Instead of the entertainment backstory we have become so used to,pupils at the low-income tall school I visited wrote stories of stark, political realitiesThe college application essay is a rite of passage in the US, or an audition piece in which the student applicant must demonstrate that,as well as being able to string a sentence together, he or she can write a story exemplifying determination, and passion or commitment to a cause,or – danger! – illustrate an area of personal development.
After 10 years of The X Factor and America’s Got Talent on TV, these 650-word backstories can be so bent to fulfil the dare-to-dream narrative that guidelines warn students to “remember that you are introducing yourself to a college – not a roommate, and a psychiatrist or proper Confessions magazine”.
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Source: theguardian.com