Essay Workshop Tips from Ms. Jackie Byrne

Jacqueline Byrne—Jacqui is a graduate of Yale University, where she obtained a degree in English. She has been teaching the SAT for over ten years, and she is one of the founders of Ivy Educational Services (www.ivyeducationalservices.com), a test-prep and college counseling firm that focuses on bringing each of its students to his or her full potential. Jacqui herself has helped teach hundreds of students the reading and writing portions of the SAT; she has also authored a book of word puzzles designed to help students maximize their vocabularies for the SAT. Jacqui's book is SAT Vocabulary Express. Jacqui is also a regular presenter and contributor to professional conferences and publications.  

Ms. Byrne brought a great deal of energy and excitement to the Hammer Heritage Room as she worked with a room of our juniors, reminding them that the essay process is about the journey, not necessarily the end point.

She jumpstarted the conversation by asking our students to answer the following question on paper: What’s in your pocket/ backpack and why is it there? to illustrate that the college essay does that have to be a daunting process.

Reminders:

·    break grammatical rules when it makes sense

·    everything is game, but it has to always come back to you (the student). How did this thing influence you to be/ do

·    Death, divorce, disease- stay away from the pity party. Give the details in a “matter of fact” way, then move on…don’t dwell to illicit pity

·    Be honest, but you don’t’ always have to stick with the positive. Highlight what you’ve gained and lost as the complexity of life demonstrates maturity

·     Tell the story, don’t whitewash it

·    If you are unchanged by a stroke of luck of an event, avoid writing about it. But write about it only if you did something specifically because of it

·    Use your essay space wisely: write WHY you love Biology not what a great Biology student you are. Leave that to your teacher.

“ You never have serendipity if you don’t set your brain free” was the prompt to get the students started on the free writing about “a specific place where you feel the most you.” This was punctuated by numerous examples of how to “show, not tell,” as it is the most important aspect of writing a narrative essay. Ms. Byrne believes that a “good description tells more about the person doing the describing than the thing being described.”

In the question and answer period, the students were struggling to wrap their brains around the informal nature of this style, especially after 3 years of the Prep writing curriculum. You do not need an introduction? NO!

When approaching the WHY X COLLEGE essay, she advised speaking to your academic interest.

·                ·      Make it real or don’t say it.

·                ·      Write about what you know and what you are actually passionate about.

·                ·      Don’t inflate to impress…keep this in your voice and dump the thesaurus.

·                ·      Avoid bragging…arrogance (let your recommenders do that for you)

·                ·      dissing your school, teachers, hometown, etc…is never a good idea.  

For more information on essays, be sure to see your counselor. Thanks to Ms. Byrne for a wonderful workshop!

Your College Counseling Team