Ah, spring--time for university admissions officers to mail those fat (and thin) envelopes to high school seniors. How do they decide who gets in? One factor, they say, is the personal statement. Sample essay questions:
Stanford Attach a small photo of something important to you and explain its significance.
Johns Hopkins Using a piece of wire, a Hopkins car window sticker, an egg carton and any inexpensive hardware-store item, create something that would solve a problem. Tell us about your creation, but don't worry: We won't require proof that it works.
Pomona The year is 2012. You have just received a patent for the results of your research. Describe your work and your hope for its effects on society.
Brown Tell us something about yourself that would help us toward a sense of who you are, how you think and what issues and ideas interest you most. Your statement should be done in your own handwriting.
University of Chicago Elvis is alive! OK, maybe not, but we are persuaded that current Elvis sightings in highway rest areas, grocery stores and laundromats are part of a wider conspiracy involving five of the following: the metric system, the Mall of America, the crash of the Hindenburg, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, J.D. Salinger and wax fruit. Construct your own theory of how and why five of these items and events are related.
