'The 100 book competition in kindergarten' - College Essay for Milwaukee and Parkside

Please tell us about the particular life experiences, talents, commitments and/or interests you will bring to our campus that will enrich our community. (Parkside, Milwaukee)

The 100 book competition in kindergarten. Every single kindergartner in the school was involved, the goal, read 100 books or chapters before anyone else in the grade. Barely five at the time, I was at a disadvantage compared to the other kids that were months older than I was. But that wasn't something that was gonna stop me from striving to be king! Reading the last section of The teacher from the black lagoon, by Mike Thaler, felt like the longest minute of my life at the time. To make a long story short, I became king of books that year at Sauk Trail Elementary. Thus beginning to show my will and determination to be number one. From being able to run the most laps in my kindergarten gym class, to being able to type the fastest in my 5th grade class, the eagerness of being number one has only increased since then.

Thoughts so far? Still not done.

Turnken,

The kindergarten story is cute but overall I feel like your story lacks substance. The prompt asks to touch on life experiences that will enrich their community: I feel like the story you're telling is less of a life experience and more of a random anecdote. Also, make sure you highlight a quality of yours that makes you amiable and someone that the college will want to have: right now, your "determination to be number one" is a bit aggressive and doesn't really seem like a quality that will enrich a community.

Christian, without changing the topic for the 100 book competition that you enjoyed when you were in Kindergarten, which led to your love for books, why don't you say something about obersving that college students no longer read the printed word off paperbacks. Talk about your experience of learning to read on paperbacks and how that compares to reading an eBook. Then say something like you would like to have opportunity to start a book club at the university where the only requirement will be to complete a reading list of paperbacks instead of eBooks.

Using the King of Books title as part of the yearly competition for the club, you can say that the title and a minor prize will be given out by the club every end of the semester to the member who manages to complete the reading the list in paperback form. No resorting to the movie version or eBook. Your experience and interest will lie in how you want to keep the dying art of reading paperbacks alive because of the benefits that can be derived from it as opposed to the eBook versions.

By presenting your response in such a manner, you will be able to present a life experience, commitment, and interest that is sure to make a positive impact / contribution to the university community.