The Personal Essay

Write an essay on yourself. Sounds like it should be easy. But wait, there's some restrictions. You can't merely summarize your life. No, you must focus on one or two experiences that profoundly effected you or personality traits that portray who you are.

Because so much of the colleges' and universities' non-need based scholarship and grant money is administered by the admissions offices, your first impressions, made with your application and accompanying essays, becomes critical, not only in getting "in" but also in buying into merit-based assistance.

Marketing yourself is so much a part of the process that it can't be emphasized enough. Here are some rules to guide you: