Common Application: Personal Statement
Please write an essay (250 words minimum 500 words maximum) on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below. This personal essay helps us to become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
6. Topic of your choice.

BC: Students frequently ask what they can do to enhance their applications and furnish us important additional insights about themselves. Toward this purpose, the Admission Committee presents you with four topics for consideration and reflection. Please select one of the questions below and write an essay of no more than 400 words. This is your opportunity to reveal how you think, what you believe, what you value, and what you hope to accomplish. This is your chance to let us hear your voice.
1. St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, encouraged his followers to live their lives in the service of others. How do you plan to serve others in your future endeavors?
2. From David McCullough`s recent commencement address at BC:
"Facts alone are never enough. Facts rarely if ever have any soul. In writing or trying to understand history one may have all manner of `data,` and miss the point. One can have all the facts and miss the truth. It can be like the old piano teacher`s lament to her student, `I hear all the notes, but I hear no music."
Tell us about a time you had all of the facts but missed the meaning.
3. In his novel, Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann writes:
"We seldom know what we`re hearing when we hear something for the first time, but one thing is certain: we hear it as we will never hear it again. We return to the moment to experience it, I suppose, but we can never really find it, only its memory, the faintest imprint of what it really was, what it meant."
Tell us about something you heard or experienced for the first time and how the years since have affected your perception of that moment.
4. Boston College has a First-Year Convocation program that includes the reading and discussion of a common book that explores Jesuit ideals, community service and learning. If you were to select the book for your Convocation, what would you choose and why?

400-word version
My father, who noticed my challenges in school in Korea, suggested studying abroad. Although I was rather young at the time, being just eight years old, I earnestly accepted. Since then, I have lived most of my life abroad. Each time I went to a different country, I discovered that the world is much more unique than it appears on any travel guide...

Lehigh: What unique aspect of Lehigh most interests you? (As a guideline, your response should be between 150-250 words.) (1250 characters or upload)

232-word version
Being a certified barista, I now realize that..., depending on how the bean is roasted..., ordinary coffee can become quite unique with its own special taste and aroma...

Lehigh: Please answer one of the following questions. As a guideline, your response should be between 150-250 words. (1250 characters or upload)
1. People face challenges every day. Some make decisions that force them beyond their comfort levels. Maybe you have a political, social or cultural viewpoint that is not shared by the rest of your school, family or community. Did you find the courage to create a better opportunity for yourself or others? Were you able to find the voice to stand up for something you passionately supported? How did you persevere when the odds were against you?
2. If you founded your own college or university, what topic of study would you make mandatory for all students to study and why? What would be the values and priorities of your institution and why?
3. In our ever-changing society, people have defined `equity` and `community` in many different ways. How do you define these terms and what are the implications of equity and community for our 21st century society?

250-word version
My father, who noticed my challenges in school in Korea, suggested studying abroad. Although I was rather young at the time, being just eight years old, I earnestly accepted. Since then, I have lived most of my life abroad. Each time I went to a different country, I discovered that the world is much more unique than it appears on any travel guide...

Rochester: In 125 words or less, please answer the following questions.
Why Rochester? - The University of Rochester is one of two universities listed by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as arts-and-science focused, medium-sized, and highly residential, with comprehensive PhD programs, medical schools, and very high research activity. Both offer undergraduates an unusual degree of freedom in their curriculum. Which of these characteristics (or others) are leading you to apply to Rochester? (1000 characters)

168-word version
Being a certified barista, I now realize that..., depending on how the bean is roasted, ordinary coffee can become quite unique with its own special taste...

Rochester: In 125 words or less, please answer the following questions.
Meliora: ``Ever better`` - The University`s motto directs our focus toward continual improvement through learning, discovery, creativity, and enterprising collaborations among people with different points of view. Describe a ``Meliora`` experience from your life. (1000 characters)

175-word version
Although I was rather young at the time, being just eight, I earnestly accepted my father’s suggestion of studying abroad...