AnonymousWriter 2 / 12 Nov 16, 2011 #1Is it okay for one to start of their personal essay with a rhetorical question? I heard from a seminar that one of the UC admission person loved an essay with a rhetorical sentence. Just to be on the safe side, I know she's one person out of many but, is it still okay to start of with a rhetorical question? Thanks in advance.
Captainasian167 2 / 2 Nov 17, 2011 #2Personally, I wouldn't start a formal, college essay with a rhetorical question. I can understand if the question that was posed was very important to the writing as a whole and made the paper 10x better. Otherwise, there are plenty of other ways okay to start off a fabulous essay. So really, it is up to you if you want to add a rhetorical question to the beginning, just remember you should only do so if you think the question is that important. If you have doubts about it, just don't risk it. You can easily find another way to start off! :) totes.
amatsui19 2 / 10 Nov 20, 2011 #3I agree with Captainasian 167...If possible, don't start out with a rhetorical question because your UC essays should start out as attention grabbers and typically, a question isn't an attention grabber because it leads onto a very general idea. Also, UC admission office wants to get to know you as much as possible by your essays so use this space wisely. For the introduction, I think they would prefer an impactful, compelling story about you or information about the kind of person you and how or what shaped you to be that way.
