2018 Freshman Essays

Every year, our office reviews the freshman application for changes that we would like to see for the next year. During this review, we also look at the short essay questions that are required for First Year applicants. Starting this year, we will have all freshman, Early Action (EA) and Regular Decision (RD) submit two essays in their application. This is a change, as for the last 10 years, EA applicants have only submitted essays if they were deferred. But to keep the same timelines (with projected application growth) and to balance adding the Coalition application, among other things, we have added the essays (down from three to two) to the EA application.  We require one short essay that all applicants must complete, and four additional short essay topics with the applicant selecting to respond to one of these. These two essays should be between 200-300 words and remember to focus on substance and not word count.  Before submitting your application and essays, always remember to proofread and edit!  The First Year application will be available on September 1, but we thought that some people would want to know the essay prompts earlier than that date.

Here are the five essay questions, with Essay 1 being required and Essays 2-5 being four options from which the applicant selects one.

  

1. (Required) The college admissions process can create anxiety. In an attempt to make it less stressful, please tell us an interesting or amusing story about yourself that you have not already shared in your application.

Choose one of the following four:

1. UGA’s 2017 Commencement speaker Ernie Johnson (Class of ’79) told a story from his youth about what he refers to as blackberry moments. He has described these as “the sweet moments that are right there to be had but we’re just too focused on what we’re doing …, and we see things that are right there within our reach and we neglect them. Blackberry moments can be anything that makes somebody else’s day, that makes your day, that are just sweet moments that you always remember.” Tell us about one of your “blackberry moments” from the past five years.
2.   Creativity is found in many forms including artistic avenues, intellectual pursuits, social interactions, innovative solutions, et cetera. Tell us how you express your creativity.
3. Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
4. Describe a problem, possibly related to your area of study, which you would like to solve. Explain its importance to you and what actions you would take to solve this issue.

I have also included a sample essay from this past application cycle to give you an example of what we consider a strong essay, and it is one from the required 2018 freshman essay prompt.

"Oh no, what have I done?' explained my facial expression after an unbelievable event happened years ago. The scene took place in my backyard. One day my neighbors left the house and their two dogs, Peanut and Lucky to go to the store. They gave me permission to play with the dogs, but specifically told me to keep a close watch. I usually play with Lucky, the bigger one because he was more aware of his surrounding and did not bark as much, but this time I decided to take Peanut. While we were outside, a huge hawk came flying by but I didn't think much of it. I remember walking inside the house and returning to see the hawk flying away with Peanut in his claws. I didn't know what to do because I knew my neighbors would be home any minute. Shortly afterwards, I saw the hawk sitting in the tree but Peanut was nowhere in sight and that's when I really began to panic. I went next door with intentions to confess until I saw Peanut sitting on the porch. To this day I am the only one who knows that Peanut was almost eaten alive.

Javaris A., thank you for letting us share your essay with future UGA applicants.

Go Dawgs!