Responding to College Admission Essay Questions in the Subject Areas: Historical or Current Events

We Love Timelines: Discussing Historical or Current Events

Enjoy peering into the past or dissecting the daily newspaper? Then admission essays drawn from social studies topics are for you. In this section I take you through two different types — the found-everywhere “issue” essay and the less common historical event essay.

Writing an issue essay

The common application, a document accepted by more than 200 schools, includes this option:

Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

Variations of that question appear on even more applications:

Racial, ethnic, and religious divisions continue to trouble society. Based on your own experience, what hopes and fears do you hold for the future?

Describe a current issue in your community or country or in the world and explain how you would resolve it.

The best answers to this “issue” essay question have two ingredients: facts about the issue and a discussion of your personal involvement or connection to the issue. The two elements do not need to be equal in length, but they must both be present.

Here is a great example of an issue essay -  an essay discussing global warming. The student author gives basic information about the Kyoto Treaty limiting greenhouse gasses. He explains the positions on the treaty of the European Union and the United States. He talks about the probable effects of the treaty’s enforcement and describes the campaign of a major environmental group to support the treaty. Finally, the author explains the actions of his club, the Junior Statesmen of America, regarding the issue. Here is another great issue example essay, which discusses the plans of a major retailer to build a superstore in a small community. (For the sake of the student-author’s privacy, I’ve changed the names of the store and community.) Notice the level of detail the writer provides:

the effect of the development on the community (eviction of hundreds of residents, destruction of a soccer field, increased traffic and pollution)

the actions of the protest group LIANA (lobbying) and the mayor (ignoring the lobbying and holding secret meetings)

establishment of new student group (SANAD) to fight the development

final result: withdrawal of support by mayor, company backing out

change in author’s thinking after this protest

Also notice the number of details that personally connect to the author:

author has played baseball and soccer on the field

his absence from the town because of college

founding of student group

writing to mayor

ideas about corporate restraint

political affiliation (Republican)

changed views on government’s role

When you choose a topic for the “issue” question, you may find it easier to write about something that connects personally to you. A purely intellectual topic is a lot tougher! If you care about gun control, for example, but you’ve never owned a gun, seen one (from either end), or campaigned about any aspect of gun ownership or limitation, you may not have much to say in your essay. On the other hand, your involvement doesn’t have to be direct. Returning to the gun control example, suppose that you have been deeply affected by television coverage of school shootings. Because of what you’ve seen, you have formulated a strong opinion on the subject and have a lot to say. Go for it! Anything that arouses your passion can turn into a fine essay, even if all your experiences with the issue occur via the media.

Graduate school applicants planning to major in history or government and similar fields are often required to write issue essays. Don’t expect a softball question at this level, and don’t provide a general answer. Show what you know, and remember that post-graduate admissions committees will expect evidence that you actually understand something about the field. Grad school issue questions include:

• Analyze a public policy or public management problem and propose a remedy.
• Analyze a public policy problem related to international affairs and suggest a solution.

Delving into the past

Much less common than the issue essay are questions asking you to evaluate past events. Some of these questions concern people (“Which historical figure would you like to meet?” and other such questions). Other essay questions resemble this one:

What historical event before your time has meaning to you? Why?

Before selecting a historical event to write about, consider your family history. Do any events from the past connect to your forbearers? I once read a fine admission essay about the Great Hunger, a period in Irish history that is also called the Potato Famine. The student’s ancestor had left Ireland alone, at the age of 14, to seek his fortune in the United States when the family’s potato crop failed. The author did a great job relating those nineteenth century events to his own family.

When you write a “historical event” essay, remember these points:

• In discussing a historical event, accuracy is essential. If you have only a little knowledge about an aspect of history (World War I had something to do with trenches and gas, but you’re not sure what, for example), you won’t be able to write effectively on the subject. Take the “historical” option only if you’re secure about the information.
• Don’t overload the reader with dates and obscure facts. You may include some specifics, but be sure that the details support the general points you want to make.
• Decide on one main idea, the point you want the essay to make. That point should relate to your own life and beliefs or to our society today. Imagine that you’re writing about the struggle for women’s suffrage. Why do you care about the vote? What form does that struggle take for a citizen of the twenty-first century? Your essay should connect the past to the present.

The historical event/person essay is always offered as one of several options. If you don’t have something real to say, skip this essay and select a different application question.