While college admission essays can range from sob-stories about a negative experience in one’s life to telling of one’s greatest accomplishment, they are all geared toward the same audience in sharing an overarching purpose. The goal of such essays is to give the reader a sense of who you are, what you’ve done, and how certain factors have shaped who you are today. As Dirk discusses location while writing, it is vital to consider the expectations of the college admission board. As a genre, college essays are supposed to create an identity for yourself and communicate your strongest qualities. The rhetorical situation that Dirk also mentions is in reference to the personal stories that are used to set yourself apart from other applicants.

For my college admission essay, I wrote about key moments in my life and related them to my favorite films. For example, I compared the film, Lion to a time when I gathered my strength in speaking up when a teacher called me “dumb” in class. In doing this, I was able to share my passion for movies while portraying strong qualities about myself. My essay also fit into the genre of admission essays because I set myself apart from other applicants in referencing my favorite films. I geared my essay toward the audience of a college admissions board through emphasizing certain qualities and values of mine that would appeal to the university. The key aspect of college essays is to create a strong identity for one’s self to impress the university and show them how you would contribute to their student population while considering the location of your essay. Dirk highlights important aspects of writing within a certain genre and most college admission essays fit within the same category as they are geared towards the same audience.