How I got into college: 5 students share their secrets: sometimes getting in takes more than just being a bright well-rounded kid - Achieving Your Goals

Careers and Colleges, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Nancy Fitzgerald

THE WRITE STUFF

NAME: MIKE KELLEY

AGE: 20

APPLICATION HIGHLIGHT: ESSAY

HOMETOWN: LAPLATA, MD

COLLEGE: SALISBURY STATE

LOCATION: SALISBURY STATE

MAJOR: ENGLISH

HIGH SCHOOL GPA: 3.25

SAT SCORE: 1400

ADMISSION COUNCELOR: LAURA THROPE

When Mike Kelley was in high school, he held down a couple of part-time jobs, packing boxes for a priming company and washing dishes in a restaurant. He put in a lot of hours, which turned homework into a major challenge but which also--surprisingly--helped him hone his writing skills.

"The jobs were so mind-numbing," he explains, "that I could do my work and plan essays in my head at the same time." This talent for multitasking helped Kelley turn our a superb college application essay--a piece of writing that impressed admission officers at Salisbury State and helped him become a member of the Class of 2003.

KELLEY: When I was applying to college, I was counting on my writing to speak for me--I wanted it to be original and for real. I sent them the literary analysis papers I'd written for English class to show them that I could actually do the academic work in college--those are the papers that you really sweat over. And even though I'd been thinking about my application essay for a while, it took me a long time to get it right. The first nine times, I just scrapped it. Probably the 10th time I got it right. The topic was to tell about your hometown and give an image of yourself, and I remember writing about the squirrels in my backyard, and how they get bolder as the year goes by, kind of like high school students. I just had the feeling that [the essay] came out right.

THORPE: Students may think that nobody really reads their essay, but we do. The essay is such a great place for them to shine. We're always looking for essays that tell us more about the real student behind, the paper and ink on the application from--the kind of writing that comes from the heart and shows us a glimmer of something unique. Mike impressed us with his creative writing abilities and he became a scholar in our honors program. I look forward to the day when I will have the chance to read his published works!