cuny college essay prompts

Current Students

• Student Survival Guide
• Career Success Initiatives

Undocumented Students

• The LGBTQI+ Community
• Students With Conviction Records
• Students With Disabilities
• Transfer Explorer

Faculty & Staff

• Employee Directory
• Human Resources
• Faculty Resources
• Academic Commons
• University Benefits Office

Future Students

• CUNY’s Value for Students
• How to Apply
• Our Academic Programs
• Check Application Status
• Guide for Future Students
• International Students
• Campus Tours

Degree Search

• Find a Course
• Find a Class
• Find a Program

People Search

• Find People (phone/emails)
• College Registrars
• Campus IT Help Desks
• Academic Calendars

• Undergraduate Admissions

We know you want a college experience that’s academically stimulating, financially affordable and personally rewarding.

Follow these steps to successfully apply:

• Track Deadlines
• Submit Your Application
• Send Your Documents
• Check Your Status

1 Track Deadlines

Make note of the below list of application postmark deadlines and admission notification dates to the majority of our colleges, and to some unique CUNY programs.

Freshman and Transfer Applicants

Unique cuny programs.

1 Supplemental Application on the college’s website

* Two-step notification process: 1) Beginning in mid-February applicants will be notified of their admission decision as General Freshman by all college choices listed on their application. 2) March 15 – Macaulay applicants will be notified of their admissions decision into Macaulay Honors College . *All other applicants to selective programs will be notified of their admission decision at a later date.

**The admissions review for the Queens College Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM) is a two-step process: Admission to Queens College and admission to the ACSM after an Audition. Please visit the ACSM website for more information.

Please note: The aforementioned deadline dates do not apply to the CUNY School of Professional Studies.

2 Submit Your Application

Three easy steps for completing your CUNY application .

Start your application

Log into the CUNY Application using either a guest account or your CUNYfirst account.

Select your application

• Freshman : apply as a freshman if you’re currently enrolled in high school or if you haven’t attended college after receiving your high school diploma. One application allows you to apply to 6 CUNY colleges.
• Macaulay : if you are a freshman applicant for the fall semester, you can choose the Macaulay application to be considered for our university honors program.
• Transfer : apply as a transfer if you’ve enrolled in college after completing high school. One application allows you to apply to 4 CUNY colleges.

Review and Submit

Make sure to review your application before clicking the Submit button. Upon submission, you’ll be able to access a copy of your Application Summary . We recommend you download a copy. We’ll also generate a CUNYfirst ID number shortly after you submit your application. This 8 digit unique number will help us identify your application quickly and match any documents you send to us.

You can return to your application post-submission to upload supporting materials, add recommendation requests and make payment. View our video tutorials for a step-by-step guide .

Application Fees

All applicants are required to submit a non-refundable application fee to be considered for admission. The Freshman Application fee is $65. The Transfer Application fee is $70.

Submit your fee online using MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover or e-check.

Submit your fee by mail by submitting a money order payable to “CUNY” to the address listed below. Write your CUNYfirst ID number on your money order. You can find your CUNYfirst ID number (an 8 digit number) on your Application Summary .

CUNY UAPC Lockbox Mail Code: 8770 P.O. Box 7247 Philadelphia, PA 19170-8770

Fee Waivers

• Current CUNY College students : If you’re currently enrolled at a CUNY College and intend to transfer without a gap in your enrollment, answer the CUNY Enrollment question on the application to waive your application fee. Note: please be sure to add the courses you are currently taking in order for your application fee to be waived.
• Current New York City Public School (NYCPS) students : To request an application fee waiver, have the student select ‘Pay Later’ and submit their application. Please submit the Fee Waiver Request Form to  [email protected]  for all students who receive free or reduced lunch and need their application waived. No supporting documentation is required.
• Current Non-New York City Public School or New York State students : To request an application fee waiver, have the student select ‘Pay Later’ and submit their application. Please review the income guidelines in this form and submit the  Fee Waiver Request Form  with supporting eligibility documents for each student to  [email protected] .
• Students from outside of New York State : Fee waivers are limited to students in New York State.
• Veterans and spouses of veterans : Answer the US Military Status question on the application and upload proof of service in the supporting documents section of the application to receive a waiver. Acceptable forms of proof are DD-214, current Military ID Card, Deployment Orders or Pre-separation Orders. Spouses of veterans can provide Form 1173/1173-1 as proof of military affiliation.
• Economic Hardship for applicants not in high school or not enrolled at a CUNY College : The City University of New York (CUNY) can provide a limited number of undergraduate application fee waivers each academic year to applicants not currently attending a NYC/NYS high school.

Eligibility : The following applicants who reside in New York State may qualify for a hardship fee waiver:

• Applicants in foster care, ward of the state or county
• Applicants residing in a homeless shelter
• Applicants receiving public assistance (NYCHA, Section 8, Government Subsidized housing, Supplemental Security Income)
• Applicants who are unemployed or dependents of unemployed parent(s) receiving unemployment benefits
• Applicants that meet the income guidelines for Opportunity Programs (SEEK) and College Discovery (CD) (see Financial Eligibility Guidelines below) *
• Formerly incarcerated/Justice impacted Individuals are eligible for a fee waiver with a copy of their release paper.

* Financial Eligibility Guidelines Academic Year 2024/2025

Note: For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $9,509 for each additional person.

Required Supporting Documentation : The supporting documentation will be required with your hardship fee waiver request ( Important: please remove any personal data such as DOB and Social Security Numbers in order to ensure the privacy of the applicant):

• Foster Care : Letter from foster care agency verifying the applicant’s foster care status
• Homeless/Living in a shelter : Letter from social worker verifying the applicant’s residency
• Unemployment : Copy of unemployment benefits letter
• CUNY Opportunity Program/Income Eligibility Guidelines : Copy of 1040 Federal Income Tax Return
• Public Assistance : Copy of a budget letter
• Formerly incarcerated: Copy of their release paper

Applicant Steps to Submit an Application for Hardship Fee Waiver Request

Applicants requesting an application fee waiver for hardship must submit their application before requesting a waiver. The applicant will need to choose “Pay Later” on the fee payment section of the admission application and submit their application. Applicants should then submit a brief e-mail request with the required supporting documentation and their CUNYfirst ID to: [email protected]. Important: please remove any personal data such as DOB and Social Security Numbers from the documentation in order to ensure the privacy of the applicant. Hardship requests will be reviewed on a first-come first-serve basis, and the applicant will be notified of a decision via e-mail within 5-7 business days.

3 Send Your Documents

After submitting your application, make sure to send all required documents needed for review. You only need to submit one set of documents to CUNY, even if you have applied to multiple colleges on your application.

Freshman Applicants

You’ll need to provide us with your official high school transcript(s), and might also need to submit more documents, depending on what college(s) you’re applying to. See below for more info.

Transfer Applicants

For Transfer Application information, visit our Transfer Hub .

International Applicants

For International Student Application information, visit our International Student & Scholar Service page or see what documents are needed for students educated outside of the United States .

What is a Transcript?

We define an official record as one that details your complete academic history (all years) while in attendance at a college, university or any postsecondary institution. These records must be sent directly to us from the issuing institution and/or examining body in a sealed, school-issued envelope and must include the following:

• Dates of enrollment, courses taken and marks, grades or ratings in each subject.
• Institutional grading scale or other standard(s) of evaluation.
• Recent signature and date by a school official and must include an original institutional seal. Accepted signatures include: the Registrar, Dean, Principal, Controller of Examinations, Ministry of Education, or another appropriate school official/office (varies by country).

We do not accept the following:

• Documents certified by a notary public, translator or commissioner of oaths.
• Photocopies or other duplications of a record such as notarized copies, faxed or scanned documents.

Documents by a university must be official in order to be considered. Any document considered “official” is in a stamped and sealed envelope from the post-secondary institution. Any other forms of the documents will not be accepted.

Transcripts for Current New York City Public Schools (NYCPS)

Current New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) If you’ve entered your OSIS number on the application, we’ll retrieve an electronic copy of your high school record. If you did not enter your OSIS number, please contact our Help Desk for Students . If you are currently attending a NYC Charter School, please request an official transcript to be sent to [email protected] by your guidance counselor.

Transcripts for All Other High School Students

All other High School Students Request an official transcript from your high school to be sent to [email protected] . Your school can email us an official transcript or if your school uses Naviance, you can request your transcript by adding “The City University of New York (CUNY)” to your list of schools to which you’ve applied.

If you are currently attending or have graduated from a United States-administered American, International, or Department of Defense school, you can request an official transcript from your high school to be sent to [email protected] . If you are sending a transcript through SCOIR, send it only to one CUNY College, and all the other ones the student applied to, will have access to that transcript.

If you are currently attending or have graduated from a Missionary or other American private school, your school must meet CUNY standards for school accreditation. If your high school does not meet accreditation standards, you will be required to take the High School Equivalency test. See the High School Equivalency section below.

Transcripts for Students with High School Equivalency Diploma

Students with High School Equivalency Diploma

• If you received a High School Equivalency diploma from NY (also known as TASC ), send a copy of your diploma and scores. If you were eligible for HSE Regents exemptions, be sure to submit your high school transcript along with your HSE Diploma. If you received an equivalency diploma outside of NYS, contact the appropriate State Education Department for your record. Visit ged.com to learn more.
• HSE Diploma and Scores can be sent to [email protected] .

Transcripts for Home Schooled Students

Home Schooled Students Generally, your home-schooling curriculum should adhere to your school district’s preliminary education requirement for earning a high school diploma. This will allow us to review your entire record as a home-schooled student within the context of the academic requirements as outlined above.

• If you are a New York State resident who received home schooling, a transcript outlining all completed coursework with grades earned is required. You must also submit a letter from the superintendent of your school district or comparable chief school administrator certifying that you have completed the equivalent of a New York State four-year high school program through home schooling.
• If you are a senior who is currently completing a home-school program, you must submit a letter from the superintendent of your school district certifying that you are currently completing a program that is equivalent to a NYS four-year high school program. Upon completion, please submit a letter verifying that you have successfully completed the program.
• If you cannot obtain the letter from the high school district, you must obtain a High School Equivalency diploma. See the High School Equivalency section below.
• If you are an out-of-state resident who received home-schooling, a state-issued diploma is required. If you have not obtained a state-issued diploma, you must obtain your High School Equivalency diploma. ( for more information on how to obtain a High School Equivalency score )

Transcripts for Online and Correspondence School Students

Online and Correspondence Schools CUNY does not accept diplomas from any non-public correspondence, online or virtual high school. Students from these schools must successfully complete a high school equivalency examination to be considered for admission to a CUNY college.

Transcripts for CDOS Commencement Credential and IEP Diploma students

CDOS Commencement Credential and IEP Diploma Applicants with CDOS (Career Development and Occupational Studies) Commencement Credential or an IEP Diploma must earn a High School Equivalency Diploma.

If you are applying to Baruch College, Hunter College or Queens College, use the essay topics below. Baruch College recommends all freshman applicants to submit an essay. Hunter College and Queens College require an essay.

Essay Prompts

• Tell us something meaningful about yourself that is not reflected in your application. You may choose to speak about your interests, aspirations and/or background.
• It is often said that the road to success is paved with setbacks. Tell us about a time you faced a challenge or obstacle. What did you learn from it, and how did it contribute to your success?
• Share an essay on any topic. You may use an essay that you have previously written or one that discusses a topic of your choice.

Where to Email/Mail Your Documents

CUNY transcripts and other supporting materials could be submitted either electronically or via mail.

Submitting Electronically:

• [email protected] : Only to be used by High Schools or Colleges/Universities to send transcripts to us electronically.
• [email protected] : Home School Students, Students Educated Outside of the United States, HSE Students. Please note that documents received will be considered unofficial.

However, if the institution that you previously or are currently attending does not offer the option to submit documents online you can send them to:

Freshman Admission CUNY/UAPC P.O. Box 350136 Brooklyn, NY 11235

Macaulay Honors College Admission CUNY/UAPC P.O. Box 350046 Brooklyn, NY 11235

Transfer Admission CUNY/UAPC P.O. Box 350136 Brooklyn, NY 11235

Overnight/Express Shipping CUNY/UAPC 2001 Oriental Blvd., Building T-1, Room 122 Brooklyn, NY 11235

Please note that all materials and documents (including original documents) submitted become part of the admissions process at CUNY/UAPC and cannot be returned to the applicant. Please do not submit any original documents that you cannot request again (ie. Original Diplomas).

Supporting Documents

All applicants are encouraged to provide supporting documents as part of their applications – such as essays and letters of recommendation. Be sure to review the admission requirements of your intended program to see if any supporting documents are required.

SAT/ACT Test Scores

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, SAT and ACT test scores are not required nor considered in application review process for the Fall 2023 through Spring 2027 admission cycle. For more information on the suspension of SAT/ACT test scores, click here .

Students Educated Outside of the United States

If you were educated outside of the United States, you may need to submit additional documentation to complete your application to CUNY.

Transcripts

All Transcripts and associated documents must be translated. Please review our Translation Guidelines for more information.

Secondary School Transcripts

You will need to submit a copy of your complete academic record (all years), as well as any national or government certificates earned. Secondary School documents can be uploaded onto your CUNY application or in certain cases (ie. WAEC) where we require additional information they can be sent to [email protected] . Please review the list of Required Secondary School Credentials for more information.

Official University Transcripts

If you’ve attended university, you’ll need to request an official transcript from each university in order to be considered for admission. Please review the Official transcript section before submitting documents. Please have them send transcripts directly to [email protected] .

Evaluation Services

Applicants educated outside of the United States may choose to have their records evaluated by one of the Approved Evaluation Services listed below or by the University Application Processing Center .

1. Approved Evaluation Services

Students may consider the following outside evaluation agencies:

• Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc.
• Educational Credential Evaluators
• Foreign Credential Evaluations, Inc.
• Foreign Credentials Service of America
• International Education Evaluations (IEE)
• International Education Research Foundation
• Institute of Foreign Credential Evaluations (IFCS)
• Josef Silny & Associates, Inc., International Education Consultants
• SpanTran: The Evaluation Company
• Transcript Research
• World Education Services, Inc.
• Secondary school record : an official course-by-course evaluation report which includes a grade point average (GPA) based on all secondary school course work and any external examination certificates earned.
• University record : an official course-by-course evaluation report which includes a GPA based on all University course work.
• Secondary school record : proof of secondary school graduation and an official course-by-course evaluation report.
• We will only accept evaluations that are sent directly from the evaluation service.
• Be sure to request that the evaluation service includes certified copies of all documentation used for the evaluation.

2. CUNY’s University Application Processing Center (UAPC)

CUNY’s University Application Processing Center can evaluate your transcripts free of charge.

UAPC does not evaluate until all required documents have been submitted. Please follow these guidelines:

• Please observe the list of Required Secondary School Credentials for your country.
• Observe the Translation Guidelines , to ensure a timely evaluation.
• Please submit the form to the relevant office at your previous institutions for official transcripts.
• An official transcript is a copy of your academic record sent directly from your University to CUNY at [email protected] .
• To ensure appropriate documentation is submitted, observe the requirements of an Official Transcript .

Translations

• Copies of complete secondary school record
• Secondary school graduation diploma
• Any external examination certificates earned
• An official transcript of university work, sent directly from the issuing institution

Official translations may be obtained from the following

• Consulate or embassy of the country that is issuing the document
• Translation agency
• Immigrant or refugee association in the U.S. representing the country issuing the document
• The institution where the student studied
• Faculty member of U.S. high school, college, or university (must signify his/her academic department and rank)

All translations must meet the following conditions

• Complete and literal (word-for-word) with no attempts to interpret or evaluate the credential
• Prepared in same format as the original document
• Typed on business or school letterhead stationery
• Signed by a translator attesting to familiarity with the foreign language

CUNY does not accept translations from the following

• The student or members of his/her family
• Individuals not affiliated with any of the organizations listed above

TOEFL/IELTS/PTE/DUOLINGO

If you are on a temporary visa and educated in a non-English speaking environment, you’ll need to submit official test scores for one of the following:

• IELTS (Academic Level)
• PTE (Academic level)

In order for your scores to be considered official, request them to be sent by the issuing agency to CUNY and/or list our university code 2950 when registering for the exams. Copies of scores uploaded to the application are considered unofficial.

Visit the TOEFL , IELTS , PTE or Duolingo website for more information on sending scores. Please review our TOEFL/IELTS/PTE/Duolingo Scores Comparison Chart for more information.

4 Check Your Status

Once you submit your application, we’ll send you an email to log into CUNYfirst. CUNYfirst allows all applicants to check on the status of their applications and view decisions. More information on activating your CUNYfirst account and checking your application status .

If you miss our freshman and transfer application deadlines , you might still be able to apply to one of our colleges that continues to accept applications after the deadline. If you are applying after the deadline date, you’ll be considered by each college on a space available basis.

You’ll receive an admission decision from each of the colleges you selected on your application. Visit our After You are Admitted page for next steps.

More Admissions Resources

Majors & Programs

Support Programs

Application Review

Foster Care Students

Adult Learners

Advanced Placement Credit

High School/College Counselors

Transfer Credit Guide

Downloads & Print Materials

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content

Baruch College Writing Center

Prewriting for personal statements and other application materials

This guide is designed to help you begin brainstorming information to include in your application materials. Open a new, blank document and take notes in response to each of the below prompts.

List your experience

Identify your skills, interests, and goals, connect your experience to your skills, research the program, find and analyze models, draft the statement.

Begin by identifying your most significant past experiences—in work, in school, and in your personal life. What are the most important, uncommon, or interesting elements of your past? What makes you stand out from the average applicant? List anything a committee might want to know about you.

• Academic Experiences Ex: Course in International Economics
• Professional or Extracurricular Experiences Ex: Marketing Internship; founder of start-up; treasurer of a club
• Personal Experiences Ex. Living in several countries; family members who inspired you

Then, start identifying your skills, interests, and goals. As you brainstorm, focus on what is most relevant to this application.

• Personal skills and traits Ex: data analysis; leadership skills; patient with young kids; persistence; curiosity; graphic design
• Current interests and goals that motivate you to apply Ex: Management Consulting; NYC theater scene; to gain non-profit experience; to learn about other cultures
• Long term goals this opportunity will help you achieve Ex: To obtain a managerial role; to pursue a graduate degree; to enter a particular subfield or specialty

Next, you’ll look for connections between elements in these lists.

Frame your background as a source of expertise:

Explain how one or more elements of your background helped you to develop a key skill, interest, or understanding.

• Ex: Over the years, I have gained an understanding of how the historic and political structures of South Asian regions cause cultural practices to evolve. I owe much of this learning to my experience living in India in 2015.
• Ex: Having minored in English literature, I’m especially interested in the relationship between creative writing and marketing.
• Ex: My initial interes t in communication studies, and specifically the field of intercultural communication, emerged from the experience of growing up in China as a child of Bangladeshi parents.

Explain what you learned from each experience:

Consider one or two of your recent professional or extracurricular experiences. Write a few sentences about what you learned or achieved.

• Ex: This experience exposed me to non-traditional approaches to leadership that can increase employee satisfaction.
• Ex: Having served on the diversity committee at my company, I have learned a great deal about cultural conceptions of workplace etiquette.
• Ex: My summer experience helped me understand the importance of implementing economic policies supported by substantive research. This further solidified my desire to pursue a graduate degree in public administration

Link your past to your future:

You’ll want to demonstrate that you have a sense of your future professional or academic plans upon completion of the program (even if you change your mind later!). Write a few sentences linking admission in this program to success in your future career goals.

• Ex: Participating in the English Teaching Assistantship in Japan will be an important step towards a career in educational leadership.
• Ex: I am confident that the program’s emphasis on public policy will give me the necessary skills to advocate for policy changes in service of disempowered communities in New York City.
• Ex: As I refine my research focus, I believe I would benefit from the opportunities the program provides for field experiences at community centers.

Before writing your personal statement, you’ll want to research the program’s design, emphasis, and curriculum. Using this research, write a few sentences to demonstrate knowledge of and interest in specific aspects of the program.

• Ex: I look forward to the experiential component of the program , as I hope to build an understanding of how business decisions are made on a global scale.
• Ex: After speaking with Lisa Anderson, I am especially drawn to the Executive Fellowship program and its focus on transforming the academic experience of students at community colleges.

Look for models of strong statements in the same discipline or genre.

• Start by asking your advisors if they have models to share.
• If you find an example online, run it by a trusted mentor to see if they agree that it’s a strong model text.
• Find out what readers in your specific program expect. Applications for research-focused graduate programs have different expectations than those in more applied fields (a doctoral program in clinical psychology vs. one in social psychology, for example).

Once you’ve found some compelling examples, analyze them for writing moves you can borrow.

• What information does the writer include in the introduction? The conclusion?
• How do they structure their body paragraphs?
• How personal is the statement?

Read our “ Personal Statements Introductions” handout for examples of opening paragraphs in four disciplines.

Now that you’ve brainstormed in all of the categories above, you’re ready to start putting together a first draft.

• As you outline, give each paragraph a clear purpose.
• Keep in mind that committees often review hundred of applications from similar candidates. As you write, try to help them understand your specific experience and interest. Ask yourself: Could another student have written the same essay?
• If you’re writing multiple essays or letters for the same application, draft with their different purposes in mind.

Spring Hours of Operation

In-Person Office Hours: Monday-Thursday: 9AM-8PM Friday: 9AM-3PM

Online/In-person Sessions Available: Monday-Thursday: 9AM-8PM Friday: 9AM-3PM Saturday: 10AM-4PM

• Toggle navigation

xx Monroe Street xx

Category: Friday (Writing) Prompts

15. final announcment.

This Wednesday we will have our final Zoom call in which we will loop back to Gloria Naylor’s text on “A Word’s Meaning…”–the one we read at the beginning of the semester.  This time we’ll be scanning it for tricks it can teach us for writing a better Essay 3.  Please have a look if you can, before the Zoom.  It is quite short.

Also, as mentioned last week, final portfolios are due this week by the end of the day Wednesday.  Let me know if you need an extra day or two of time to finish.  I’ll be looking here for a link to your Google folder containing the below items; please be sure you’ve clicked on that link < and shared your Google Folder with me (otherwise, you run the risk of my thinking you dropped the class).  Here’s the stuff to make sure is in your Google folder:

–Essay 1 (2-3 drafts, meaning 2-3 different files)

–Essay 2 (2 drafts, meaning 2 different files)

–Essay 3 (optional grade boost, but most of you will want this if you’ve missed work)

–3 Revised OpenLab Friday Prompts (this can be one document but be sure to include your original post, my comments, and your revised post)

–Revision Reflection (~1 page: at least 1 paragraph describing the *specific* revisions you made to Essay 1; at least 1 paragraph describing revisions to Essay 2; at least 1 paragraph describing how your writing has changed this semester and/or how you’ve begun to think about writing—and/or reading—differently since the summer)

As always, email me with questions.   Good luck!

14. For Fri 12/11

Mining OED for Multiple Definitions of a Word

Many of us arrive in college thinking that there is only one “right” definition for each word, and that the dictionary provides us with this “proper” definition. This is far from accurate.

Essay 2 asks you to play with multiple ways of defining and understanding the word “virus,” in light of your experiences during the 2019-2020 Covid pandemic. For this assignment I want us to take inspiration from  Jesse McCarthy’s essay on the different meanings of the word “trap.”  McCarthy turns early on in his text to the Oxford English Dictionary in order to locate interesting and obscure ideas relating to the meaning of his word of interest (“trap”). Similarly, I want us to “mine” (meaning “look for”) different definitions of the term “virus” from the  OED

What I want you do is simple:

–Go to the  OED  (log in using your City Tech info)

–Find and copy in your response below two or more odd definitions related to the word “virus”

–Discuss anything unusual, interesting, funny, or otherwise bizarre that you notice about these different meanings related to “virus”—as well as any questions or points of confusion you experience in reviewing these meanings.

–Lastly, discuss how looking through the different definitions of the term virus has changed the way you think about this word—and, perhaps, the 2019-2020 pandemic.

13. For Friday 12/4

For Friday: One Last Addition to Essay 2

Recall that Essay 2 asks for you to include a quotation from one article you’ve found on your own and one quotation from a text we’ve read together—and to connect these to your discussion of your Essay 2 song. For Friday I want you to find a text we’ve read together (from the Google Drive folder of readings) that connects to your Essay 2 song or social issue. I want you to do several things with this text, creating a paragraph of your own writing about it as you do:

–Find a quotation from this text that you can connect to your Essay 2

–Write a paragraph: begin by explaining the connection to your song/social issue, then introduce the quotation using the names of the author and title. Finish your quotation with an MLA-formatted in-text citation (see below) and a transitional phrase that leads into your discussion of the quote’s wording and significance (eg This quote shows… / What this passage suggests…). Finish your paragraph by tying back to the connection to your social issue/song that you began with.

–Below your paragraph, use  Bibme  to create an MLA Works Cited citation entry for your text you’re quoting from.  Refer to the MLA Citation Guide I’ve created as well for additional help.

EX: (I did two paragraphs —the first is a transition and recap for context and then my second paragraph is where I quote from a text we’ve read and link it to my demo “Essay 2 song”)

As I’ve been suggesting so far, the theme of deception appears in several different ways in the video and soundtrack of Beyonce’s “Partition.” Not only does Beyonce routinely present herself as a shadowy silhouette in the video, but her suggestion in her lyrics that “I just want to be the girl you like… the girl you like is right here with me” suggests there to be a kind of “twoness” in her which leaves us guessing: who is she really—the woman wanting to be the girl or the girl herself?

While it may seem something of a stretch, this theme of deception in Beyonce’s work can be thought of as a kind of  provocateurship  that is linkable to the online phenomenon of trolling. As an artist in the age of the internet, Beyonce knows that part of going viral is provoking her audiences in ways that may offend many viewers (see, for instance, my earlier discussion of Bell Hooks and Bill O’Reilly). Beyonce’s willingness to provoke her audience in certain ways is what links her to what might be called “troll culture.” As Noah Berlatsky notes in “Beyonce, Sex Terrorist,” if we observe Beyonce’s work carefully, we notice that “what she says is quite pointed” (Berlatsky). For Berlatsky, Beyonce’s “Partition” is aware of “the pressure to be respectable” coming from critics like Hooks and O’Reilly, and the song actively subverts this pressure. He continues: “the video is a fantasy about steamy married monogamous sex, which works deliberately to make O’Reilly’s conservative values look sexy and illicit. It’s also a re-imagining of black female eroticism as linked to power rather than subservience, which turns hooks’s respectability politics into a self-aware sensual tease” (Berlatsky). As this quote makes clear, Beyonce’s work manifests a kind of critical intelligence even as it may appear to be just one more form of overly sexualized pop media garbage. There is a logic to this garbage, Berlatsky reminds us, and in Beyonce’s unabashedness—not only her exposing of her body and sexuality for the camera but also for the subtler details in her work such as dropping a napkin for a white servant to pick up—there is something of a provocateur, perhaps even something of a troll. Berlatsky’s point is basically that, beyond the play of light and shadow that is part of Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce schtick, she could be thought of as admirably trolling—that is, challenging and critiquing—the demand for women’s “respectability” on both the right and left.

Works Cited

Berlatsky, Noah. “Beyoncé, Sex Terrorist: A Menace for Conservatives and Liberals Alike.”  The Atlantic , Atlantic Media Company, 12 May 2014, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/05/beyonce-sex-terrorist-a-menace-for-conservatives-and-liberals-alike/362085/.

12. For Friday, 11/20

NOTES: Essay 3 Assignment posted–please read!  No class next week; stay tuned for what to do over Thanksgiving break!

For Friday, 11/20

Re-reading to Re-Write

The following prompt is designed to help you rewrite the beginning of your paragraphs in your Essay 2 so that your points become clearer to your reader.

Re-read a paragraph from your Essay 2 and as you read, think: what is the big picture of what I’m saying here? Based on the various things I’m saying in my paragraph, what is one word, phrase, or sentence that captures most it?

Write the following after reading:

–1 word, phrase, sentence that captures the main ideas:

–1 sentence that will introduce your paragraph to your reader—that is, the “big picture” of what you’re writing about in it. Your purpose in this sentence is to prepare them for what they are about to read (and to get them to  want  to read your full paragraph).

Last : put the sentence you just wrote at the BEGINNING of your paragraph. This is your TOPIC SENTENCE.

Share all of the work including your rewritten paragraph below.

11. For Friday 11/13

For Friday 11/13

Watch  Zoom 11  if you missed it. It may help you with the below:

Connecting Details (from Song to Research to Song)

Points from Zoom lecture on Sanneh’s text about Jay-Z, pp. 9-11

• Connecting Jay-Z’s biographical details (research) to his lyrics: the Glock
• From content to style (connecting Hip Hop website research to the style of Jay-Z’s words. Comparing his style of “everyday speech” to historical lyrical styles in rap.
• Close reading and walking us through Jay-Z’ “D’evils”

Reading & Writing Assignments:

1. Read one of the articles you found in your research for last Friday’s assignment using one of our  Research Resources . Following Sanneh’s example (above, explained in Zoom), write 1-2 paragraphs where you  connect a single detail from your Essay 2 song to a single detail in your research source.

2.  Beyonce and the Politics of Listening and Interpretation

When we listen to a song, we are already interpreting it. Even if we listen to a track and say “this is totally meaningless”, this is an interpretation. One of the historical problems in the interpretation of popular musics (from rock and roll to rap to hip hop) has been the tendency to interpret such music in a moralizing way (“are the values espoused in this work good or bad?” “will the children listening to this music be negatively affected?”). In my view, this problem continues to get in the way of listeners’ ability to appreciate the full breadth of meanings available in popular musics. The series of texts on Beyonce we’ve read for this week (by Bell Hooks, Bill O’Reilly, and Noah Berlatsky) highlight this problem:

Below I’ve summarized the background of the three Beyonce commentators and the what they’ve claimed about her work. Then, I’ve posed a question asking you to provide more detail. For Part 2 of your response, I want you to choose A, B, or C and respond to the question I’ve provided and use a quotation from the text to support your response (so, for instance, if you choose “A”, you’ll explain WHY Bell Hooks thinks Beyonce is harmful to young girls and find a quote from her text/interview where she talks about this).

A. Bell Hooks is a self-proclaimed radical intersectional feminist (meaning her politics are very far to the left); she finds Beyonce’s work to be harmful to young girls: why?

B. On the other end of the political spectrum is Bill O’Reilly, a far-right former TV show host for Fox news; he too finds Beyonce’s work to be harmful to young girls: why?

C. Noah Berlatsky is a journalist who cares about Beyonce’s work as a form of art; he notices that although Hooks and O’Reilly are on opposing sides of politics that there are similarities in how they interpret Beyonce’s work: what similarities between them does he notice? What alternative, non-moralizing way of interpreting Beyonce does Berlatsky offer us?

10. For Fri 11/6

Close-reading & Asking Questions about Lyrics, linking to Social Issues…

• In the two brief close-readings of songs we read for last week—Reese Okyung Kwon’s “There Must Be More” (an analysis of Christian rock musician David Ruis’ track of the same name) and Jeremy Schmidt’s “The Full Retard” (a dissection of Jaime Meline’s eponymous track)—the writer tunes in quite carefully to something puzzling in the song’s lyrical content, opening up a series of questions about the artist’s lyrics that the writer then tries to answer:

Kwon wonders about Ruis’ awkward use of the word “because” in the chorus of his song: “Why not employ and or as or for or since ?” She wonders, adding “any one of which would better suit the song’s metrical requirements” (Kwon).

Meanwhile, Schmidt questions Meline’s use of the phrase “you should pump this shit like they do in the future,” asking: “What does it mean to pump, promote, or even love something right now, knowing that it—the song or the idea or the meme—will be ubiquitous in the future?”

Using these texts as inspiration, return to the lyrics from your song that you shared on 10/23, and read them in search of something baffling, confusing, or otherwise questionable.  Write a series of questions—that is, a paragraph of 3 or more sentences that are questions—about one or more lyrical choices in your Essay 2 song that you find questionable.

• Re-read the lyrics and your questions. List 2-3 social issues you notice in the lyrics and/or your questions.
• Play around with several of the Research Resources I’ve shared (see link in menu above). List one article or source you’ve found on your song and/or social issue that you might read. Include the author, title, publication and resource in which you found it (e.g. Genius.com, Google Scholar, etc).

9. For Fri 10/30

Jace Clayton deftfully opens his essay on Vince Staples with a description not of the TOPICS he intends to write about—Vince Staples, noise, violence—but with a description of a SOUND, the sound (and corresponding silence) that ends Staples’ debut record.

For this week (Friday), I want you to try writing an opening to your Essay 2 that is inspired by the way Clayton opens his essay on Staples & noise.  Focus on 1 sound in particular and describe it as carefully as you can in order to get your reader to “hear it” (imagine they’ve never heard this song/sound before).  I suggest you listen to your song at least three times to choose your sound (like we did during the Zoom exercise).  Strategies for describing your sound:

— compare this sound to something else the reader may have heard (does this beat sound like a “robot,” a “machine”? does this singing sound “angelic” or like “birds” or like “yelling”?

–consider the length of this sounds: does it go on for what seems like a long time?  or is quite short?  somewhere in the middle?  Time it on your phone: how many seconds does it last?

–does this sound repeat throughout the song?  is it repeated in an ongoing way throughout the song (like a drumbeat) or is it only repeated a couple of times (like the lyrics in a song’s refrain/chorus)?

Lastly, notice how Clayton includes his own emotional (and intellectual) experience of listening to this sound for the first time and then for a second time (“When I learned this tear…was intentional, I was shocked…”).  Include a short paragraph describing your own experience listening to this sound for the first time and then re-listening to this sound a second, third, and fourth time.  Write about differences you notice in your experience.

Share your new beginning to Essay 2 as a comment below.

8. For Friday 10/23

1. Next week we will be focusing more on how to listen to and write about music more carefully—a skill that will be key for developing your Essay 2s. For Friday, I want you to work on close-reading the lyrics of your selected song (e-mail me if your song has no lyrics). Specifically, what I want you to do is to write out the lyrics line by line and identify a social issue in at least five lines (using your own words).

EX (from Drake’s “Hotline Bling”):

“You used to call me on my cell phone” possible issues: loss (used to…), love, friendship? Trust?

“Late night when you need my love” possible issues: love, sex (late night), dependence (you need)

2. In the text we’ve read this week, “Drake: Rapper, Actor, Meme,” Jon Caraminica creates a thesis about Drake’s “Hotline Bling” that connects this song to a key contemporary “social issue,” the meme. In a few sentences, unpack (using your own words) the connection Caraminica makes between the aesthetics of “Hotline Bling” and the issue of memes and meme-making. If you’d like, you can also add your own response to this article—ideas or opinions you’ve had while reading.

7. For Friday 10/9

For Friday:

–(re-)Watch our Zoom as a reference for thinking about what a scholarly article is.

• Briefly compare Lane’s “Addicted to Addiction” and Griffiths et al’s “The Evolution of Internet Addiction.” One of these is a scholarly article, published in a scholarly journal; the other is not. In your response, tell me which of these articles you think is a “scholarly” article and explain to me how you know this.  (You do not need to read much of the articles to answer this.). BONUS: Tell me which of these texts you prefer and why.  MEGA-BONUS: How are these two texts making a similar argument about IA?  (You’ll have to read carefully to answer this latter question.)
• Look at your list of social issues you began thinking about working on for Essay 2 a week or two ago. Choose one social issue and find (don’t read…yet) TWO ARTICLES on this social issue—one scholarly article and one non-scholarly article—using two different resources linked in Essay 2 Research Resources . Share links and publication info (Author name, title, etc.) for these two articles under #2 in your response.
• Briefly paraphrase in your own words the thesis of either:

— K-Hole, on “Normcore” (pp. 27–41) ; OR

— Jerry Salz, on the selfie , p.1, 2, 3 (bottom), 6,

Explain how K-Hole tells us what Normcore is by telling us what Normcore DOES; OR Explain how Salz tells us what a selfie IS by telling us what a selfie DOES (ie what does a selfie SHOW us; how is it MADE?  how does it IMPACT us?).

NEXT WEEK WE ARE ON BREAK: USE THIS TIME TO REVISE ESSAY 1 & DRAFT ESSAY 2.  Your revised Essay 1 and your draft of Essay 2 are both due the following week (10/21).

6. For Friday 10/2

For Friday 10/2

If you missed our Zoom today, please  view the recording  and post a summary in the  Zoom summaries category .

• For Friday, let’s begin wrapping up our work with Essay 1, the second draft of which will be due in your Google Drive portfolios on Wed, October 21. Read and/or re-read the feedback you received for the draft you posted under  Essay 1 Feedback  and share here a paragraph or so of writing that describes the changes you intend to make to your draft: additions you might make, things you might delete, paragraphs you might put in a different place. Please be as detailed as possible in describing the changes you’ll make and explaining why you want to make said changes. See if you can write 7-8 full sentences.
• As we began working on in the Zoom call today, we will be shifting from thinking about narrative writing (Essay 1) to thinking about analytic and thetic (thesis-based) writing as we advance toward Essay 2. To that end, we talked about what a thesis statement is and two different types of theses—definition based theses and critical/theoretical theses.I don’t want you to worry about having your own thesis for Essay 2 yet… That will come much later. What I want you to focus on for now is understanding what other writers’ theses are in the texts we are reading. To that end, using the Zoom call as a reference, what I want you to share below under #2 are

2A) what you think  Jerald Block’s thesis is in “Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction” —and what kind of thesis this is;

2B) your own brief summary of how  Christopher Lane responds to Jerald Block’s thesis in his text titled “Addicted to Addiction” —does he agree? Disagree? How/why?; and

2C) in light of these readings, whether you consider yourself to be an internet addict—and why you do or don’t think you are.

The OpenLab at City Tech: A place to learn, work, and share

The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.

New York City College of Technology | City University of New York

Accessibility

Our goal is to make the OpenLab accessible for all users.

Learn more about accessibility on the OpenLab

Creative Commons

• - Attribution
• - NonCommercial
• - ShareAlike

© New York City College of Technology | City University of New York

The College

• Mission, Vision & History
• Offices and Services
• Administration
• City College and CUNY Policies
• Campus Map & Directions
• Land Acknowledgement
• CCNY in the News
• Shuttle Bus Service
• Schedule a Tour

Schools & Divisions

• The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
• CUNY School of Medicine
• Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
• School of Education
• The Grove School of Engineering
• Division of Humanities and the Arts
• Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at Center for Worker Education (CWE)
• Division of Science

Lifetime & Experiential Learning

• Graduate Studies Overview
• Continuing & Professional Studies
• International Studies & Study Abroad

Academic Planning

• Areas of Study
• General Education Curriculum
• Academic Calendar
• Courses / Bulletins
• Academic Affairs

Information For

• Admissions Overview
• Freshman Students
• Transfer/Second Degree Students
• Graduate Students
• Returning to College
• Visiting Students/Non-Degree
• Continuing Education
• Explore CCNY
• ACE Program
• MyCity VIP Portal

Visit Our Campus

• Campus Tours
• Information Sessions

Related Links

• Financial Aid
• Tuition and Fees
• Campus Housing
• International Students
• Honors Programs
• Research Overview
• The Office of Research
• Research Compliance & Ethics
• College Research Council

Discoveries in Actions

• Centers and Institutes
• QC-ALERT Programs
• Undergraduate Research

Faculty & Staff Experts

• By Area of Expertise
• View All Faculty & Staff

Campus Life

• Student Life
• Student Housing
• Benny's Campus Store

Student Services

• Student Affairs
• Health & Wellness
• The AccessAbility Center/Student Disability Services
• Safety Services
• LGBTQ+ Student Center
• CCNY Navigate
• Immigrant Student Resource and Research Center

Support CCNY

• How to Make a Gift
• CCNY Giving: Make-A-Will
• Types of Gifts
• 2023-2024 NYS Charitable Tax Contributions Credit

CUNY Related Links

• CUNY Portal
• Loaner Devices
• Discrimination and Retaliation Reporting Portal

Faculty & Staff

• Faculty / Staff E-Mail (Legacy - Webmail)
• Faculty / Staff E-Mail (New Outlook 365)
• Password Reset
• Content Editor
• Grants Management System
• Visual Course Roster
• Work Orders
• Employee Timesheets
• Student E-Mail
• Degreeworks / FACTS
• City Central

Step 2: Requirements

Minimum requirements.

Graduate study is open to qualified students who possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. college or university or the equivalent from a foreign institution and an adequate background in the field of study that they wish to pursue. Normally the equivalent of an undergraduate major in the field is required. If you are an international applicant, your academic credentials will be evaluated based on the characteristics of your country’s educational system and the level of work completed. See our page on information for International Applicants.

The Application

City College only accepts applications submitted online via our online application. Submitting the online application is one part of a two-step application process. The second step is for the applicant to mail all supporting documents (official transcripts, application fee, and any other supporting documentation that is not submitted through the online application). All supporting documentation should be sent to the appropriate Office of Admissions. Please see the addresses below. Applications are considered incomplete until all materials are received.

Application Fee

There is an application fee of $75, which is non-refundable and may not be applied to any other fees.  The fee can be paid by credit card or echeck through the online application. You can also mail a money order payable to The City College of New York, Office of Graduate Admissions, 160 Convent Avenue, Marshak Science Building, Room 24, New York, NY 10031. Application fees are subject to change. Fee waivers are not available for graduate students unless you are a U.S Veteran who can provide a DD2-14.  

Personal Statement

A personal statement about your educational or career objectives should be typed and enclosed with the application. The personal statement is your way of introducing yourself to the Admissions Committee. Your personal statement should be of the kind and quality that expresses why you have chosen to pursue a graduate degree. This is also an opportunity to discuss any challenges you may have faced during your undergraduate study. Certain programs offer specific prompts for writing your personal statement. You will have access to those prompts once you begin the application process. The personal statement is one of several credentials that will determine your eligibility for admission to a graduate degree program at The City College and should be no longer than one page in length. The personal statement should be uploaded to your online application.

Letters of Recommendation

Most programs require two letters of recommendation, but some may require up to three letters. Recommendations must be submitted on official letterhead.

Recommendations should be submitted online as part of the online application. Your recommender will complete a brief assessment of your ability to be successful at the graduate level and will also upload a narrative letter in support of your application. All applications to the School of Architecture must include curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant’s intellectual and design abilities.

Recommendations may be academic (past or present professors) or professional (employers/supervisors).  Friends and relatives are not accepted.  Programs reserve the right to request additional letters or information.  Recommendations can be submitted after the application has been completed, but must be submitted by the published deadline.

Transcripts

Transcripts uploaded with the online application are considered unofficial and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Applicants must upload an unofficial transcript, mark sheet, or academic record for each institution of higher education previously attended, even those that did not confer a degree. All transcript uploads must include a key, legend, or back copy of the transcript. Non-English transcripts must be accompanied by an English translation. Scans must be clear and legible, and all transcripts/records should include the student's name. See  Guidelines for Official Translations of Documents  for more information.

Please do not mail materials that you have uploaded unless specifically requested by the Admissions Office.

Any admission offers will be contingent on receiving and verifying all official transcripts, certified translations, and/or credential evaluations pertaining to the applicant's entire post-secondary academic career, prior to the registration deadline.

Official transcripts must arrive in the envelope, sealed and stamped by the Registrar’s office. If the official transcript does not include the conferral date of baccalaureate degree, please request an official copy of the diploma or provisional certificate as well. Transcripts (and diplomas) not in English must be accompanied by a translation.

Any fraudulent activity or discrepancies found between unofficial and official transcripts will result in the immediate revocation of the admission offer.

Program Requirements

Programs may require additional elements, such as interviews/auditions and portfolio material.

Language Test Requirements: TOEFL, IELTS, Pearson (PTE) or Duolingo

All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English, are required to submit official language scores. This requirement applies to all applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, Israel, the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, most European countries and non-English speaking countries in Africa. The language tests are not required of permanent residents of the U.S. or individuals who have been granted official refugee or asylum status by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The language tests are not required of students from countries where English is the official language, or by students that have studied full-time at a university for at least two years at an institution in a country where English is the official language. Applicants who attend a university in a foreign country where English is the medium of instruction are NOT waived from this requirement.

All scores expire after two years. The Institutional Code for City College is 2083. This Institutional Code number will ensure that your scores are sent to The City College Office of Admissions. Scores sent directly to any academic department will delay the processing of your application. City College does not use department codes.

Each graduate program may requires a different minimum score for consideration than another. Please consult the program requirements for you program's minimum score.

Graduate Record Examination, (GRE)

The GRE has been suspended until further notice.

Test scores can still be submitted with your application if you choose to submit them. GRE score reports may come directly from ETS (Educational Testing Service) and can also be verified electronically by the admissions office. GRE scores expire after five years.

The Institutional Code for City College is 2083. This Institutional Code number will ensure that GRE scores are sent to The City College Office of Admissions. City College does not use department codes.

[email protected]

Last Updated: 03/01/2023 15:02

Macaulay Honors College

How long should my essays be what are the topics/prompts for the essay.

August 12, 2021

We require that you submit  two pieces of writing:  Each should be around 500 words long

The essay prompts are posted on our website: https://macaulay.cuny.edu/admissions/applying-to-macaulay/essay-questions/

• Portal Home
• Document Hub
• Return to Talos

CUNY Application Prompts 2021 are Out!

The CUNY Macaulay Honors College Essay prompts are now available.  If you will apply next fall, you may want to get drafts going over the summer; this fall the Macaulay deadline will be earlier than in the past (November 16).

You can read about the full application process here.

OUR ESSAY PROMPTS HAVE BEEN POSTED!

The application for the Macaulay Class of 2026 won't open until September 1, but the prompts are available now for rising seniors.

As part of the Macaulay application to the class of 2026, we require that studemts submit  two pieces of writing: an ESSAY and a second WRITING SAMPLE . Each should be around 500 words long. Word counts may be slightly over or under, within reason.

ESSAY PROMPT:  Describe an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

WRITING SAMPLE PROMPT: Write on a topic of your choice. It may be something you have already written, something that addressed a different prompt (such as another college essay or academic assignment), or may be an essay of your own design.

In selecting your writing sample, students should consider that:

• Readers will not be specialists in any specific field, submissions of a technical nature are discouraged
• Submissions can be an excerpt from a larger text, but it should be self-contained, with a reasonably clear beginning, middle, and end
• Students are encouraged to be ambitious in their writing, but also aware of word count limitations

SEE ALL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

College Office

Return to blog

College of Staten Island CUNY

• Cost & scholarships
• Essay prompt

Want to see your chances of admission at College of Staten Island CUNY?

We take every aspect of your personal profile into consideration when calculating your admissions chances.

This school does not require essays or the essay prompts are not available yet.

Sign up to be notified of any changes.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

2 Strong Sophie Davis Essays from an Accepted Student

CCNY is not only the oldest of City University of New York’s (CUNY) higher education institutions, but also one of the most highly ranked universities within the system. And among its academic offerings is the Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program, which is a BS/MD program . If you’re committed to becoming a physician, this program can help you achieve your goals, in a shorter time frame than usual.

A BS/MD program is an attractive option for aspiring doctors, and as a result admissions are often more competitive than they are at the school in general. The Sophie Davis Program at City College is no different, which means that you need not only a strong academic background, proven community service, and a demonstrated commitment to medicine, but also excellent essays to emphasize those qualities and humanize yourself for admissions officers.

You can learn more about the Sophie Davis Program before continuing on to read two essays that helped a student gain acceptance to the program, as well as breakdowns of what they did well and where they could improve.

Essay Example 1 – Extracurricular Activity

In our capitalistic society, we’re granted the freedom and the means to go about our excursions and try to fulfill our everyday needs. Indulging in human desires, society sometimes forgets about those who cannot satisfy their own. It gives rise to two sides of the world, one full of prosperity and one brimmed with poverty. The poverty in the US is sadly astronomical, with 37.9 million people experiencing extreme hardship. This problem of poverty can result in numerous devastations for this community. Hunger, economic discrimination, and lack of education create this disparity in our society. But one that I have personally seen in my community is the issue of homelessness. Just in my city alone, 1 out of 120 people are homeless, a statistic much too great than it should be. 

My family and I have been blessed with basic human needs and I’m extremely grateful for it. But even with a privilege like mine, I did not know how to initially utilize it. It was only when I began high school that opportunities to help others became clear to me. As I was finding myself in the early years of high school, my guidance counselor presented me with the clear opportunity that I needed. She told me about a club that would interest me, centered around helping others and that she was the moderator. The club needed leadership to run properly and she asked if I could find help to coordinate the club’s events. At this moment, there were no excuses, a perfect opportunity to expound on my values presented itself in front of me. 

With the help of my friends, we began to fully run the club. Ideas on what to do and how to help our community pillaged our minds as we were eager to start right away. I then suggested a food drive, except we’d make bags full of food and a note of encouragement. We would try to at least reach 60 bags of food. We would finally distribute these food bags to the homeless in the area. Before we could enact any of our plans, however, we needed funds. “Convincing my school to sponsor us” was an idea that slowly dissipated as an option, so we turned to ask our school community. I brought it up to everyone I could. Any food, any snacks, anything at all that they could give would be earnestly accepted. 

Almost immediately, every single day after we announced our cause, the club was getting drop-offs of food, packets of water were brought in, and people were coming in to help make note cards. During this time I learned my first lesson, the willingness of humans to help one another. In a time where apathy among humans is too common, seeing just a hint of voluntary help from others awakened a sense of relief within me, that we as a community haven’t given up on each other. It encouraged me to keep working towards this club, knowing that so many people would support me in doing it. 

Once our inventory was full of food and note cards, we began the packing process. The first day was done, and almost 50 bags were ready to be given out. After the second day, 45 more were made. We had already surpassed our goal of 60 bags, and there still was a surplus of food left. By the end of the week, there were 244 finished food bags in total. 244 food bags that we then gave to the homeless. 

My club has been more than meaningful to me. This one experience brought clarity to who I am and what I want to do. Being able to work with others to support a cause that would potentially help another human survive is gratifying. It’s a feeling that satisfies you, knowing that you aided someone else without any materialistic benefit yourself. I want to continue being the person who can fulfill someone’s basic needs and I want to become a person they can turn to when in need. This club has made that concrete for me, introducing a trait meant to stay in my life. While my club was and is meant to lend a helping hand to others, it truly gave its helping hand to me, becoming my mode of significance.

What the Essay Did Well

In this “Extracurricular Essay,” the student writes about an activity that showcases positive personality traits such as altruism, creativity, and teamwork, and is something they are clearly genuinely passionate about. Sometimes, applicants to specialized programs such as this one feel pressured to write about something explicitly related to the program, which in this case would be a medical or engineering related activity, but it’s far more important to choose a topic that is close to your heart.

The student also does an excellent job of showing how their passion for helping the homeless came about. They start by providing us with helpful background context on the issue of homelessness, then dive into how they worked with their guidance counselor and friends to address that issue. We also get to see the bigger picture lessons the writer took from this experience, which are integrated seamlessly into the rest of the essay. For example:

“Almost immediately, every single day after we announced our cause, the club was getting drop-offs of food, packets of water were brought in, and people were coming in to help make note cards. During this time I learned my first lesson, the willingness of humans to help one another.”

If the student just said “This experience taught me people are willing to help each other,” that would feel dry and generic, like a line from a bad Christmas movie. By instead directly connecting this takeaway to tangible actions they observed during their work with the club, we get a sense of not only what the student learned, but how they learned it. The process of learning a lesson is what you want to highlight in your college essays, as that is what will help admissions officers truly understand your way of thinking.

Finally, in the second to last paragraph, the author uses quantitative data to demonstrate the concrete impact of their efforts: their original goal was 60 bags of food, and they ended up packing 244. While numbers aren’t everything, if you do have a metric like this to share, we encourage you to do so, as it emphasizes your dedication to the cause.

What Could Be Improved 

While this student’s genuine passion for helping the homeless comes across clearly, their writing style is very stilted, which makes the essay less relatable. Admissions officers appreciate a personal tone, as, while the college essay is a formal piece of writing, getting to hear things in a student’s own voice allows them to get a clearer sense for the applicant’s personality.

For example, in the second paragraph, the student writes:

“But even with a privilege like mine, I did not know how to initially utilize it. It was only when I began high school that opportunities to help others became clear to me. As I was finding myself in the early years of high school, my guidance counselor presented me with the clear opportunity that I needed.”

The sentence is phrased so formally that it’s clunky to read. While there’s no one rule for how to phrase things in a college essay, and sometimes more formal phrasings are justified, a good tip is to say things the way you would in conversation. If this student were talking to a friend or even a teacher, they would be unlikely to use words like “utilize,” or phrases such as “presented me with the opportunity,” as those are stiff, robotic things to say out loud. To make this section flow more naturally, the writer could instead say something like:

“High school gave me the independence to pursue a wider range of academic and extracurricular opportunities, and as I settled into freshman year, I knew I wanted to do something to serve my community. Initially, I didn’t know how exactly to do that. So, I scheduled a meeting with my guidance counselor, and she told me about a club she ran that was not only dedicated to helping others, but was also searching for leadership.”

This version is much friendlier and more digestible, which makes the story feel livelier and more engaging, as we can tell this is something that happened to a real person, rather than something dull and dry you’d be reading about for homework.

Essay Example 2 – Social Change

America is the land of immigrants. Since its creation, there has been no one but immigrants coming in to contribute to its birth. Coming from all edges of the earth, immigrants have devoted themselves to operating the country. This notion was true in the 1800s and continues now in the 21st century, with almost one million coming to the US every year. Today, many of the one million originate from Latin countries, mainly from Mexico. These newcomers have transformed the country, aiding in its progression economically and culturally. But their aid has not been fully acknowledged. Legislation concerning their status has been negatively brought up around the country, making it difficult for immigrants to thrive. Especially with fear for their well-being, just surviving is painful, a fact I’ve sadly come to acknowledge. 

Every month, I go to a nearby food pantry. We pack food received from donations and deliveries, and distribute them to local families in our community. It’s an aid we do to keep these families healthy and so they do not need to worry about buying food. I began volunteering at this food pantry 2 years ago and the satisfaction I achieved was almost addictive. Doing your best to help someone to not only survive, but not worry about what to eat the next day is extremely gratifying and the families are thankful for the service provided to them. 

I began to notice a pattern in the families that were coming to the pantry. Many of these families had Latin American origins, especially coming from Mexico. I was given the job to bring their food bags to their specified location. When I would walk with them, we started to converse about our lives. Many of the parents didn’t speak English quite well, so I started talking to the children about their life stories. Most children were born here in the US but the rest of their families immigrated here, not knowing much on how to survive. I was always aware that many immigrants’ lives were similar to this situation, but I was alarmed by the amount of resources they weren’t familiar with. Insurance, education access and legal help were all free services available to them, but just a mention of these resources came as a mystery to these families. If these services are readily available for immigrants to use, why are so many people not familiar with them? It was a question that permeated my mind. They deserved to live completely and well. I wanted to do what I could to inform the families about what they could do to assimilate better. 

An agent of social change is one who listens and is aware of the problems around them. But even with this knowledge, they must have a clear understanding of how to correct the dilemma. Although it may have been small, I believe I was able to assist these families in becoming familiarized with the US immigration-help systems and how they can use its benefits. Everytime I saw one of the families, I would tell them some of the organizations that can help them. I found a local program to teach them how to speak English, a project that helps integrate Latino communities, and a program that assists in naturalization for immigrants. I’ve introduced them to certain organizations like the Hispanic Federation and simply how to find information to help them by looking through the internet. 

Becoming involved in the lives of the immigrant families has allowed me to learn about their lives. They would tell me about the experiences they had gone through collectively. The reasons they had to come to the US, the difficulties they’ve faced, and the hardships they currently are facing. It’s granted me knowledge of what each of these cultures have been shaped by. Sympathy and understanding towards the lives of others are what I’ve gained from embarking on a simple task. By informing families and giving them just the bare minimum in terms of resources, I myself have gained precious knowledge and connection that empowers me to affix with others who share similar stories and try to help them thrive in our country.

Once again, the author does a great job of highlighting an issue they are passionate about, and how they have worked to combat it. The overall structure is very similar to the first essay, which is not surprising since these examples were written by the same student: in the first paragraph, they outline the scope of the problem; in the second and third paragraphs, they explain its relevance to their own life; and in the final paragraphs they describe their efforts to solve it.

Once again, the author also does a great job of connecting their bigger picture takeaways to concrete actions and events. For example:

“They would tell me about the experiences they had gone through collectively. The reasons they had to come to the US, the difficulties they’ve faced, and the hardships they currently are facing. It’s granted me knowledge of what each of these cultures have been shaped by. Sympathy and understanding towards the lives of others are what I’ve gained from embarking on a simple task.”

By explaining how they became more sympathetic to the struggles of other people, not just stating that they did, we see that the student’s compassion for immigrants is genuine, and that they aren’t just paying lip service to something they think admissions officers will like.

Like with the strengths of this essay, the weaknesses also overlap with those of the previous essay. The primary issue here is once again the overly formal writing style, which makes the essay feel more like a piece of academic writing than a personal reflection. While the writer is clearly a thoughtful, introspective person, those qualities would come across even more strongly if they used a more conversational tone.

This essay could also benefit from the author sharing more specific anecdotes from their work with immigrants, which would allow them to provide more details about their thoughts and feelings. For the most part, that look inside the writer’s head is missing, as events are presented in a more play-by-play style. If the author focused more on showing and not telling , we would get to know them much better, which is the whole point of the college essay, after all.

As an example, in the second paragraph, the author writes:

“I began volunteering at this food pantry 2 years ago and the satisfaction I achieved was almost addictive. Doing your best to help someone to not only survive, but not worry about what to eat the next day is extremely gratifying and the families are thankful for the service provided to them.”

Here, the author directly tells the reader that they feel satisfied and gratified by their work, without explaining what about the work has led to these feelings. This point would be stronger if they instead said something along the lines of: 

“Every weekend I spent countless hours unboxing thousands of vegetables and fruits, stirring boiling pots of hot tomato soup, and tumbling into bed exhausted for another 5 am wakeup the next day. But the muscle cramps, sweaty face, and early alarms were all worth it when I saw people’s smiles as the first spoonful of soup touched their mouth.”

This far more detailed version both describes how the writer arrived at their feelings of satisfaction and gratification, and immerses readers more fully in the story, by allowing us to feel the writer’s simultaneous fatigue and pride right alongside them.

Where to Get Feedback on Your Essay 

Want feedback on your Sophie Davis essay before you submit? That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Masterlinks

• About Hunter
• One Stop for Students
• Make a Gift
• The Program
• Why be a Public Service Scholar?
• How to Apply
• Agency Overview
• Public Safety
• Website Feedback
• Privacy Policy
• CUNY Tobacco Policy

• Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez
• Administration
• Career Success Initiatives
• Centers & Institutes
• University Resources
• Academic Policy
• Academic Calendars
• Academic Programs
• Faculty Affairs
• Current Initiatives
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Graduate Studies
• Two-Year Degrees
• Continuing & Professional Education
• Online Education
• Transfer Student Hub
• Tuition and College Costs
• Student Eligibility
• Scholarships
• Student Loans
• Tax Benefits for Higher Education
• Applying for Financial Aid
• Federal and State Grants
• Research Development & Programs
• Research Facilities
• News & Events
• Research Integrity & Compliance
• Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Office of Research

• The University

Three CUNY Educators Win 2024 Guggenheim Fellowships

April 17, 2024

Art Historian, Interdisciplinary Artist and Philosophy Scholar Win Prominent Prize

Three women from CUNY’s faculty have won prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships in recognition of their groundbreaking contributions to the arts and humanities. This year’s CUNY Guggenheim fellows are interdisciplinary artist  Bang-Guel Han  and philosophy scholar  Barbara Montero , both of the College of Staten Island, and art historian  Claire Bishop , of the CUNY Graduate Center.

“We congratulate Professors Han, Bishop and Montero for their selection as recipients of the highly coveted Guggenheim Fellowship,”  said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “Not only are they dynamic changemakers producing innovative, influential work in their respective fields, they are also devoted faculty members who educate and inspire the next generation of scholars.”

Now in its 99th year, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation this year selected 188 fellows in 52 disciplines from nearly 3,000 applicants. Scholars are honored for work in the social and natural sciences, the humanities and the creative arts, and each recipient receives a stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.” Prior recipients include James Baldwin, Rachel Carson and Martha Graham. See the  full list of 2024 Fellows .

Examining Politics, Social Constructs

Han, an associate professor at the College of Staten Island, is an interdisciplinary artist working across video, performance and code. Through her work, she examines the sociopolitical and cultural dimensions of body and language in relation to social structures, representational systems and understandings of self.

“The list of recipients contains so many amazing people – I feel humbled to be in the same company,” Han said, adding that she feels “elated and honored.”

As a Guggenheim Fellow, Han will be working on a new interdisciplinary art project consisting of an experimental tapestry, electronic sculpture and live events in the form of public panel discussions.

Han was born and raised in Seoul and has been based in the United States since 2003. Her work has been shown in The Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Queens Museum, DOOSAN Gallery New York, SangSangMadang in Seoul and Centro Internazionale per l’Arte Contemporanea in Rome.

In her artist statement, Han said that her art practice “critically engages with manifestations of activities often associated with the feminine: talking about emotions, confessions, eavesdropping and gossiping. I’m interested in text as sites of disclosure and declaration that blur and complicate the distinction between public and private.”

Exploring the Mind-Body Problem

Montero is a philosophy professor at the College of Staten Island and the University of Notre Dame. Her experience as a former professional ballet dancer helps inform her research, which is focused on two very different notions of the body: as the physical or material basis of everything, and as the moving, breathing, flesh and blood instrument that we use when we run, walk or dance.

“I feel ecstatic that my work was recognized as worthy of support,” Montero said.

Her Guggenheim project will involve writing a draft of a book to be titled “Things That Matter: Actual-World Metaphysics and the Mind-Body Problem,” which is currently under contract with Oxford University Press. The book will explore what philosophy can teach readers about both themselves and the world they inhabit. “My goal is to methodically complete a full draft. After that’s done, it’s pure pleasure for me,” Montero said.

Montero has won fellowships and awards including the National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship and the American Council of Learned Societies Charles Ryskamp Research Fellowship. She was nominated by Oxford University Press for the Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship, an award for which publishers are permitted to submit only one book per round.

Critic and Contrarian 

Bishop, a prolific scholar and contemporary art critic, is known for her original and sometimes contrarian views and interpretations. Her book “Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship,” for which she won the 2013 Frank Jewett Mather award, calls for art that engages and challenges its audience in a more intentionally assertive manner.

“So many great scholars have been Guggenheim Fellows, and there are so many I admire on the list of fellows this year. It’s terrific to be in that company,” Bishop said. “It’s also public recognition of a more contemporary and interdisciplinary way of writing.”

Her forthcoming book, “Disordered Attention: How We Look at Art and Performance Today,” due in June from Verso Books, includes four essays about changing patterns of attention in contemporary art and performance since the early 1990s. Her essays and books have been translated into 20 languages. A professor at the CUNY Graduate Center since 2008, she has taught courses on a variety of topics, such as exhibition history, museums of contemporary art, dance and performance, histories of art education and attention and technology.

“Art history can be a very niche bubble, while the media oversimplifies,” she said, speaking of her plans for the Guggenheim. “I’d like to help bring some accessibility to the former and some complexity to the latter.”

Read the full announcement from the  CUNY Graduate Center .

The City University of New York  is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving more than 225,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, visit  https://www.cuny.edu .

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

Related posts