The decision of whether or not to attend college must come from within, and must transcend thoughts about money. For me, going to college represents a genuine personal feat. There are three main reasons why college education is important to me. FirstRead MoreThe Importance Of College Education1138 Words   |  5 PagesCollege Education 1. INTRODUCTION My issue is the debate if college education is worth it. Many people think going to college is the ideal thing to do but there is also people who think college is not worth all the time and money. In 2016, the employment rate was highest for young adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 88 %. College prepares young adults for the real world and everything they need to know. Typically, college graduates have higher employment rates and have a better chance

Anylasis of three extracts Free Essays

The three extracts I am comparing are written by three different authors. The first extract I am going to tell you about is written by a famous author called ‘Terry Pratchett’. The second extract is written by a children’s author ‘Charles Dickens’. We will write a custom essay sample on Anylasis of three extracts or any similar topic only for you Order Now And finally, the third extract I am going to explain, is written by another well-known author, ‘Eoin Colfer’. With these three extracts, I am going to inform and describe how the characters and settings are developed. In the first extract the characters are well described using many adjectives. For example ‘Mr Horsefry’ was described as a ‘youngish man, not simply running to fat but vaulting, leaping and driving towards obesity. He had acquired at thirty and impressive selection of chins, and now they wobbled with angry pride. ‘ I can picture this man with so many chains and not being able to speak properly. This is a funny description and makes the reader want to read on and see what else the reader writes about Mr Horsefry. Terry Pratchett’ also writes that Mr Horsefry is: ‘Despite his expression, which was that of a piglet having a bright idea, and his mode of speech, which might put you in mind of a small, breathless, neurotic but ridiculously expensive dog, Mr Horsefry might have been a kind, generous and pious man. In the same way, the man climbing out of your window in a stripy jumper, a mask and a great hurry might merely be lost on the way to a fancy-dress party, and the man in a wig and robes at the focus of the courtroom might only be a transvestite who wondered in out of the rain. When I read this description I was laughing, and I could imagine a man dressed up as a woman who has god knows how many chains and seeing him wondering in the rain. Also listening to him when he speaks, it would be difficult to understand him because his chins would get in the way. This is a very good and clear description of ‘Mr Horsefry’ and enjoyable to read and if someone reads this description they would know what ‘Mr Horsefry’ looks like and what his personality is like. Also in this extract, it is a shame that ‘Terry Pratchett’ didn’t describe the settings as much as he describes ‘Mr Horsefry’. For example the quote, â€Å"Ah, this would be . . . what is it now . . . the glass ceiling? † said lord Vetinari brightly. â€Å"No, my lord. That is something else. I believe you may be thinking about the ‘Agatean Wall†. This quote tells me what the ceilings and the walls may look like, but it doesn’t tell me what else the place looks like. The writer could have described what the canary looked like or what time of year it was, for example was it in the middle of winter, or was it in late summer. But I don’t know because this wasn’t explained in the extract. However ‘Terry Pratchett’ could have explained this in the beginning of the story or later on in the story, I’m not to sure. Describing the setting would make the story a lot better and when the reader reads this extract they would be able to picture what is going on and where the characters are, as that is what happening now, I am confused where the characters are and I am thinking of a completely different place to what the writer is thinking of when he wrote this book. In the second extract ‘Charles Dickens’ describes the character, ‘The Ghost of Christmas Past’ as: ‘It’s hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white, and if with age; and not yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if it hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white; and round its waist was a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprang a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm. ‘ This is a brilliant description of the sprit and I can picture what ‘The Ghost of Christmas Past’ looks like. I know exactly what her hair, skin, feet, legs and what she was wearing. This is also a very clear description as well. It is easy to understand and easy to see what the ghost looks like. In this extract ‘Charles Dickens’ does not describe the setting as much in detail as he did with the character ‘The Ghost of Christmas Past’. For example the quote: ‘Not the curtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to which his face was addressed. The curtain of his bed drawn aside;’ this quote tells me a little bit about Cosmos room and the curtains. However I find this quote quite confusing as I am not to sure whether or not the curtains are in Cosmo’s room and where else are the curtains. Also I am not sure where he is, is he in his room? Or is he somewhere less? For example, is Cosmo in a huge empty mansion? Or is he in some hall way? Who knows? That is why it is important to tell the reader where the character is otherwise the reader gets lost. The finial extract is written by anther well known author ‘Eoin Colfer’. He has developed his characters in his story by using a few adjectives. He describes a character, Cosmo who is a young boy aged fourteen years old as: ‘Cosmo receives his schooling from education software, his teeth were whiter that white and his hair was lustrous and flake-free, but his insides felt like they were being scoured with a radioactive wire brush. Eventually Cosmo realized that the orphanage was slowly killing him. It was time to get out. ‘ ‘Eoin Colfer’ didn’t use as much adjectives as the other writers did. The description of Cosmo was not that clear, as I didn’t know exactly what he looked like. However the quote: ‘†¦ aby Cosmo was discovered swaddled in an insulated Cheery Pizza envelope on Cosmonaut Hill in Moscowtown. The state police swabbed him for DNA, search for a match in the Satellite mainframe and came up blank. Nothing unusual about that, orphans turn up every day in the city. So the newly christened Cosmo Hill was dipped in a vaccine vat and sent on a tube to the Clarissa Frayne Institute or Parentally Challenged Boys Freight. ‘ This quote tells me that Cosmo was an orphan and was found on ‘Cosmonaut Hill in Moscowtown’. This quote many not tell me what Cosmo looks like but it does tell me about how he was found. So this is a pretty good description of where he was found. Also in this extract ‘Eoin Colfer’ has used many descriptive words to develop the setting. For example the quote: ‘Satellite City was not part of any welfare state, so the institution had to raise funds any way they could. Clarissa Frayne’s speciality was product testing. Whenever a new modified food or untested pharmaceutical product was being developed, the orphanage volunteered its charges as guinea pigs. It made perfect financial sense. The orphans got fed and cleaned, and the Frayne Institute got paid for the privilege. This quote tells me about the orphanage and ‘Clarisse Frayne’. This quote may not describe the settings as much as the other stories did but it tells me a lot about the orphanage, but at least that is something. So overall I have realised that it is important to describe the character in the stories, otherwise the reader would think of something else that the writer may not be thing of. Also this is the same for the settings. You have to explain but the area is like and where the characters are. This is important as well so that the reader can picture what is going on without getting confused. How to cite Anylasis of three extracts, Papers

Process of Customer Engagement More Through Online Marketing

Question: Discuss about the Involving Customer Engagement More Through Online Marketing. Answer: Brief summary of the theory and progression in the field In the research carried out by Chaffey et al. (2009) shows that the major benefit of the internet-marketing are- selling more products according to the customers demand, provision of benefits and allowing customer to communicate with the organizations working personnel directly. Chaffey et al. (2009) also highlighted the fat that offer products and services to customer at attractive prices and providing them a new experiencing to get associating with the company also ensure customer engagement more. Moreover, Vinerean et al. (2014) mentioned that customer engagement follows a multi-dimensional concept and thus marketers have to consider cognitive, emotional and behavioural dimensions. Moreover, in the research conducted by Vinerean et al. (2014) that marketer also considers customer lifetime value (CLV) for analysing their buying behaviour. In addition to that, the demands of the existing and potential customer should also be considered along with the Customer influencer value (CIV) and Customer knowledge value (CKV). Vinerean et al. (2014) also describes that CIV resembles the strong brand reputation also drives customers to promote their brand to other and CKV resembles taking suggestions and feedback from the customers. Furthermore, it is also given in the online market research that businesspeople learned the different ways to sell their products to the target customers and to identify potential areas for developing interpersonal relationship with them. Taken for instance, if a person returns a product, it is the liability of the marketers to identify the reason and improve the product. In this way, customer engagement can be ensured. According to Lim and Ting (2014), perceived ease of use, risk and usefulness drives the customer behaviour and engagement. On the other hand, Ion (2009) also depicts that the faster service compared to conventional stores are the major reason that online marketing strategy have gained such popularity. Moreover, online strategy is an intelligent marketing decision with low cost services and operation along with effective capability to maintaining transparency. Ion (2009) also mentioned that contemporary managers have taken initiatives for organising e-marketing campaig ns that allows attaining the trust and loyalty of the existing customers. Discussion of Common themes The one similarity that all the research work follows is to identify the customers buying behaviour in order to enhance their enhancement towards their organization. Vinerean (2014) prefers to take online feedback regarding their products and services to acquire knowledge of their brand. In this research it is highlighted that consumer engagement program plays an essential role to identify their buying attitude. In this research, the cost/reward perspective, creating personal value, effective relationship with online brand communities (OBC) should be marinated for high customer engagement (Vinerean, 2014). Taking feedback, availability of customised products, collaborative marketing strategies along with the consumer generated contests drives the engagement of an individual towards the company. On the other hand, Chaffey et al. (2009) consider the effective online delivery of the products, regular and real-time communication with customers and maintenance of online presence makes peo ple that the organization values their demands. These factors drive the buying attitude of the people. Ion (2009) also identifies that making the delivery system faster along with the providing premium quality products in lower prices also allows people to shop more from the online website of an organization. Lim and Ting (2014) furthermore utilises the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) so that behaviour of the users can be noted. People usually found buying from online results in lesser effort and lesser investment of time for selecting and thus online marketers majorly emphasises on perceived usefulness and perceived easy- to- use aspects for ensuring customer encouragement. Discussion of Different themes Since all the research focuses on identifying human buying nature for establishing a longer lasting engagement with customers, it is difficult to identify the difference in research objectives. However, the differences among these research papers are in terms of research methodology and the factors that are selected for ensuring customer engagement. Chaffey (2009) only utilises the qualitative research techniques that assess the micro and macro environment of the internet. This research covers a wide topic for identifying the crucial factor for internet marketing like- easy access to online portal, easy accessible option with different pricing strategies. Other factors are- easy contacting option such as direct contact options, availability of behavioural information on a single or multiple sites and maintaining all the business ethics. The web page for Online Market Research also prefers to use primary data collection for understanding the effective behavioural attitude of the users (Online Market Research, 2015). Vinereana et al. (2014) on the other hand implies a qualitative study by taking interview with the marketing executives, who are liable to conduct consumer engagement programs for creating positive attitude towards online environment. Lim and Ting (2014) used the process of mall-intercept systematic sampling distribut ionby targeting only the shoppers as people uses online shopping more for buying fast fashion products. Unlike Lim and Ting (2014), Ion (2009) not only uses the quantitative research techniques but also uses qualitative research techniques through evaluating a thematic analysis that identifies the recent trends of the buyers that ensures their engagement more with the online marketing compared to conventional marketing styles. Discussion of future research direction The web link for Online Market Research highlighted that each company should conduct their online marketing research study by themselves and not with the help of a third party. Vinerean et al. (2014) portrays that the research can be conducted by considering larger sample size and in future both the focus groups and survey-based studies can be considered for evaluating accurate research result that is to ensure more customer engagement with online marketing strategies. The only limitation in the research conducted by Chaffey (2009) is that chapters can include primary research approach for adding more authenticity in the drawn online marketing concepts. The future research direction considered by Lim and Ting (2014) is to incorporate qualitative study so that the obtained research result can be supported with the theories developed so far by other research scholars. Moreover, customer from other sectors like those that finance sector or nursing sectors can also be considered in futur e. Ion (2009) lastly depicted that the future direction of this research is to take larger sample size for assessing the effectiveness of the obtained research result. References Chaffey, D, Ellis-Chadwick, F, Mayer, R, and Johnston, K., 2009,Internet marketing: strategy, implementation and practice, Pearson Education. Ion, CL, Sorin, P, and Ion, B., 2009, MARKETING EVOLUTION: E-MARKETING - QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES, Young Economists Journal / Revista Tinerilor Economisti, vol. 7, no. 13, pp. 144-153. Lim, WM, and Ting, DH., 2014, Consumer acceptance and continuance of online group buying,The Journal of Computer Information Systems,vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 87. Online Market Research 2015., Seminal Research, viewed 25th April 2017, https://seminalresearch.com/online-market-research/. Pettit, R., 2010, Digital anthropology: How ethnography can improve online research, Journal Of Advertising Research, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 240-242. Vinerean, S, Opreana, A, and ?ichindelean, M., 2014, Analyzing Consumer Engagement Programs from the Perspective of a Qualitative Research of Marketing Executives,Procedia Economics and Finance,vol. 16, pp. 621-630.