new year essay 2021

Essay on Happy New Year: Its Celebration, New Year Eve & Importance

Essay on Happy New Year (Celebration, New Year Eve, Importance)

In this article, we have published an essay on happy new year and its celebration, new year eve & importance for students and children.

Table of Contents

Essay on Happy New Year 2021 for Students and Children

New Year is a time where everybody thinks of treasuring the cheerful spirit of the moment. There are unique ways to experience and explore more about the story of the New Year.

As the day approaches, college students and even school going children get indulged in writing essays on the relevance of New Year that they can celebrate this day with so much beatitude and hopefulness.

In traditional times, it was a Roman calendar which had only ten months and designated 1st March as the New Year. However, in the Gregorian calendar, there are 12 months in every year and the New Year falls on 1st January, and this date is widely accepted and celebrated.

Also Read – 60+ Best New year Resolution which will change your life

Happy New Year Celebration

New Year is celebrated worldwide with the utmost excitement and fun. It is a special day for everyone, and many celebrate the coming year in their way. You can see many buying various things like clothes and sweets from the market.

Even these days the shops are very crowded. 1st Jan New Year celebration in India is full of rituals and food. People celebrate it with dance and music, and children are happy because they get different food to eat and enjoy the tour with friends and family.

Various communities in India celebrate their New Year on different dates as per their calendars. But, overall, it is a festival that brings happiness in people and spreads it everywhere. Indians celebrate this day on 1st Jan, but as per the Hindu scriptures, this day falls between March and April.

We celebrate a New Year of January as per the English calendar. So, every religion has its calendar; for instance, the Chinese celebrate this day in February. Also, the most country celebrates it on December 31st after midnight i.e. on 1st Jan.

People congrats with each other and do fireworks at the same time. This day is one festival that are considered as the oldest holiday to date. The date of the celebration and how it is celebrated in various regions has changed over the years.

In traditional days, it relates the celebration to fetish. Christian celebrates it as the festival of Sunnah.

The day reflects a fresh beginning and always teaches one to move forward. Whatever we did in the old year, learned successful or unsuccessful, learn from the past, and proceed to the future with a new hope is the significance of this celebration.

Just we are not sad at the end of the old year but welcome the New Year with great happiness & enthusiasm. Similarly, we shouldn’t be sad about the last time in life instead, look forward to thinking about passaging time and welcome fresh opportunities and try to improve life through them.

On this day, you can see parties being held in many places in the celebration’s joy. It entertains one through delicious dishes, fun games, songs, and dances.

Some people also organise some religious programs and remember God and welcome the New Year. Even special programs are broadcasted on television and radio. You can see a loved one’s giving and taking greetings cards, gifts, and flowers from one another.

You can see Indian streets full of New Year Shayari and greetings are written on roads with colours. Jan 1 is one of the most famous picnic days of India, so all the tourist places are filled everywhere. So, this way, we celebrate the Happy New Year.

New Year Eve 2021

New Year Eve is one of the largest global celebrations because it marks the last day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, December 31; the day before the New Year. So, count down to the New Year no matter where you are in the world.

What Do People Do in Happy New Year Eve?

Happy New Year Eve is a day mixed with feelings for many individuals. This is a time to celebrate the end of the year welcome what is in store in the New Year.

Also, this is a time where much experience a sense of nostalgia as they reflect on the events that took place in their lives in the past 12 months. Many start thinking about New Year’s resolution at this time of the year.

Some people celebrate by attending midnight church services, while others gather around in public venues to count down for the closing seconds of the old year. Many hold parties to bid farewell to the finishing year and celebrate the day. The size of festive events can vary along with the themes.

You will find some people attending masquerade balls while others have costume parties. Some people also hold small gatherings or parties at their homes. Further, you will see firework displays highlight this special day Eve celebration.

Public Life in New Year Eve

New Year Eve is a public holiday wide range of places among the countries. It is also a holiday for banks as it is a government holiday.

This is not a nationwide public holiday, but some businesses close early, schools are closed, and even many people may have a half-day off work. Those traveling through public transport must check with the local transport authorities on public transport schedules for this day.

New Year Eve is the last day of the year and the day before New Year. This marks the beginning of a new year as per the Gregorian calendar. Pope Gregory XIII introduced this in 1582 and was adopted in some regions of Europe but was not used in different countries until even centuries later.

New Year Eve festive can be traced back to celebrations in Europe that date back before Christianity spread. When many people in Europe converted to Christianity , they merged these festivals with Christian beliefs and then marked holidays like New year Eve & New Year celebration.

It is crucial to record that not all culture follows the Gregorian calendar in observing New Year Eve & New year Day. For instance, the New Year in Islamic, Jewish, Coptic, Chinese, Hindu differs from that of the Gregorian calendar.

Importance of Happy New Year 2021

New Year day is celebrated worldwide with great enthusiasm and zeal. This day is the festival when an entire community spreads joy everywhere and shares their feeling of happiness. Both children and youth are delighted on this special day.

They dance and enjoy together and are so happy for a moment that they forget any sorrows exists in their life. All enjoy 31st Dec night with full of energy. People exchange gifts and greetings cards with each other and there is a lot of crowds in the shops as people enjoy this day with frolic and fun.

You will find a lot of celebration programs telecasting on TV and radio on 31st Dec night to give accord welcome of New Year. All the people celebrate on 31st Dec night and remember all the moments of the last year they enjoyed together. Even many countries rework on this special day at the stroke of midnight.

You will find families who switch off their mobile at midnight and gather to enjoy the eve together. They will cut the pie and play traditional cards or do some more enjoyable things. You will find, on this day, much rework at midnight.

There is a lot of security and watch night services by government authorities on this day. You will also find articles been published by reputed companies in newspapers and magazines. They hope that next year brings a lot of expected changes that they hoped for last year.

On this very day, youths are more concerned with enjoying meals with friends, exchanging gifts, shopping as they consider this festival as the source of the holiday rather than practicing religion.

To cap it all, in the modern era, people celebrate New Year for enjoyment and ignore the value and importance of different festivals, so it is a duty of parents, Government and school authorities to educate children by giving proper info about this festival. I wish you a superb new year again. Hope you liked this essay on happy new year..

Essays About New Year: 5 Examples and Prompts

The new year marks a new beginning for everyone. If you are writing essays about new year, you can start by reading some essay examples.

On new year’s day, everything resets. The calendar returns to January, the year’s first month, and the year starts anew. In the same way, most people see the start of a new year as the start of something better for themselves.

They want to improve themselves in specific ways by picking up good traits, being kinder, and trying to get out of bad habits and mannerisms; they set new year’s resolutions to attempt to break these habits. New year’s eve and new year’s day are undoubtedly some of the most important days of the year.

If you are writing an essay about new year, start by reading these examples.

Are you looking for more? Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays

1. The New Year: A Time for Reflection and a Time to Move Forward by Susanne Carlson

2. my new year’s resolution by francisco sáez, 3. my lonely new year’s eve party will consist of sadness, hope, and life-changing gratitude by dawn bevier, 4. the psychology of new years eve reflection by ben farrell, 5. why is new year’s eve so depressing by leila ettachfini, 1. what is the importance of new year’s resolutions, 2. different new year celebrations, 3. is new year a new beginning, 4. why some people find new year’s celebrations depressing, 5. are new year’s resolutions a waste of time.

“With reflection and attention to positive change, taking note of what we have learned on our journey up until now, can give us the opportunity to apply it to the future, to take with us what is helpful and to leave behind what is not.”

Carlson writes about the importance of reflection and learning from one’s mistakes for the new year ahead. She sees the new year as a time for new beginnings; she wants it to be the start of positive change for others, just as it has been for her. Reflection is essential, as it allows us to see what we can improve on and do better in the coming year.

“According to Goleman, the link between attention and excellence is behind almost all our achievements. Attention is needed not only to understand, learn or remember, but also to read the emotions of others, generate empathy and build good relationships. It is an asset that, despite being little known and despised, has great relevance in how we face life.”

Sáez briefly explains his new year’s resolution: to be more attentive. He wants to improve his attention and focus on forming better relationships with others, healthily using technology, and better his mental health. By reading the book Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence , he hopes to hone his attention for the new year and do better in the future. You might also be interested in these essays about celebration .

“And yes, I know this pandemic is not done with its destruction, but I also know we’re fighting back like hell and making progress. And that long-awaited day of celebration is now coming sooner rather than later. And when that day comes, I can’t help but believe that the world will be a better place. I know I will be a better person and millions of you will be as well.”

In this solemn piece, Bevier laments new year’s celebrations during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed millions. She is sad for those she has lost and the loss of the pre-pandemic life she loved. However, she hopes the next new year will not be like the last, and she has learned to be grateful for the more minor things in life. The pandemic has taught her a lot, but most importantly, to be optimistic for the future and to look ahead to the new year with hope, kindness, and gratitude.

“In reality, new years eve is no different to any other night of the year yet; we can’t help but assign some special meaning to the 31st of December. The psychological significance of the night can be a good thing, but it can also create tremendous anxiety for us.”

Farrell explains the psychological pressure of New Year’s Eve. This one night is no different from any other, but since it is the last one of the year, people feel the need to reflect not only on the day but the entire year. The imagery of big parties and “new beginnings” further add to the pressure, as people feel the need to have the “picture-perfect” new year. He says that while it can be helpful to use the beginning of the year as the start of positive change, it is more important to learn from one’s mistakes, no matter what time of the year.

“‘Anytime you let social convention dictate what you do rather than doing what feels best for you, you run the risk of anxiety, depression, and so on,’ says Dr. Kubiak. New Year’s Eve leaves this group with a tough choice: go out even though you really don’t want to or deal with the uncomfortable task of telling your friends that you’re going to sit this one out.”

Ettachfini explains new year’s eve from the perspective of those who get anxious or depressed during this time. Failure during the year, social anxiety, and the feeling of having to say goodbye to the year are all contributing factors. She cites information from Dr. Larry Kubiak, who says that depression and anxiety are normal, but it is essential to talk about them with a loved one to prevent their consuming of your life.

Top 5 Prompts on Essays about New Year

Essays about New Year: What is the importance of new year’s resolutions?

What is the importance of setting a new year’s resolution? In this essay, explore why people create new year resolutions and what a resolution aims to achieve. You can include your reasoning, interview others, or use online sources. Perhaps you can argue whether new years resolutions are helpful or not in achieving goals. Think about the resolutions you have set, and whether or not it has helped you achieve a goal.

Different cultures and religions celebrate the new year differently, sometimes even having different dates. Write about how the new year is celebrated in different parts of the world, including dates, activities, and any local traditions. Use research to support your findings, this can be found in history books, interviews, statistical data or news articles online.

Many think of the new year as a “rebirth” of some sort; however, it can be argued that the new year would be better used as an instrument of continuity, particularly that of the good things that happened in the previous year. You might also be interested in these essays about Christmas .

Some see new year as something to be sad about. In your essay, you can discuss the darker side of new year and write about anxiety and depression during this time, similar to Ettachfini’s essay. In your essay, include the reasons for, behaviors displayed, and possible remedies to sadness during the new year’s holidays.

Some say that it is unrealistic to make new year’s resolutions. Discuss if you believe new year’s resolutions are a waste of time or not. Create a compelling argumentative essay by stating your position and providing research, statistics, or interview data to back up your arguments.

For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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New Year Essay

New Year Essay for Students in English

New Year's Eve is a joyous festival celebrated all over the world. According to the Gregorian calendar, it marks the start of a new year (which contains 12 months and January 1 is counted as the first day of a new year). People all over the world begin making plans for new year's resolutions and preparations one month in advance.

New Year's Eve is a universal celebration that transcends cultural and caste boundaries, bringing joy to people worldwide. Celebrated with enthusiasm, people of all ages engage in various activities. Many schools and educational institutions observe a winter break, starting from Christmas Eve and extending until New Year's (January 1). The significance of New Year's lies in its representation of a fresh start, ushering in happiness as people bid farewell to the past year. This festive occasion symbolises hope and optimism, uniting individuals in the shared anticipation of new beginnings and the possibilities the upcoming year holds.

The New Year is a time for people to put all of their bad experiences behind them and take a positive step into the future. Everyone wishes for their own and their loved ones' happiness, health, and prosperity in the coming New Year. For children, a new year is incomplete without three things: a Christmas tree, a New Year's Eve party with new dresses, and the required New Year's essay as part of their winter vacation homework).

How do People Around the World Celebrate?

A unique custom has been followed these days in every household – a New Year tree. In order to define this, it is nothing but the Christmas tree that gets decorated during the festive season and year-end. All the family members take part in decorating the Christmas tree/ New Year tree with various kinds of toys, bells, stars, candies, mistletoe, and colourful fairy lights.

New Year’s day is followed by different other customs and traditions in every household across the globe. Each culture celebrates this day in its own unique way. Some people start planning for a mini-vacation beforehand while some plan to spend quality time with their loved ones. The preparation begins with buying gifts, decorating houses, and purchasing new clothes.

India's New Year's Eve Celebration

Everyone in India celebrates New Year on different days depending on their religion. Nonetheless, due to the influence of Western civilization, most people now celebrate New Year's Day on January 1 st as well.

The advent of the New Year in India is marked by vibrant and diverse celebrations that resonate with cultural richness. It is a time when people extend heartfelt congratulations to their friends and family, sharing the joy of a fresh beginning. Hindus, in particular, embark on a tradition of thorough house cleaning, adorning their homes with saffron flags that symbolize auspiciousness.

The religious fervor escalates as bhajans echo in temples, creating a serene atmosphere. Special prayers are offered, fostering a spiritual ambiance across various religious sites. The New Year becomes a canvas for cultural expression, with events like Kavi Sammelan, Bhajan Sandhya, and Kalash Yatra captivating audiences in different locations. These festivities underscore the unity in diversity as India welcomes the promise of a new year with enthusiasm and reverence.

January 1 as New Year’s Day

The early Roman Calendar has 10 months and 304 days, and each new year begins on the spring equinox; according to tradition, it was created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century B.C. Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, later added the months of Januarius and Februarius to the Roman Calendar in 1713 B.C.

Over the centuries, the calendar has been out of sync with the Sun. The emperor Caesar then decided to solve the mystery in 46 B.C. by consulting with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of the time. Caesar introduced the Julian calendar, which was very similar to the modern Gregorian calendar, which is still used by the majority of countries around the world.

Caesar established January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honour Janus, the Roman god of beginnings (whose two faces allowed him to seem back to the past and forward into the longer term which was a part of his reforms). To commemorate the New Year, the Romans exchanged gifts and offered sacrifices to God Janus. They also went to loud parties and adorned their homes with laurel branches.

Traditions for the New Year

Many countries celebrate New Year from the evening of December 31 (also known as New Year's Eve) until the early hours of January 1 st , often with several meals and snacks to bring good fortune in the coming year. Grapes are known as a symbol of hope for the coming months and are thus used by people in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Legumes, such as lentils in Italy and black-eyed peas in the southern United States, have been a traditional New Year's dish in many countries and places because they are thought to resemble coins and future financial success. Pork is also a popular New Year's dish in some countries, including Austria, Hungary, Cuba, and Portugal, and it is believed that pigs represent progress and prosperity.

Rice pudding with an almond hidden inside it is served on New Year's Eve in many countries, including Sweden and Norway. It is said that whoever finds the almond will be blessed with 12 months of good fortune. In contrast, ring-shaped cakes and pastries are served during the New Year in the Netherlands, Greece, Mexico, and other countries. It denotes that the year has completed a full circle.

The Importance of the New Year

New Year's Eve is like a big, happy party that everyone in the world joins! It's a special time when we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the brand-new one with excitement. The New Year is like a magical reset button; it encourages us to start fresh, try new things, and bring more happiness into our lives.

In the New Year, we look back at the things we did in the past year and learn from them. If we make any mistakes, it's okay because the New Year gives us a chance to do better. We make promises to ourselves, called resolutions, to be kind, work hard, or learn something new. It's like setting goals for ourselves.

The New Year is a bit like a festival, but instead of lights and decorations, it's full of positive vibes and energy. This energy helps us tackle challenges and reach our goals. So, New Year's Eve is not just a date on the calendar; it's a special time that fills us with enthusiasm and makes our lives even more exciting!

New Year’s Short Essay

On New Year's Day, everyone puts on new clothes and congratulates one another. On the occasion of the New Year, many different types of programmes are held in schools. The event of the New Year retains various fireworks, dance competitions, singing competitions, and so on. At New Year's, the market is ablaze with colour, with colourful lights, and other decorative items adorning every surface. On the occasion of the New Year, some countries have a state holiday, so people go on picnics. The New Year brings with it new hopes; we should always be happy in any situation, good or bad.

On this day, everyone reflects on the significant events of the previous year and evaluates the circumstances under which the entire year was spent. And, to make amends for the shortcomings of the previous year, take a new oath on the auspicious occasion of the New Year and get involved in doing that work for the coming year with full hard work and dedication. The Western Civilization's New Year was celebrated in Babylon 4000 years ago, but it was held on March 21 st at the time. However, since the introduction of the Julian calendar, New Year's Day has been celebrated on January 1 st every year. Every year has 365 days, at the end of which the New Year is celebrated with great zeal. Because of the influence of Western civilization throughout the world, everyone now celebrates January 1 as New Year's Day.

FAQs on New Year Essay

1. Why is New Year's Eve considered special?

New Year's Eve is special because it marks the end of the old year and the beginning of a fresh one. It's a time for reflection, celebration, and setting new goals.

2. What do people do on New Year's Eve?

People celebrate New Year's Eve by organizing parties, sending greetings to friends and family, and participating in various events. It's also a time for making resolutions for self-improvement.

3. Why is the New Year compared to a festival?

The New Year is compared to a festival because, like festivals, it brings joy and a sense of new beginnings. People often celebrate with enthusiasm, similar to how they celebrate festivals.

4. How do people prepare for the New Year?

Preparations for the New Year often include cleaning homes, decorating, and planning special activities. Many also reflect on the past year and make plans for the future.

5. Why do people make New Year's resolutions?

Making resolutions is a way for people to set goals and make positive changes in their lives. It symbolizes a fresh start and a commitment to self-improvement in the coming year.

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School Education /

Essay on New Year for School Students: 100, 200 and 300 Words

Updated on
Nov 16, 2023

New Year is not just for celebrations and resolutions, it’s a time to reflect on one’s life, including accomplishments, mistakes, and lessons learned, as well as any new opportunities one may have to improve and enrich it. Students are frequently required to write essays on a variety of topics in school. Check out some of the best samples of essay on new year to inspire your own originality and inspiration. Continue reading.

Essay on New Year in 100 Words

One of the most exciting times of the year is the new year, which is celebrated with joy and festivity all throughout the world. People all around the world are happy because it offers them a chance to start over and build a better future for themselves.

On January 1st, both the Julian and Gregorian calendars observe New Year’s Day. On December 31st, people begin their New Year celebrations. People belonging to different cultures have their unique ways of celebrating this event.

During the New Year, all of the markets, shopping centres, hotels, and eateries are beautifully decorated and provide several discounts. Individuals of all ages come together to ring in the new year with fun and happiness. The beginning of a new year is the ideal moment to start over.

Essay on New Year in 200 Words

Resolutions and new beginnings are common during the New Year’s season. A lot of people set goals for the new year. The excitement, fervour, new outfits, parties on New Year’s Eve, gifts, and loads of fun are all hallmarks of the holiday. On this day, people wish and congratulate their friends and family. A close-knit group cooks and savours a variety of delicacies. This day is celebrated by people worldwide with celebrations and fireworks.

In addition, many celebrate in their places of employment and plan different get-togethers and celebrations for their staff members to add some new life to their days. The invigorating new beginning that the new year offers to everyone’s life is its best feature. Everybody has the opportunity to start over, full of optimism, and look forward to a bright future as the calendar resets.

Children are also brimming with happiness and excitement, as well as blessings from their loved ones, new clothes, gifts, and candies. Numerous educational institutions host comprehensive growth initiatives that begin on Christmas Day and run through New Year’s Eve. People carry on the lessons they have acquired from their past failures.

Essay on New Year in 300 Words

Every year on New Year’s Eve, people celebrate and remember the previous year by having a great time and exchanging gifts, decorations, and delicious food. It’s a time when people from all over the world start over.

Gregorian New Year, which falls on January 1st, is marked by a huge party. It is also said to be the Julian calendar’s New Year’s Day. Rome’s Julius Caesar was the first to proclaim January 1st as a national holiday.

Nowhere is as festive as in Western countries when it comes to celebrating a new year. To celebrate New Year’s Eve, they all get together. It’s a common belief that the start of a new year brings with it happiness and fresh dreams. It’s also an ideal opportunity to take stock of the lessons and experiences of the past and look forward with optimism.

Globally, people celebrate the English Calendar’s New Year, despite the fact that other cultures follow different calendars. Every culture celebrates the new year in a unique way. In India, for instance, many Hindus celebrate the New Year around the end of March or the start of April, whereas the Chinese celebrate it around February. While the dates may fluctuate throughout countries, the spirit of New Year’s stays the same.

People celebrate this day, regardless of where they live, what religion they practise, or what region they come from. They see it as a chance to make the most of their life and make improvements to it.

Additionally, the New Year is a great opportunity to make resolutions. Getting organised, giving up a habit, planning to start new tasks, aiming for a high score, adopting a healthy lifestyle, or anything else. On this day, many people resolve to begin a new chapter in their lives.

Every year on December 31st and January 1st, people celebrate New Year’s Eve, which marks the start of a new calendar year.

Julius Caesar proposed the Julian Calendar. It is believed that it was a reform of the Roman Calendar.

On this day, people take a moment to pause, look back, and make a fresh start for the future as they consider the lessons and experiences they have had this year.

For more information on such interesting topics for your school, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

Nidhi Mishra

Nidhi Mishra is a seasoned senior content writer with more than eight years of diverse experience in the field of education. Her varied career encompasses work in teaching, training, counselling, developing curriculum, and content creation. Nidhi has a solid background in education and has developed her abilities to meet the diverse needs of students, especially students who want to study abroad. Throughout her career, Nidhi has been an invaluable resource to students with their test-taking efforts, offering thorough career assistance and insightful advice on how to navigate the complexity of the system of education. Her speciality is creating interesting and educational content that is specifically designed to fulfil the needs of students who want to pursue higher education abroad. Together with her wonderful writing skills, Nidhi's love of education has allowed her to produce content that has a lasting impression on readers, educators, and students alike. She is committed to providing high-quality, timely, and insightful content because she believes that education can empower people.

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New Year Essay in English - 100, 200, 500 Words

New Year, a day that sparks joy in most of our hearts and minds, is celebrated in vastly different forms depending on the culture one belongs to. New Year is a set day that marks the start of a new year. Most of us celebrate New Year’s on January 1st. However, different cultures, such as Chinese, Islamic, and Jewish, have their own religious calendars and may celebrate New Year’s Day at different times of the year. Here are a few sample essays on “New Year”.

100 Words Essay on New Year

New Year’s Day marks it as an auspicious and wonderful day for people around the globe. It is a festival that is celebrated by everybody around the globe, irrespective of their culture and faith. It is a festival where everyone comes together and celebrates a day that marks a new beginning in everyone’s life. It is a day when people evaluate and take valuable lessons from the experiences they faced in the previous year and use them to do better in the next year of their life. Often, people make resolutions to lead this New Year with a positive mindset and in hopes of making next year better than the previous year.

200 Words Essay on New Year

The new year refers to the first day of the year. As New Year approaches, people become excited and welcome it with great zeal and great enthusiasm. A lot of people see the new year as an opportunity to make resolutions and commit themselves to causes that they’ve wanted to pursue for a long. People’s new year resolutions are usually about evaluating their shortcomings and working on themselves personally, professionally, and socially.

People also welcome the new year by renovating their houses, putting up lights and decorations in their homes, buying cakes, lighting fireworks, going out for picnics or meeting family, friends, or relatives, and being excited for the auspicious day. People are both enthusiastic and calm as a new sense of hope washes over everybody as they prepare for things that the new year will bring them.

Traditions Of New Year

One of the most common traditions on New Year's Day is the making of resolutions. Many people resolve to make positive changes in their lives, such as eating healthier, exercising more, or quitting a bad habit. While some people are able to stick to their resolutions, others find it more difficult to follow through on their goals. Regardless of whether or not resolutions are successful, the act of making them is an important way for people to set intentions for the year ahead and strive for self-improvement.

500 Words Essay on New Year

As the New Year comes along, it signifies a fresh start and something to contemplate about. It gives people a way to set new goals and ideologies for themselves.

As everyone celebrates New Year, different cultures celebrate New Year differently. Although there are several examples, here are a few of them.

For around 15 days, many Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and mainly China celebrate Spring Year, a.k.a New year. Because the first day of the new year signifies the end of the coldest part of winter and the beginning of the spring months, it is given the name "Spring Festival." It is observed at the beginning of the solar year, according to the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar, which also shows the moon phase.

The Lantern Festival, which is observed on the fifteenth day of the first calendar month and serves as the festival's culmination, is traditionally held on the eve of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, which translates to "Head of the Year," is when Jews around the world mark the beginning of the new year. Rosh Hashanah is seen as a time of celebration, reflection, and acknowledgement of the end of another year. On the first and second days of Tishrei, the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar, it is welcomed. Traditions associated with the occasion include eating foods like dates, leeks, beets, and pomegranates, as well as blowing the shofar, or ram's horn, at synagogues.

For Nowruz, which means a new day, at the beginning of spring, around 73 million people in Iran and 30 million people in Afghanistan celebrate the rebirth of nature for 13 days. It is one of the oldest holidays in history and is sometimes referred to as the Persian New Year. It has been observed for nearly 3,900 years.

Pahela Baishakh

In a state of India known as Bengal, people celebrate a festival called Pahela Baishakh (which roughly translates to ‘first month’) in the month of April. According to their calendar, it marks the start of their New Year. They celebrate it because, during this time, the harvesting season starts. To greet each other on New Year, people use the phrase “Shubho Noboborsha”, which roughly translates to “Happy New Year.”

How I Celebrated New Year?

As the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation for what the coming year would bring. I had spent the day preparing for the celebrations, decorating my home with sparkling streamers and festive balloons, and cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

As the countdown to midnight began, we all huddled together, eagerly waiting for the moment when the new year would arrive. When the final seconds ticked away, we erupted into cheers and hugs, ringing in the new year with a sense of hope and joy. I felt grateful to be surrounded by loved ones and was filled with a sense of optimism for what the coming year would bring.

As the night drew to a close and we said our goodbyes, I couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth and happiness, knowing that I had welcomed the new year in the best way possible – surrounded by the people I care about most.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

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Entertainment
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Information Technology

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary.

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

GIS officer work on various GIS software to conduct a study and gather spatial and non-spatial information. GIS experts update the GIS data and maintain it. The databases include aerial or satellite imagery, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and manually digitized images of maps. In a career as GIS expert, one is responsible for creating online and mobile maps.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Database Architect

If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi .

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive.

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues.

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems.

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software.

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description: A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials.

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth.

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs.

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story.

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook.

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion.

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article.

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications.

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product.

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans.

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party.

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems.

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process.

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2021 ahead: what to look forward to in the new year.

We made it. 2020 is over and we’re finally looking ahead at 2021. It goes without saying that it was a long and hard year for all of us, and we’ve had to overcome a lot of challenges. This time last year when I was writing our New Year’s blog with Tips on Making New Year’s Resolutions as a Student , I could’ve never imagined what the next several months would bring. However, now that 2020 is behind us, it’s time to start looking ahead at 2021. Keep reading to find out what our team is most looking forward to in the coming year!

COVID-19 Vaccines

Billions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have been purchased by some of the world’s most affected locations like the European Union, India, the US, Canada and the UK. Some countries have even begun the first stages of the vaccine rollouts. We’re hopeful that once the vaccines have been distributed to the public, we will be one step closer to making the spread of COVID-19 a thing of the past. However, it’s clear that we still have some time before that happens.

More Changes to Higher Education

Higher education has had to adapt in many different ways over the last year and we suspect that this is just the beginning of new changes. We anticipate more advances in the technology that powers remote learning, and we also anticipate that institutions will continue to make accommodations for applicants.

Hugging Our Friends and Family (Hopefully)

We aren’t 100% sure if we’ll get to do this one but we sure are hopeful because it’s been far too long. Just imagine how great those hugs will be!

The Summer Olympics

Since the Summer Olympics in Tokyo couldn’t take place in 2020, they were postponed and are now taking place this year from July 23 to August 8. We’re looking forward to seeing all of our favorite sports as well as four new ones. For the first time ever, karate, skateboard, sport climbing and surfing will all be included in the summer games.

Concerts (Maybe)

If all goes well with COVID-19 vaccinations, we may be seeing the return of live music in 2021. The thrill of seeing your favorite artists live was unmatched and we hope that we’ll be able to do it again this year.

2020 was set to be a great year for film but because of COVID-19, a lot of the most highly anticipated releases were pushed back to this year. And, we are likely to see a change in the way they are released as big studios like Warner Bros. have opted to release movies on streaming services.

These are the movies we’re most looking forward to in 2021:

Cinderella (Coming February 5)
Nomadland (Coming February 19)
The Father (Coming February 26)
Coming 2 America (Coming March 5)
A Quiet Place Part II (Coming April 23)
Black Widow (Coming May 7)
In the Heights (Coming June 18)
Space Jam 2 (Coming July 16)
Suicide Squad (Coming August 6)
Candyman (Coming August 27)
Dune (Coming October 8)
Halloween Kills (Coming October 15)
The French Dispatch (Release date to be determined)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2021 at 8:00 am and is filed under International Student . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Written by Connor Blay

Connor joined InternationalStudent.com in November 2019. He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree with a major in Information Communication & Technology at Florida State University in Spring 2019. Having recently completed his undergraduate higher education, Connor has a fresh perspective on how the process works and is passionate about helping international students through it. His background includes customer service, social media, and video production.

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Why Do We Count Down to the New Year?

How the doomsday clock, a german sci-fi film, and dick clark got us to ‘5-4-3-2-1’.

NYE ball drop in Times Square. Courtesy of Flickr/gigi_nyc .

by Alexis McCrossen | December 27, 2021

Few people counted down to anything until the 1960s and 1970s—and yes, that included the new year. Celebrations and midnight kisses on December 31, of course. Countdowns, no. How, then, did the countdown go from almost nonexistent to ubiquitous in the latter half of the 20th century? And why are we so drawn to them now, especially to mark one year’s end and another’s beginning?

Countdowns as we know them today serve many purposes. The New Year’s Eve countdown might be characterized as a “genesis countdown”: After time runs out, it starts over again. The wait for the new year—with its predictions, resolutions, and parties—is typically generative, optimistic, and hopeful. But there are also “apocalyptic countdowns,” in which after time runs out, disaster ensues. Today, we wonder how much time we have until the next COVID-19 variant, natural disaster, or terrorist attack. Both of these countdown types took form during the Atomic Age.

Though disaster has always been a part of American life, the threat of nuclear annihilation introduced pervasive existential fears. Notably, in 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists introduced the Doomsday Clock , which to this day provides a visual reckoning of just how close we are to apocalypse. In the years that followed, these same scientists were the ones who brought the term “count down” to the American lexicon. A 1953 San Francisco Examiner article reported on an atomic bomb test in the nearby Nevada desert: “a designated official on a loudspeaker and short-wave radio hookup announces at intervals the time remaining before the explosion. At the very end he intones ‘minus 10 seconds, minus 5 seconds and minus 4 seconds’ and so on down to the moment of the explosion.”

A few years later, Alfred Hitchcock domesticated the atomic countdown in the 1957 made-for-television movie Four O’Clock , transplanting it into the basement of a suburban home wired with explosives in the minutes and seconds before the eponymous time. The televised countdowns of the 1950s, whether real or fictional, were frightening temporal experiences, in which time was distended and stretched, and then extinguished.

But on May 5, 1961, the countdown got its first major positive association. Some 45 million Americans watching the national nightly news heard the countdown to the successful launch of America’s first manned space flight. The blast-off was followed by astronaut Alan Shepard saying, “Roger, liftoff and the clock has started.” Time did not end, as apocalyptic countdowns had threatened; instead, a new clock began.

The countdown associated with rocket launches had its origins in the Weimar Republic, where Fritz Lang’s 1929 film Woman in the Moon featured an extended countdown to a moon rocket launch. No one had ever heard of or seen anything like the launch before—or the countdown. The lavish science fiction multi-reel film had an outsized impact on Germany’s rocket scientists, who after World War II became central to the American space program. One of the advisors on the film was early space travel enthusiast Willy Ley, who later immigrated to the United States, where he worked for NASA, orchestrating its rocket launches.

With each televised rocket launch through the 1960s, the countdown accumulated more and more positive associations with the public, building up to the historic countdown and liftoff of Apollo 11, the spaceship that took a crew of three men to the moon. The elements of the genesis countdown as we know it today were etched in history on July 16, 1969, when at least 500 million people around the world tuned in to hear a loud and clear countdown give way to an exciting, daring, and transformative objective.

During the 1970s, the countdown moved beyond atomic test sites and space missions and onto radio and television shows—and away from the nihilism of a bomb blast toward the triumph of a rocket launch. “American Top 40” hit the radio waves in 1970, followed by the popular Australian music television show Countdown in 1974. By counting down to the latest greatest hit, this burgeoning genre of show slowed the rush of time and demarcated the recent past. Their terrain was not time, but rather “the top” or “the most popular,” organized sequentially and leading not to “zero” but to “number one.” Other kinds of countdown programs amplified the race against time. In the long-running British gameshow Countdown , for example, contestants try to complete number and word problems in a set amount of time. A very large analogue clock, reminiscent of the Doomsday Clock, hangs over the show’s set. In this iteration, the show’s triumphant contestants demonstrate that the race against time can be won—that is, that disaster can be averted.

The apocalyptic and the genesis countdowns eventually made way for the ultimate celebratory countdown: the one to the new year. Americans celebrated New Year’s Eve publicly in various ways beginning in the 1890s, including with the ringing of bells (mostly at churches) at midnight. The first ball dropped on the roof of One Times Square to mark the arrival of 1908, and in the 1930s and 1940s, commercial radio broadcasts heralded the arrival of the new year to rural and urban audiences alike at midnight. But the first countdown I have identified was in the late 1950s. During the last few seconds of 1957, broadcaster Ben Grauer proclaimed to a national radio audience from a perch overlooking Times Square, “’58 is on its way, 5-4-3-2-1. The ball is starting to slide down the pole, and it is the signal that ’58 is here.” He didn’t get much traction: The extant recording features a crowd making merry but definitely not counting down.

Through the 1960s, Grauer tried to introduce New Year’s Eve countdowns on television, presumably as a way to extend what was, after all, an extremely short-lived event. Still, while you can hear the crowd cheering on these broadcasts, they don’t join him in the countdown. Picking up on Grauer’s innovation, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve , which debuted to welcome 1973, featured confected countdowns that were staged on its dance party sets, and sometimes were painfully out of sync with the Times Square ball drop.

Impossible as it is to believe, my research into extant radio and television broadcasts and newspaper reports shows that it was not until seconds before the arrival of 1979 that a Times Square crowd counted down to the new year. At that moment, it was clear that countdown culture had arrived and was here to stay.

By the end of the 1980s, countdown clocks were installed in Times Square, television graphics began to show the amount of time remaining until midnight, and television hosts guided enthusiastic audiences through the count. As the year 2000 approached, though, something different happened. Millennium countdown clocks proliferated across the globe (though 2000 was not the millennium), accompanied by apocalyptic fears about the end of time, or at the very least Y2K, the much-discussed epic global computer network crash.

The first two decades of the 21st century have careened between genesis and apocalyptic countdowns; take for example, the countdown clocks to Olympic Games and the latest Climate Clock , found online (and in New York City’s Union Square) exhorting action before it is too late. Countdown clocks for every conceivable event are everywhere today, from the personalized digital “Countdown to Your Big Day” clocks that can be embedded on social media feeds before your birthday to the bus and subway countdown clocks that tell everyone when their ride will arrive. Whether personal or public, the clock’s goal is to mitigate impatience, to replace uncertainty with anticipation, and to fill empty waiting time with a quantified temporality.

Today our countdown clocks and countdowns continue to oscillate between genesis and apocalypse. As 2021 gives way to 2022, it is hard to know what we are anticipating when the clock hits midnight. And so, I suspect that some countdowns this year will be inflected with a tinge of hesitancy and doubt. Still, many of us will want to join in the hopefulness of the genesis count, as did that Times Square crowd welcoming 1979 with their triumphant “Happy New Year” cheers—rejoicing when the clock starts again.

Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to include “American Top 40,” which premiered ahead of the Australian music show Countdown .

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6 New Year's Resolutions For Students in 2021

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It’s a new year, which means you have goal setting on your mind to create a new, better you! But as a student, you already have a lot on your plate. It can be hard to know what areas are important to make goals in and how to set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound). These new year resolutions for students can help you set effective goals that you’ll be able to achieve and will help you in all the areas of your life on the path to graduation.

Setting a plan for success so you can get needed academic skills is crucial for your growth as a student. Goal setting in an online or traditional classroom situation is all about taking steps to be successful in your specific courses and path. Every goal on your list, from weight loss to breaking bad habits, can lend itself to your educational action plan.

How to make good resolutions.

Goal setting and resolutions are all about measuring your forward progress, and for students, that often includes academic progress. But many students don't realize that their personal goals often go hand-in-hand with effective academic progress. Personal goals, specific goals, and a growth mindset are all crucial for effective student goal setting. You'll want specific ways to know if you've achieved your plan and a setting where you can be successful.

Student goal setting is all about connecting your educational goals with the rest of your new school year resolutions. It's never too late to start or change when it comes to student goal setting, whether you want to set short- or long-term goals. As you stay positive, work on strategies to alter behavior and motivation, you'll see a great end result.

Whether you use one new year resolution for students or all six, they’re sure to help you be ready for successful goal setting.

1. Focus on learning, not just grades.

As a student, it can be really easy to worry about getting those A’s. But what should be even more important is what you learn. The knowledge you get from school is what’s going to prepare you to go into a job, qualified for the work ahead. A bunch of A’s on a report card won’t matter at all if you don’t know how to demonstrate that you can do the work in the real world.

This is why competency-based education at WGU is a great way to learn. With CBE, you’re able to move quickly through areas of study that you know well and focus more on areas that you aren’t as comfortable with. You progress to the next areas of study by demonstrating your knowledge. While assignments and tests are similar to any other college situation, WGU has pass/fail grading that means your only objective is learning the material, which will allow you to pass. No need to obsess about specific letter grades. You just have to focus on your own personal knowledge and where you need to improve.

So this year, make a plan to really learn instead of just worry about your grades. WGU can help you accomplish this resolution, no problem!

2. Find ways to save for tuition.

71% of Americans say their new year's resolution for 2021 is to be smarter with their money . And going to school can be expensive! You may be worried about debt or the time frame your tuition is due, and many people are concerned about investing in themselves and their personal growth. It's crucial to understand that your short-term education is a long-term investment in your self-improvement. It will end up paying dividends when you have that diploma in your hand.

This year, you may want to set a resolution to find simple ways to help you save for tuition. There are a lot of settings where you can plan to cut down on your expenses and save up for your college education. Every little bit that you can save helps!

Make your breakfast and coffee at home instead of stopping at Starbucks or a café.

Evaluate your car insurance and make sure you’re getting student discounts and competitive rates.

List gently used clothes and home decor that you don’t need or want on Poshmark or other sales apps.

Take a good look at your entertainment apps and only keep the subscriptions you use regularly.

Save on utility bills by wearing sweaters and socks, and turning off lights when you leave.

Keep track of your expenses every day so you can analyze where you can cut down.

Passively invest your spare change through a program like Acorns .

Saving for tuition doesn’t have to be complicated or stressful. Making a budget after you analyze your expenses will help you really keep track of what you spend and what you can save.

At WGU, you also have other ways to pay for your tuition. Consider scholarships and financial aid to help you pay for your education. There are so many resources out there to help you financially, it just takes a bit of research to find the ones that are a good fit for you. Luckily, tuition at WGU is less expensive than most online colleges, and with other financial aid options, your tuition bill could be less than you think!

3. Create good balance between education and life.

Sometimes, going to college feels all-consuming. There’s always another test to study for, another paper to write. Make a resolution this year to truly find balance and schedule to help you fit everything in.

WGU is an online university that helps make balance easier. Because there are no class times or campus to get to and your coursework is online, you can attend school on your schedule. Do your assignments and tests when it works for you. You can fit your social life, family responsibilities, and work schedule all side-by-side with your online learning. You don't have to be one of those people who decides they can't get the education they want because they don't have time.

This year, decide that success means you get to be one of those people who goes after their dreams!

4. Get help from experts.

It can be frustrating to go through your classes and feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water. At WGU, no student is alone. Every student has access to Program Mentors and faculty that can help them succeed. From the time you enroll, and within each class you take, there are lots of people with skills in your chosen field that will can help you and mentor you, from teachers to counselors.

Online education also means you can reach out to them at any time; you don’t have to wait for office hours to get the help you need. Our faculty cares about more than teaching, and our staff cares about more than academics. They respond quickly to student requests so you can get answers to questions or concerns and get back to learning.

5. Eat healthier food and get more sleep.

It seems like everyone has weight loss as part of their new year’s resolutions . In fact, over 48% of Americans say they set this goal. But maybe a better goal is to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Most college students joke about their lack of sleep and diet of pizza and coffee, but for many college students this is partially true. Classes, work, family obligations, and a social life leave little room for a full night’s sleep and preparing healthy meals.

Online students especially struggle with this busy schedule, as they often have full-time jobs and more family obligations than traditional students. But students who are so busy are also in most need of good sleep and eating habits. They need the fuel and rest to ensure they are mentally ready for challenging assignments and tests. Being in school takes a lot of mental capacity, and you should make it a goal to focus on a healthy lifestyle as much as you can. Try these tips for creating a healthier lifestyle:

Try to add brain food to your diet as much as possible.

Use a bedtime app that will help remind you when it’s time to go to sleep.

Try meal prepping on a less busy day of your week so you have go-to snacks and lunches all week long.

Prepare easy-to-grab, healthy snacks like a fruit or veggie platter, cheese, or nuts.

Make freezer meals if you have a hard time squeezing in a healthy breakfast.

Put your screens away before bedtime to help get your mind ready to rest.

6. Take classes that will lead to your dream job.

Some college students feel that they waste time and money in classes they don’t care about. It’s important that you really focus in and determine what your dream job is , so you can take courses that will help you get there. Spend time taking aptitude and personality tests to see what areas you’re inclined to. Ask a professional in a field you’re interested in questions about their job, and even go job shadow them if you’re able.

Putting in effort to find the path that you’re most interested in will help you not waste your time or money at college. Narrowing down your field of interest will help you feel confident about your career direction and make educational decisions that go hand-in-hand with your dreams.

Once you have that specific career path in mind, WGU classes will all be geared to help you be prepared for your dream job. You’ll get a broad education covering all the important academic areas, but it will all be connected to your career goals and your preparation for that path.

These new year’s resolutions will help you be ready to take on the year as a student successfully. No need to be stressed or overwhelmed, now is the perfect time to take your dreams into your own hands, and set goals that will help you on your path to a degree.

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Happy New Year 2021!

Recent IELTS exams

Hello everyone!

This is Simone – I created IELTS-Blog.com way back in 2005 and have been running it ever since.

How did I know that IELTS-Blog.com was needed? Because so many people have big dreams and ambitious goals, and IELTS is one obstacle that stands in their way. If only I could help them pass, they would reach their goals faster and start making the world a better place for all of us.

2020 showed us what isolation is like, and how hard it is to achieve anything in isolation. Winning takes a team, and IELTS-Blog.com is exactly that – it’s your team, that exists to give you the tools and support to win the battle with IELTS. And in the last 15 years the number of winners with amazing IELTS scores exceeded my wildest dreams!

2020 was tough, but it wasn’t all bad. It was the year we celebrated 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 26,000 subscribers on Twitter , got active on Instagram and we are finishing the year with over 425,000 followers on Facebook . It feels great to be in touch with so many of you!

Everyone has a purpose in life. Mine is to help you. I’m here to show you how to tackle IELTS and get your target score. How to prepare and take the exam without stress and with confidence. How to get through IELTS faster, so that you can start living your dream life sooner.

On this day exactly one year ago, I wished for a life-changing year… and it was, just not the way I intended 🙂 Instead of progress, most of us experienced setbacks. Instead of thriving, we were busy surviving. So today I hope 2021 will make up for it!

Dear test takers, I wish you the IELTS score of your dreams in the New Year. Dear teachers and IELTS trainers – I hope that your students do you proud! You can count on our help in 2021, just like in the past 15 years. There will be new books, new practice tests and new IELTS services. Keep coming back – we’ll make it worth your while.

Thank you for sticking with us in 2020. Thank you for your friendship and kindness, for your feedback and ideas, for sharing your knowledge and for spreading the word about IELTS-Blog.com.

May 2021 be YOUR year.

Love, Simone and the IELTS-Blog.com team.

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The 2021-2022 Common App Essay: How to Write a Great Essay That Will Get You Accepted

If you’re reading this, then you’ve probably started the very exciting process of applying to college—and chances are you may be a little overwhelmed at times. That’s OK! The key to getting into the right college for you is taking each step of the application process in stride, and one of those steps is completing the Common App and the Common App essay.

In this post, you’ll learn what the Common Application essay is, how to write one (including a free checklist to help you with the process), example essays, and much more. Let’s get started!

What is the Common App, and More Importantly, What is the Common App Essay? Quick Facts on the 2021-2022 Common App Essay How Do You Write a Common App Essay?

What Should I Avoid in My Common App Essay? What Are Some Good Common App Essay Examples?

Common Application Essay FAQs

What is the common app, and more importantly, what is the common app essay.

The “Common App,” short for the Common Application , is a general application used to apply to multiple college undergraduate programs at once. It’s accepted by hundreds of colleges in the United States as well as some colleges internationally.

The idea is that the Common App is a “one-stop shop” so you don’t have to complete a million separate applications. That said, plenty of colleges still require their own application components, and the Common App, as user-friendly as it aims to be, can still feel like a bit of a challenge to complete.

Part of the reason the Common App can seem intimidating is because of the Common App essay component, which is required of all students who submit a college application this way. But never fear! In reality, the Common App essay is easy to ace if you know how to approach it and you give it your best.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at anything and everything you need to know about the 2021-2022 Common App essay in order to help you get into the school of your dreams. We’ve also created a downloadable quick guide to writing a great Common Application essay.

Button to download 2021-2022 Common App Essay

Quick Facts on the 2021-2022 Common App Essay

Below are just a few of the short and sweet things you need to know about the 2021-2022 Common App essay, but we’ll elaborate on some of this content later in this post.

How Do You Write a Common App Essay?

How to write a Common App essay - magoosh

The million dollar question about the Common App essay is obviously, “How do I actually write it?!”

Now there’s something to keep in mind before exploring how to compose the Common App essay, and that’s the purpose of this task. You may be wondering:

What are college admissions boards actually looking for?
Why are you being asked to write this essay?

College admissions boards want to see that you can compose a compelling, well-crafted essay. After four years of high school, you’re expected to be able to craft a clear and concise piece of writing that addresses a specific subject.

So yes, you’re actually being evaluated on your essay writing skills, but the purpose of the Common Application essay is deeper than that—it’s to present the type of person and thinker that you are.

Regardless of which prompt you choose, colleges are trying to get a sense of how thoughtfully and critically you can reflect on your life and the world around you .

And furthermore, they want to get a sense of who you are—your interests, your personality, your values—the dimensional aspects of you as an applicant that simply can’t be expressed in transcripts and test scores . In short, you want to stand out and be memorable.

That said, there is no exact formula for “cracking the case” of the Common App essay, but there are plenty of useful steps and tips that can help you write a great essay.

(In a hurry? Download our quick and concise handout that sums up some of the keys to the Common App essay!)

1) Familiarize Yourself With the Common App Prompts and How to Approach Them

The Common App recently released the 2021-2022 essay prompts , which are almost the same as last year’s prompts, but with one BIG difference.

The prompt about problem solving (formerly prompt #4) has been replaced with a prompt about gratitude and how it has motivated you. According to Common App President and CEO Jenny Rickard, this change was inspired by new scientific research on the benefits of writing about gratitude and the positive impact others have had on our lives.

Additionally, the Common App now includes an optional Covid-19 prompt where you can discuss how you’ve personally been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, let’s take a look at each 2021-2022 Common App prompt individually. You’ll notice that every prompt really has two parts to it:

share, explain and describe a narrative, and
reflect on, analyze, and draw meaning from it.

Let’s take a look.

Prompt #1: A snapshot of your story

Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Discuss a background, identity, or interest that you feel is meaningful to who you are and/or that or sets you apart from others.
Reflect on why this attribute is meaningful and how it has shaped you as a person.

Prompt #2: An obstacle you overcame

Prompt: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Recount a time you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.
Reflect on how this affected you, what you learned from it, and if it led to any successes later down the line.

Prompt #3: A belief or idea you questioned or challenged

Prompt: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Explain a time that you questioned a particular belief or way of thinking.
Elaborate on what prompted this questioning, what the outcome was, and why this outcome was significant.

Prompt #4: An experience of gratitude that has motivated you

Prompt: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Describe the specific experience or interaction that made you feel a sense of gratitude. Make sure to explain who did something nice for you and why it was surprising or unexpected.
Explain, as specifically as possible, how this feeling of gratitude changed or motivated you. What actions did you take a result? How did your mindset change?

Prompt #5: An accomplishment or event that sparked personal growth

Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe an accomplishment or event that sparked personal growth for you.
Reflect on the nature of this growth and/or a new understanding you gained in the process.

Prompt #6: An interest so engaging you lose track of time

Prompt: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Discuss a topic, idea, or interest that is so engaging to you that you lose track of time when focused on it.
Reflect on and explain why this interest is so important to you, and your method of learning more about it.

Prompt #7: An essay topic of your choice

Prompt: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Discuss any subject matter or philosophical question of interest to you.
Reflect on the implications of this subject or question, and how it has shaped you, transformed you, impacted your life, etc.

Now keep in mind that to some degree, it doesn’t actually matter which prompt you choose to answer, so long as you write and present yourself well. But you obviously want to pick whichever Common App essay prompt speaks to you most, and the one you think will provide you the meatiest and most meaningful material.

This is an outstanding guide to choosing the right Common App essay prompt, but as a rule of thumb, the “right” prompt will probably stand out to you. If you have to rack your brain, for example, to think of a challenge you’ve overcome and how the experience has shaped you, then that prompt probably isn’t the right one.

Authenticity is key, so choose the prompt you can answer thoroughly.

2) Brainstorm

Whether you know immediately which prompt you’re going to choose or not, do yourself a huge favor and brainstorm . Take out a notebook and jot down or free write all of the ideas that spring to your mind for as many of the prompts that you’re considering. You might be surprised what ideas you generate as you start doing this, and you might be surprised which ideas seem to have the most content and examples to elaborate on.

Also, it’s important to note that your subject matter doesn’t have to be highly dramatic or spectacular. You don’t have to recount a near-death experience, an epic overseas adventure, a 180-degree turn of faith, etc. Your ordinary life, when reflected upon thoughtfully, is interesting and profound.

3) Answer the Question (and Stay on Topic!)

This may sound painfully obvious, but for some of us, it can be hard to stay on topic. Each prompt is posed as a question , so don’t lose sight of that and let your essay devolve into a story about yourself that never really gets at the heart of the prompt.

As you’re drafting your essay—say after each paragraph—pause and refer back to the question, making sure each paragraph plays some part in actually responding to the prompt.

4) Structure and Organize Your Essay Effectively

The Common App essay isn’t like many of the other argumentative essays you’ve been taught to write in school. It is argumentative in that you are essentially arguing for why you are a good candidate for a particular college, using your personal experience as support, but it’s more than that.

The Common Application essay is essentially a narrative essay that is reflective and analytical by nature. This means that regardless of which prompt you select, you’ll be sharing something personal about yourself, and then reflecting on and analyzing why what you shared is important.

And even if this isn’t an essay format that you’re accustomed to writing, you can still rely on your knowledge of basic essay structures to help you. You’ll still need a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

Let’s talk about those three pieces now.

Introduction

The purpose of an introduction is 1) to grab the reader’s attention and compel them to continue reading, and 2) to introduce the reader to the general subject at hand.

So the most important part of the introduction is a unique attention-getter that establishes your personal voice and tone while piquing the reader’s interest. An example of a good hook could be a brief illustrative anecdote, a quote, a rhetorical question, and so on.

Now, you may be wondering, “Do I need a thesis statement?” This is a great question and the simple answer is no.

This is because some students prefer to hook their reader with a bit of mystery and let their story unfold organically without a thesis sentence “spoiling” what is to come. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a thesis sentence, it just means you don’t need one. It just depends on how you want to build your personal narrative, and what serves you best.

That said, your essay does need a greater message or lesson in it, which is another way of saying a thesis . You just don’t necessarily have to write it out in the introduction paragraph.

It might help you to keep a thesis in mind or even write it down just for your own sake, even if you don’t explicitly use it in your introduction. Doing so can help you stay on track and help you build up to a stronger reflection.

Here are some examples of narrative thesis statements:

I moved a lot as a child on account of having a parent in the military, which led me to become highly adaptable to change.
The greatest obstacle I’ve overcome is my battle with leukemia, which has taught me both incredible resilience and reverence for the present.
An accomplishment that I achieved was making the varsity volleyball team, which has made me grow tremendously as a person, specifically in the areas of self-confidence and collaboration.

As discussed earlier, there are two parts to each prompt: explanation and reflection . Each part should be addressed throughout the essay, but how you organize your content is up to you.

A good rule of thumb for structuring the body of your essay is as follows:

Situate your reader: provide context for your story by focusing in on a particular setting, subject matter, or set of details. For example, you may frame an essay about an internship at the zoo with the phrase, “Elephants make the best friends.” Your reader knows immediately that the subject matter involves your interaction with animals, specifically elephants.
Explain more about your topic and how it affected you, using specific examples and key details.
Go deeper. Elaborate and reflect on the message at hand and how this particular topic shaped the person you are today.

Note that while there are no set rules for how many paragraphs you should use for your essay, be mindful of breaking paragraphs whenever you naturally shift gears, and be mindful of too-long paragraphs that just feel like walls of text for the reader.

Your conclusion should flow nicely from your elaboration, really driving home your message or what you learned. Be careful not to just dead-end your essay abruptly.

This is a great place to speculate on how you see the subject matter informing your future, especially as a college student and beyond. For example, what might you want to continue to learn about? What problems do you anticipate being able to solve given your experience?

5) Write Honestly, Specifically, and Vividly

It may go without saying, but tell your own story, without borrowing from someone else’s or embellishing. Profound reflection, insight, and wisdom can be gleaned from the seemingly simplest experiences, so don’t feel the need to stray from the truth of your unique personal experiences.

Also, make sure to laser in on a highly specific event, obstacle, interest, etc. It is better to go “narrower and deeper” than to go “wider and shallower,” because the more specific you are, the more vivid and engrossing your essay will naturally be.

For example, if you were a camp counselor every summer for the last few years, avoid sharing several summers’ worth of content in your essay. Focus instead on one summer , and even better, on one incident during that summer at camp.

And on that note, remember to be vivid! Follow the cardinal rule of writing: show and don’t tell . Provide specific details, examples, and images in order to create a clear and captivating narrative for your readers.

6) Be Mindful of Voice and Tone

Unlike in most academic essays, you can sound a bit less stuffy and a bit more like yourself in the Common App essay. Your essay should be professional, but can be conversational. Try reading it aloud; does it sound like you? That’s good!

Be mindful, however, of not getting too casual or colloquial in it. This means avoiding slang, contractions, or “text speak” abbreviations (e.g. “lol”), at least without deliberate context in your story (for example, if you’re recounting dialogue).

You’re still appealing to academic institutions here, so avoid profanity at all costs, and make sure you’re still upholding all the rules for proper style, grammar, and punctuation.

7) Revise and Proofread

This one is a biggie. Give yourself time during your application process to revise, rework, and even rewrite your essay several times. Let it grow and change and become the best version it can be. After you write your first draft, walk away from it for a couple days, and return to it with fresh eyes. You may be surprised by what you feel like adding, removing, or changing.

And of course, make sure your essay is pristine before you submit it. Triple and quadruple check for spelling and usage errors, typos, etc. Since this isn’t a timed essay you have to sit for (like the ACT essay test , for example), the college admissions readers will expect your essay to be polished and sparkling.

A tried and true method for both ensuring flow and catching errors is reading your essay aloud. You may sound a little silly, but it really works!

What Should I Avoid in My Common App Essay?

What to avoid in Common App essay - magoosh

Resume Material

Your Common App essay is your chance to provide a deeper insight into you as a person, so avoid just repeating what you’d put on a resume. This is not to say you can’t discuss something mentioned briefly on your resume in greater depth, but the best essays offer something new that helps round out the whole college application.

Controversy

Okay, now this one is a bit tricky. On the one hand, you should write boldly and honestly, and some of the prompts (the one about challenging a particular belief, for example) are appropriate for addressing potentially contentious topics.

But that said, avoid being controversial or edgy for the sake of being controversial or edgy. Be steadfast in your beliefs for the greater sake of the narrative and your essay will be naturally compelling without being alienating to your readers.

Vague Stories

If you have a personal story that you’re not entirely comfortable sharing, avoid it, even if it would make a great essay topic in theory. This is because if you’re not comfortable writing on the subject matter, you’ll end up being too vague, which won’t do your story or overall application justice. So choose a subject matter you’re familiar with and comfortable discussing in specifics.

Unless they really, truly serve your essay, avoid general platitudes and cliches in your language. It is definitely encouraged to have an essay with a moral, lesson, or greater takeaway, but try to avoid summing up what you’ve learned with reductive phrases like “slow and steady wins the race,” “good things come in small packages,” “actions speak louder than words,” “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” and so on.

What Are Some Good Common App Essay Examples?

There are tons of Common App essays out there, including these Common App essay examples accepted at Connecticut College, which include explanations from admissions readers about why they were chosen.

But let’s take a look here at two versions of an example essay, one that is just okay and one that is great.

Both Common App essay examples are crafted in response to prompt #2, which is:

Essay Version #1, Satisfactory Essay:

During my sophomore year of high school, I tore my ACL, which stands for “anterior cruciate ligament,” and is the kiss of death for most athletic careers. This injury ended up being one of the greatest obstacles of my life. It was also, however, a turning point that taught me to see opportunity amidst adversity.

It was particularly awful that I was just about to score a winning goal during a championship hockey game when I was checked by a guy on the opposing team and came crashing down on my knee. It was pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and I knew immediately that this was going to be bad.

For the few months that followed the accident, I was lost, not really knowing what to do with myself. I didn’t know who I was anymore because hockey had been my whole world and sense of identity. Between working out, attending practice, playing home and away games, and watching games to learn more, it was my lifeblood. Losing my ability to play took a toll on me physically and emotionally and I grew lethargic and depressed.

And then one day I heard my school would be adding an advanced multimedia art class for those students who wanted to continue studying art beyond what was already offered. I had taken the handful of art classes my school offered and really enjoyed and excelled at them—though I had never considered them more than just fun electives to fill my scheduled, as required.

After a couple of weeks of the class, I began feeling better. Suddenly I wanted to draw or paint everything I looked at. I wanted to share the world around me as I saw it with others, to connect with people in a way I’d never done before. I met and made friends with many new people in that art class, people I would have never known if I hadn’t taken it, which also opened me up to all kinds of new mindsets and experiences.

We’re all familiar with the common adage, “When one door closes, another opens,” and this is exactly what happened for me. I might never have pursued art more seriously if I hadn’t been taken out of hockey. This has served as a great reminder for me to stay open to new opportunities. We never know what will unexpectedly bring us joy and make us more well-rounded people.

Areas for Improvement in Version #1:

It lacks a compelling hook.
The discussion of the obstacle and reflection upon it are both a bit rushed.
It could use more vivid and evocative language.
It uses a cliche (“one door closes”).
It is somewhat vague at times (e.g. what kinds of “new mindsets and experiences” did the writer experience? In what ways are they now more “well-rounded”?).

Now let’s apply this feedback and revise the essay.

Essay Version #2, Excellent Essay:

My body was splayed out on the ice and I was simultaneously right there, in searing pain, and watching everything from above, outside of myself. It wasn’t actually a “near death” experience, but it was certainly disorienting, considering that just seconds before, I was flying down the ice in possession of the puck, about to score the winning goal of our championship game.

Instead, I had taken a check from an opposing team member, and had torn my ACL (or anterior cruciate ligament), which is the kiss of death for most athletic careers.

My road to recovery included two major surgeries, a couple months on crutches, a year of physical therapy, and absolutely zero athletic activity. I would heal, thankfully, and regain movement in my knee and leg, but I was told by doctors that I may never play hockey again, which was devastating to me. Hockey wasn’t just my passion—it was my life’s goal to play professionally.

For the few months that followed the accident, I was lost, feeling like a ghost haunting my own life, watching everything but unable to participate. I didn’t know who I was anymore because hockey had been my whole world and sense of identity. Between working out, attending practice, playing home and away games, and watching games to learn more, it was my lifeblood. Losing my ability to play took a toll on me physically and emotionally, and I grew lethargic and depressed.

And then one day I heard my school would be adding an advanced multimedia art class after school for those students who wanted to study art more seriously. I had already taken the handful of art classes my school offered and really enjoyed them—though I had never considered them more than just fun electives to fill my schedule, as required. And, because of hockey, I certainly had never had afternoons open.

After a couple of weeks of the class, I began to feel alive again, like “myself” but renewed, more awake and aware of everything around me. Suddenly I wanted to draw or paint everything I looked at, to bring everything I saw to life. It wasn’t just that I’d adopted a new hobby or passion, it was that I began looking more closely and critically at the world around me. I wanted to share what I saw with others, to connect with people in a way I’d never done before.

My art teacher selected a charcoal portrait of mine to be showcased in a local art show and I’ve never been more proud of myself for anything. Many of my friends, family members, and teammates came to see the show, which blew me away, but also I realized then just how much of my own self worth had been attached to people’s perception of me as a successful athlete. I learned how much better it feels to gain self worth from within. Unlike hockey, which I’d trained to be good at since I was a toddler, art is something that made me much more vulnerable. I didn’t do it to try to be the best, I did it because it felt good. And getting out of my comfort zone in this way gave me a sense of confidence I had never known prior, despite all my time on the ice during high-stakes games.

Today, I’m back in skates and able to play hockey, but will probably not play professionally; while I am disappointed, I’m also at peace with it. We make plans in life, and sometimes life has other plans for us that we have to adapt to and embrace, which is the more profound lesson I’ve learned in the healing process. We can crumple in the face of obstacles, or we can look for a silver lining and allow ourselves to grow into more complex, dynamic, well-rounded people. I don’t know what the rest of life holds for me, but I do know that I’m going to keep making art, and I’m going to keep opening myself up to new opportunities and experiences.

Strengths of Version #2:

It has a compelling hook that draws the reader in.
It has a clear beginning, middle, and end (expressed as an introduction, body, and conclusion).
It directly addresses the prompt at hand and sticks to it.
It focuses on one specific incident.
It is well balanced in its explanation of and reflection on a given experience.
It uses a clear, unique voice and tone as well as vivid, evocative language.
It has a logical and cohesive flow.
It is highly personal while also polished and professional.

Hopefully these examples have given you ideas of how you can take your Common App essay from good to great. If you have more questions about how to write a Common App essay, keep reading our FAQs below.

How much do I actually have to write for the Common App essay?

Last year, the Common App essay was capped at 650 words with a minimum of 250 words required. The best essays tend to range between 500-650 words.

Think of it this way as you start to draft: 500 words is one single-spaced page (250 words is one double-spaced page), so you should write roughly a page to page and half of typed, single-spaced content.

Where can I find the official Common App essay prompts?

Here are the 2021-2022 Common App essay prompts , which are the same as last year’s, with the exception of a new prompt #4 and the addition of a Covid-19 Common App prompt .

Do I need a title for the Common App essay?

A title is not required for the Common App essay, but you are, of course, more than welcome to include one if you’d like.

Where can I go for more information about the Common App essay?

All of the necessary information for the Common App and the Common App essay can be found on the Common Application home page.

For further reading, here are some posts that tackle and dispel common myths about the Common App essay:

Myth: The Common App essay must sound professional. Myth: Colleges can’t tell if someone helps write a common app essay.

If you haven’t already, you can download our free Common App essay checklist .

Happy Writing!

There you have it! The Common App essay can actually be quite rewarding to write if you give yourself enough time to prepare for it thoroughly. Remember, it’s all about you, and you’re the authority on that! So hunker down and don’t forget to have fun in the writing process.

We’d also love to hear from you! What questions or concerns do you still have about the Common Application essay? What are you thinking about writing on?

Comment below, and good luck!

Nadyja von Ebers is one of Magoosh’s Content Creators. Nadyja holds an MA in English from DePaul University and has taught English and at the high school and college levels for twelve years. She has a decade of experience teaching preparation for the AP exams, the SAT, and the ACT, among other tests. Additionally, Nadyja has worked as an academic advisor at college level and considers herself an expert in all things related to college-prep. She’s applied her college expertise to posts such as UCLA Admissions: The SAT Scores, ACT Scores, and GPA You Need to Get in and A Family Guide to College Admissions . Nadyja loves helping students reach their maximum potential and thrives in both literal and virtual classrooms. When she’s not teaching, she enjoys reading and writing for pleasure and loves spending time in or near the ocean. You can connect with her on LinkedIn !

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The best essays: the 2021 pen/diamonstein-spielvogel award, recommended by adam gopnik.

WINNER OF the 2021 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay

Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich

Every year, the judges of the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay search out the best book of essays written in the past year and draw attention to the author's entire body of work. Here, Adam Gopnik , writer, journalist and PEN essay prize judge, emphasizes the role of the essay in bearing witness and explains why the five collections that reached the 2021 shortlist are, in their different ways, so important.

Interview by Benedict King

Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader by Vivian Gornick

Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays by Robert Michael Pyle

Terroir: Love, Out of Place by Natasha Sajé

Maybe the People Would be the Times by Luc Sante

The Best Essays: the 2021 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award - Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich

1 Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich

2 unfinished business: notes of a chronic re-reader by vivian gornick, 3 nature matrix: new and selected essays by robert michael pyle, 4 terroir: love, out of place by natasha sajé, 5 maybe the people would be the times by luc sante.

W e’re talking about the books shortlisted for the 2021 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay . As an essayist yourself, or as a reader of essays, what are you looking for? What’s the key to a good essay ?

Let’s turn to the books that made the shortlist of the 2021 PEN Award for the Art of the Essay. The winning book was Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich , whose books have been recommended a number of times on Five Books. Tell me more.

One of the criteria for this particular prize is that it should be not just for a single book, but for a body of work. One of the things we wanted to honour about Barbara Ehrenreich is that she has produced a remarkable body of work. Although it’s offered in a more specifically political register than some essayists, or that a great many past prize winners have practised, the quiddity of her work is that it remains rooted in personal experience, in the act of bearing witness. She has a passionate political point to make, certainly, a series of them, many seeming all the more relevant now than when she began writing. Nonetheless, her writing still always depends on the intimacy of first-hand knowledge, what people in post-incarceration work call ‘lived experience’ (a term with a distinguished philosophical history). Her book Nickel and Dimed is the classic example of that. She never writes from a distance about working-class life in America. She bears witness to the nature and real texture of working-class life in America.

“One point of giving awards…is to keep passing the small torches of literary tradition”

Next up of the books on the 2021 PEN essay prize shortlist is Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader by Vivian Gornick.

Vivian Gornick is a writer who’s been around for a very long time. Although longevity is not in itself a criterion for excellence—or for this prize, or in the writing life generally—persistence and perseverance are. Writers who keep coming back at us, again and again, with a consistent vision, are surely to be saluted. For her admirers, her appetite to re-read things already read is one of the most attractive parts of her oeuvre , if I can call it that; her appetite not just to read but to read deeply and personally. One of the things that people who love her work love about it is that her readings are never academic, or touched by scholarly hobbyhorsing. They’re readings that involve the fullness of her experience, then applied to literature. Although she reads as a critic, she reads as an essayist reads, rather than as a reviewer reads. And I think that was one of the things that was there to honour in her body of work, as well.

Is she a novelist or journalist, as well?

Let’s move on to the next book which made the 2021 PEN essay shortlist. This is Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays by Robert Michael Pyle.

I have a special reason for liking this book in particular, and that is that it corresponds to one of the richest and oldest of American genres, now often overlooked, and that’s the naturalist essay. You can track it back to Henry David Thoreau , if not to Ralph Waldo Emerson , this American engagement with nature , the wilderness, not from a narrowly scientific point of view, nor from a purely ecological or environmental point of view—though those things are part of it—but again, from the point of view of lived experience, of personal testimony.

Let’s look at the next book on the shortlist of the 2021 PEN Awards, which is Terroir: Love, Out of Place by Natasha Sajé. Why did these essays appeal?

One of the things that was appealing about this book is that’s it very much about, in every sense, the issues of the day: the idea of place, of where we are, how we are located on any map as individuals by ethnic identity, class, gender—all of those things. But rather than being carried forward in a narrowly argumentative way, again, in the classic manner of the essay, Sajé’s work is ruminative. It walks around these issues from the point of view of someone who’s an expatriate, someone who’s an émigré, someone who’s a world citizen, but who’s also concerned with the idea of ‘terroir’, the one place in the world where we belong. And I think the dialogue in her work between a kind of cosmopolitanism that she has along with her self-critical examination of the problem of localism and where we sit on the world, was inspiring to us.

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Last of the books on the shortlist for the 2021 Pen essay award is Maybe the People Would Be the Times by Luc Sante.

Again, here’s a writer who’s had a distinguished generalised career, writing about lots of places and about lots of subjects. In the past, he’s made his special preoccupation what he calls ‘low life’, but I think more broadly can be called the marginalized or the repressed and abject. He’s also written acute introductions to the literature of ‘low life’, the works of Asbury and David Maurer, for instance.

But I think one of the things that was appealing about what he’s done is the sheer range of his enterprise. He writes about countless subjects. He can write about A-sides and B-sides of popular records—singles—then go on to write about Jacques Rivette’s cinema. He writes from a kind of private inspection of public experience. He has a lovely piece about tabloid headlines and their evolution. And I think that omnivorous range of enthusiasms and passions is a stirring reminder in a time of specialization and compartmentalization of the essayist’s freedom to roam. If Pyle is in the tradition of Thoreau, I suspect Luc Sante would be proud to be put in the tradition of Baudelaire—the flaneur who walks the streets, sees everything, broods on it all and writes about it well.

One point of giving awards, with all their built-in absurdity and inevitable injustice, is to keep alive, or at least to keep passing, the small torches of literary tradition. And just as much as we’re honoring the great tradition of the naturalist essay in the one case, I think we’re honoring the tradition of the Baudelairean flaneur in this one.

April 18, 2021

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Adam Gopnik

Adam Gopnik has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1986. His many books include A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism . He is a three time winner of the National Magazine Award for Essays & Criticism, and in 2021 was made a chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur by the French Republic.

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IELTS Preparation with Liz: Free IELTS Tips and Lessons, 2024

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IELTS Essay Topics for 2021

Below is a list of predicted IELTS essay topics for Writing Task 2 based on topics that have appeared recently, current world events and common topics that frequently appear in IELTS essays. Both GT and Academic IELTS candidates should prepare all topics from this list.

On this page, you will find:

Tips for Preparing Essays
Essay Topics 2021 List

Message from Liz

Ielts essay topics – preparing ideas.

Be aware of the range of possible topics and prepare them all. Be aware of current world issues – IELTS likes to stay up-to-date.
Prepare strong main ideas for all topics. Main ideas should be ones you can easily explain and develop.
Prepare supporting points. These make up the supporting sentences in your body paragraphs. The examiner will mark these carefully.
Practice planning paragraphing and links. See these pages: paragraphing and Linking Words for Essays
Source ideas in model essays online by google topics. You can find some model essays and free tips on this site. Click here: Free Model Essays etc
IDEAS E-BOOK. I wrote an e-book covering 150 essay topics with ideas and vocabulary. Get that if you need the help. Visit my store: Liz’s Ideas E-book
Target 7 and above. If you need more help reaching your goal for IELTS writing, I have Advanced Writing Task 2 Lessons in my online store: Liz’s Store .

Below is a list of predicted IELTS writing task 2 topics for 2021. The predictions are based on recurring essay topics, recent topics and world events which are all important in IELTS essay questions. The topics are not written as full IELTS essay questions, they are written as topics without the instructions. GT and Academic candidates should prepare all topics – even if you don’t get them in Writing Task 2, you might get them in Speaking Part 3. I’ve highlighted interesting essay topics for 2021 that are based on recent world issues that you might struggle with if you don’t prepare for them. Also note, topics change with each test, on one test day there can be a number of essay questions used, and essay topics are often recycled.

importance of the arts for society
supporting the arts – government funding
theatre and live events
freedom of speech and freedom of expression
children learning art
museums and galleries – importance
local business vs international businesses
supporting local businesses – buying local produce
business skills – important skills / learning skills
family run businesses
buying goods or saving money
the power of advertising in business
shopping online
businesses supporting local communities
how online communication has changed our lives
are people becoming more isolated because of only meeting online
face to face or online communication
pros and cons of meeting people online
has the internet brought people closer or not
how to stop criminals re-offending
fixed punishment for one crime or not
children – should parents be punished for their children’s crime
prison or rehabilitation
foreign cultures – learning through language, learning by travel, adapting to another culture
music – importance of music, international music
fashion – following trends and spending money
films – should historical films be accurate, learning about culture from films, foreign films, subtitles
how online media has changed local cultures
global warming
solving pollution – internationally or domestically
major problems and solutions
importance of nature for our well being
responsibility for problems – government or individual
urban nature
protecting wild species / endangered species – funding, reasons,
why people don’t change their life styles to help environmental problems
air / noise pollution in cities
putting children into groups based on age or ability
importance of children reading books (types of books)
science or art / sciences or music
how children learn
schools providing meals for children
making lessons more interesting
importance of science / history / technology in schools
disadvantages for children from poorer backgrounds
how to improve education in rural areas
what age to learn a foreign language
exams or on-going assessment / project work
university education – costs, funding, courses
home schooling / studying from home
online education
extra curricular activities
single parent families
importance of family for old people
roles of grandparents
supporting vulnerable members of the family: elderly, sick
peer pressure for children
children growing up in city or countryside
children with both parents working
childhood obesity – reasons, solutions
healthy diet
vegetarianism
junk food – problems, solutions
funding – prevention or cure
taking care of sick people – government or family
funding – health care or other society problems
good health – exercise or diet
free health care for everyone
cosmetic surgery – reasons, value
mental health – stress, positive mindset, meditation
lack of housing – building in cities or rural areas
using space in cities for housing or parks
funding affordable housing or other problems in society
living in flats – pros and cons
importance of hobbies / free time
leisure time – importance, activities,
spending time with family and friends
leadership – innate or learned
talent – innate or learned
ambition – pros and cons
important character traits
famous world leaders – skills and traits
family, society or government – taking care of the elderly
the generation gap
city living – positive or negative
people moving to cities – reasons, problems, solution
spending money on weddings – pros and cons
respecting older people
traditions – food, clothing, festivals
protecting old buildings
isolation among people in society
supporting vulnerable people in society – government or community
roles models in society for children
ideal society
online media stars
reality TV stars
importance of charities and charity work
importance of green spaces and urban environment
exploration – funding, importance
communicating with other planets
space travel for common people
international sporting event – importance
business sponsoring sporting events – pros and cons
exercising and health
children and sport – importance, who is responsible
indoor sports
smart phones – pros and cons, functions, limitations
the internet – pros and cons
online security (also for children)
the future of the internet
e-books – pros and cons, libraries
children spending too much time online
plane travel vs train travel
cars in city centres – pros and cons
using bicycles rather than cars
walking – pros and cons
pros and cons of tourism for rural communities
tourism and economy
working mothers
doing volunteer work / charity work
work / life balance
working long hours – pros and cons
experience or education or skills
four day working week
importance of promotion, salary, job satisfaction
working online – pros and cons
earning large salaries – films stars, sports people doctors etc
richer countries should help poorer countries
types of international aid
increasing number of old people
gap between rich and poor countries
violence on TV
tackling world issues domestically or internationally
news online – reliability of news, sources of news, fake news
people becoming similar
loss of culture (protecting traditions)
loss of local language (protecting language)
one language

Sharing your IELTS Writing Task 2 Experience

Did you get an essay topic you hadn’t prepared for?
What preparation tips do you have for others?
How did you manage your time in your writing test?
What score did you get in your writing test?
Sharing is caring 🙂

2021 is our chance to start fresh, to move forward and to build a strong future. Forget your difficult experiences and be proactive about your future. Each positive step forward takes you towards your goal and towards success. Be focused and strategic in your preparation for IELTS. You can find lots and lots of free lessons, tips, topics, model answers on this website – go to the HOME page to access it all. I wish you all lots of luck !! All the best, Liz 🙂

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I just want to say a big thank you for all you do. It is so kind of you to share your knowledge with us at not cost. I am inspired. God bless you and grant your heart’s desire.

I wrote the test on 30th October. My result just came out on Friday and I scored an average of 8. I appreciate your help in achieving that.

During my speaking test I was asked to talk about a café I had been to. I was to describe it and say what I went there to do.

During my writing Task 2, the question was something like: Some people believe that parents should be able to punish their children when they behave badly. However, others say there should be laws that govern how erring children are corrected. Discuss the two points of view and give your opinion.

Like you say, ‘sharing is caring’. Thanks for leaving me a better person.

Warm regards Nene

Great to see you’ve done so well. Good for you 🙂 Thanks for sharing

Thanks a lot

When children starting school the effect of teachers are more than parents in social and intellectual behaviour of students. To what extent do you agree? This was my topic 2 weeks ago and surprisingly, I got 6, I expected 7. I was in disagreement and give 5 reasons for it in 2 paragraphs.

Should I address social and intellectual in two separate paragraphs or I could explain them together in two paragraphs?

There are a number of points ton consider: 1. if you disagree then your essay must show why you think parents have more effect and why teachers have less effect – you must cover both within your opinion 2. you need to tackle both social and intellectual – you can tackle them together or separately – it depends on your point of view. For example, you might think teacher have a more intellectual effect and parents still have the most social effect 3. you should organise your ideas logically. Usually this means one single central theme per paragraph. If you had five main ideas – how can you have only two body paragraphs? When you brainstorm ideas – make a list of all the ideas you can think of and then choose the best to use. You don’t need to use all of them. Choose just two or three and organise them into separate body paragraphs

The three points above are just an example of things to consider for this essay and exemplify why you might have got a lower score than expected.

Just to share the question I got for my IELTS exam today. The words below are based on my memory.

The number of tall buildings in cities is increasing.

What are the reasons?

Is this a positive or negative development?

Share examples from your experience.

Hi Liz! Thank you so much for your site and great lessons. I bought your advanced writing classes and they were so helpful. I am a mom, working a full time job, and looking to apply for postgraduate study overseas. I barely had time to practice, but I do believe your website, tips and classes made an impact in my score. I got an 8.5 overall and 7.5 in the Writing section. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Also, I wrote down the Writing Task 2 – Essay Question to share it with you and your students (I took the IELTS Academic on August 2021, quite recently).

Topic: In both studying and working, there are people that work harder than others. What makes people work hard? Is it a good thing to be a hard working person?

A great score – very well done 🙂 I’m glad you found my website useful 🙂

Cleared my exam and got my desired scores on the first attempt thanks to this site, Thank you so much Liz, all the best!

Great to hear!! Well done 🙂

Could you check and give me a score Task 2 The expansion of multinational companies and increase in globalization produces positive effects to everyone. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement. In this contemporary world, Change is the law of nature but trying to abolish the natural arena is discomforting and disturbing. The overruling of multinational companies and firms and the sudden rise of globalization have led to many problems in human lives. So I partially disagree with the above notation.

To begin with, the building of new projects and the tech companies have greatly affected the vegetation grounds and most parts of the cities such as residential colonies are taken also away to form new offices. Deforestation has led to major pollution in the cities as well. Another factor that has been affected due to this is the weather conditions of the country. The rainfall patterns which were fixed in the older days are not disturbed due to global warming. Besides that, even the summers are unbearable due to the rise of temperature up to 40 degrees Celsius and all these are the results of modernization.

Some people may disagree with me due to the fact that this new tech world has given them the opportunity to get good jobs and a lifestyle but at the same time, life is not all about getting rich.

To conclude, many factors have impacted the current situation of the world such as erosion of vegetation lands, pollution due to global warming, deforestation and all this is due to the expansion of cities and factories so people need to slow down their speed to save our future kids.

Hi! I got the band score I needed. Thank you so much for this site. I’ve learned a lot from you, guys!

Anyway, let me share the question I encountered last October 2020. “Some people believe that History subject should not be taught anymore because it is already old and outdated. Others think that it should still be kept. To what extent do you agree/disagree?”

I apologize as these were not the exact words, but they delivered the same thought.

Good luck to everyone who’s about to take the exam. 🙂

Recently i gave my IELTS exam and i got 5.5 band in writing. It wasn’t the score i expected but my writing task 2 topic was very tricky. It was to mention drawbacks of the same thing shown by films, ads, brands and tv channels over the years on people’s mind. But they aren’t the same they have changed and their content has changed drastically. This question was really contradictory and tricky. Reply mam if possible. Regards

Can you remember the essay question more clearly? It’s quite vague. I would need to see a more accurate recording of the question to comment.

Hi Madam, Can you please help me with the tricks to differentiate the Opinion and Non-opinion Essays, which don’t have the ‘Do you agree or Disagree’ keywords? My doubt is with the question of having the keywords like: 1. Question X, Discuss both the views and give your opinion? 2.Question X, Discuss both the views? 3.Question X, Do you think the advantage outweigh the disadvantages? 4.Question X, Does this development bring more advantages or disadvantages? Example: Many things that used to be done in the home by hands are now being done by machines. Does this development bring more advantages or disadvantages?

I’ve already written a page about this. Here is a link to the main Writing Task 2 section of the website and you’ll find this mentioned in a link: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

hi liz, i really need your help regarding this question task 2.”Countries around the world will be facing significant challenges relating not only to the environment but population and education as well. What problems will your country face in the next ten years? How can these problems be overcome? im having problem paraphrasing this question for my background statement. i hope you can help me. thank you!

regards, jnet

Where did you get this question from? Was it from official sources? It doesn’t look like an official IELTS essay. The background statement does not include paraphrase the question for this essay question. You only paraphrase the first sentence:

Many countries worldwide might struggle in tackling issues such as environmental problems, education and population growth.

As you can see, when you paraphrase, you do NOT need to change all words. Just express the same ideas your own way and some words will be the same.

Hello everyone ,

I am going to give the exam of IELTS on 21 st Jan , so i am little bit confuse in choosing the topic for the writing task 2 , so can anyone help out with that , which topics can be used and what can i read it

You don’t choose the topic. You are given an essay question which you must answer. This means you need to prepare ideas for many topics. This can’t be done in one day. Instead, read over the topics are you not familiar with and do quick brainstorms.

Thank you Liz for your guidance. I got desrired results by following your lessons. I got overall band with 9 in both listening & reading. I had my GT IELTS exam on 9th Jan 2021.

My writing task 2 topic – Some people think that hard work helps in achieving Financial success while others think it is not the only thing which contributes to financial success. I was asked to discuss both of them & give my opinion.

Great scores – well done 🙂

Thank you Ma’am Liz! I’m glad that I found your website as I searched about IELTS. Its really a big help to me during this pandemic as I studied your lessons. Thank you so much for your generosity, I’ve got my desired band score. May you continue to be a blessing to everyone. I hope that your health will improve better. Take care always and God bless!

So glad to hear you’ve got the scores you needed – well done 🙂

Dear mam, I am a general training aspirant. I am practicing writing task 2. I am uncertain of how good i am while writing essay. I request you to please review my essay and tell me how much band will i score writing this way.

Ques. Today, high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in which they are sold. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Ans. Effective marketing plays a major role in increasing the demand of the product. On account of this , vast scale selling of famous products is the result of efficient marketing and not requirement of the public. This essay will attempt to objectively examine all significant components in detail. (47 words)

Objectivity being of the essence, the following words will weigh one side of the issue against the other. In my opinion, right form of marketing makes us trust specific brands. On the other hand , i feel that everything that glitters is not gold. The following two paragraphs will delve effectively into both aspects. (54 words)

First, advertisements make us know about the products in demand sitting at home that tends to increase sales. Second well advertised brands are often topic of discussions among our acquaintances and that creates virtual impression of specific goods on our minds. To substantiate the above. highly marketed brands like Patanjali have become extremely popular amongst middle and upper class. They have made a huge network in a very short span of time. (72 words)

However, many popular brands that are advertised well are of no good use and creates hoax among public. Furthermore, many trusted companies are making business without much marketing only because they are fulfilling the needfulness of people by selling genuine products. To corroborate what has just been stated , brands like Mother dairy and Amul still hold their positions well even after introduction of many popular well marketed dairy firms. ( 70 words)

In light of above, it is true that proper advertising plays a distinct role in producing sales. Still i believe that fulfillment of public needs is equally important for successful vending. Bringing this essay to a close, there are at least two ways to examine any situation. In this instance, i disagree to the statement given. (56 words)

(total- 296 words)

Happy new year Liz. Hope you are much stronger now? I pray you have a quick recovery. I had my exam last year September. In my speaking, especially in part one, my examiner always cut me short, she never gave me time to add a conditional in my responses. Although I got a 6.5 band score, could it have equally affected my score in addition to my other mistakes.

It is 100% normal for your answers to be cut short. The examiner will interrupt when they want to ask another question. There are only 4-5 mins for 12 questions to be asked and answered in part 1. Take this into consideration when you answer. Give a direct answer and then add a little more until the examiner interrupts. Be ready for this and don’t let it affect your confidence. You must show willingness to speak at length – show as much fluency as you can. You haven’t asked me a question in your comment. But if you are asking if this is the reason for a lower score, the answer is “no”. Being interrupted is a natural part of IELTS speaking test.

Hi Liz, I follow your lessons since 2017. You have helped me crack Ielts 3 times already. Last time my score was overall 8.5 band with 9 in both listening and speaking. Hoping a good one this time too! Happy new year 🎉

Brilliant to hear – very well done 🙂 Wishing you a great 2021 !!

Thanks a lot ma’am Your effort for helping and guiding us is much more than excellent. Each and every module is explained in a very easy as well as much from point to point Today 9th January 2021 I have my IELTS Academic Exam I am from India Pray for me I have learned much from your offerings Thank you LIZ ☺️☺️ Love from INDIA

Hi Liz, hope and pray you’re doing well and in good health. Have a blessed New Year and more blessings to come throughout the year 2021. Thank you so much of your untiring effort to guide and teach us for our IELTS test preparation. I might take IELTS-GT test next month. To be honest, I am not very good with speaking in English yet I found your website very helpful. Your teaching was really inspiring, easy to understand tremendously and guiding us accordingly. My goal is to reach 6 band at least. Help me God. Take care and keep safe. God bless you relentlessly.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you 🙂

Your book IELTS writing topics is really brilliant!!

I am having my exam next week, hopefully, I will get my desired score

Good luck!! 🙂

Happy new year Liz.. and thank you so much for these materials. 😊

Wishing you all the best for 2021 🙂

Thanks for all your loyal support Liz! I wish you a very happy New Year and speedy recovery.

Thanks. I hope 2021 turns out to be a year of positive change 🙂

Have a mind-blowing new year liz

Happy New Year Liz

Same to you 🙂

thanks Liz. . . .

Hi Liz Im one of your followers and Found out that you have a good information in regards to ielts. I’m planning to take my ielts and I’m encouraged with the comments I read. I’m a nurse by profession but I need to take the band score intended in order for me to practice nurse in the uk. And I know you will be of great help.

Lots of luck! Go to the HOME page of this site to learn how to access all materials.

Thank you so much Liz for your effort! Happy New year

Happy 2021 🙂

Thank you Liz for your part. I got the desired result. I feel very happy to express my gratitude to all the people who had contributed, helped and encouraged me to get good band score. Thank you everyone. I got 7 5 overall with 8.5 in reading which I think is a great achievement in IELTS Academic. A little unhappy with my speaking score, if you can, please suggest something to improve my speaking. Regards

Great to hear your scores. Well done 🙂 For speaking, your score is based only on your language skills which is different to how the writing test is scored. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-band-scores/ and this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/ . The key is to showcase your language in a natural way. For example, did you show the examiner a second conditional during the test? If not, why not? Your task is to show your range and this includes grammar which is equally as important as vocabulary. If the question isn’t a direct prompting for a second conditional, you can just add one yourself. Here’s an example: Part 1 Q: Do you often go swimming? Answer: No, I don’t. I don’t really have much time because of my work so I can only go swimming once in a while. But if I had more time, I’d definitely go swimming at least twice a week.

As you can see, the question was straight forward, but the answer showcased a direct use of the present simple with a flexible time phrase and a second conditional statement. These are the skills the examiner is looking for. The other thing to consider is developing your fluency in part 2. Take your talk beyond the prompts and take control of your talk. This is the time to think about what language to showcase and how to incorporate that. You have 1 min to plan this. So, prepare loads of ideas for topics before the test and then during part 2 you can prepare language to showcase for your talk during that prep time. Success in IELTS is about having and showing excellent use of English in a natural way. But, as with most exams, there are strategies to learn and techniques to help you present the best of yourself. I hope this helps 🙂

Thank you Liz, you are such a nice person apart from a wonderful coach, I think world needs more angels like you , STAY BLESSED ALWAYS

Happy New Year Liz, I hope your health is in great spirits.

You are the best and Fabulous teacher, Lots of prayers and Love 🙂

Wishing you all the best for 2021 !! 🙂

Thanks alot liz for these stuff

You’re welcome 🙂

I did my exam on 12-12 and because of you I got the score that I wanted! It was my first attempt and I only studied from your website 😍 Can’t thank you enough Liz.

My Ielts writing task 2 topic was : Some people think that a good teamwork makes a company successful, other think that a good leadership is the reason behind the success of a company.

I was asked to discuss both of them and share my opinion.

So glad to hear you did well. Congratulations. The topic of Business is a common one in IELTS Writing Task 2, particularly what leads to success in business. Sometimes it might relate to key aspects of business such as marketing and advertising vs good product. Sometimes its about staff or character traits. This is the reason it’s so important to prepare as many ideas as possible for as many topics. Anyway, well done with your results 🙂

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The Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2021

Featuring joan didion, rachel kushner, hanif abdurraqib, ann patchett, jenny diski, and more.

Well, friends, another grim and grueling plague year is drawing to a close, and that can mean only one thing: it’s time to put on our Book Marks stats hats and tabulate the best reviewed books of the past twelve months.

Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the next two weeks we’ll be revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2021, in the categories of (deep breath): Memoir and Biography ; Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror ; Short Story Collections ; Essay Collections; Poetry; Mystery and Crime; Graphic Literature; Literature in Translation; General Fiction; and General Nonfiction.

Today’s installment: Essay Collections .

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (Harper)

21 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed Read Ann Patchett on creating the work space you need, here

“… excellent … Patchett has a talent for friendship and celebrates many of those friends here. She writes with pure love for her mother, and with humor and some good-natured exasperation at Karl, who is such a great character he warrants a book of his own. Patchett’s account of his feigned offer to buy a woman’s newly adopted baby when she expresses unwarranted doubts is priceless … The days that Patchett refers to are precious indeed, but her writing is anything but. She describes deftly, with a line or a look, and I considered the absence of paragraphs freighted with adjectives to be a mercy. I don’t care about the hue of the sky or the shade of the couch. That’s not writing; it’s decorating. Or hiding. Patchett’s heart, smarts and 40 years of craft create an economy that delivers her perfectly understated stories emotionally whole. Her writing style is most gloriously her own.”

–Alex Witchel ( The New York Times Book Review )

2. Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion (Knopf)

14 Rave • 12 Positive • 6 Mixed Read an excerpt from Let Me Tell You What I Mean here

“In five decades’ worth of essays, reportage and criticism, Didion has documented the charade implicit in how things are, in a first-person, observational style that is not sacrosanct but common-sensical. Seeing as a way of extrapolating hypocrisy, disingenuousness and doubt, she’ll notice the hydrangeas are plastic and mention it once, in passing, sorting the scene. Her gaze, like a sentry on the page, permanently trained on what is being disguised … The essays in Let Me Tell You What I Mean are at once funny and touching, roving and no-nonsense. They are about humiliation and about notions of rightness … Didion’s pen is like a periscope onto the creative mind—and, as this collection demonstrates, it always has been. These essays offer a direct line to what’s in the offing.”

–Durga Chew-Bose ( The New York Times Book Review )

3. Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit (Viking)

12 Rave • 13 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from Orwell’s Roses here

“… on its simplest level, a tribute by one fine essayist of the political left to another of an earlier generation. But as with any of Solnit’s books, such a description would be reductive: the great pleasure of reading her is spending time with her mind, its digressions and juxtapositions, its unexpected connections. Only a few contemporary writers have the ability to start almost anywhere and lead the reader on paths that, while apparently meandering, compel unfailingly and feel, by the end, cosmically connected … Somehow, Solnit’s references to Ross Gay, Michael Pollan, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Peter Coyote (to name but a few) feel perfectly at home in the narrative; just as later chapters about an eighteenth-century portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds and a visit to the heart of the Colombian rose-growing industry seem inevitable and indispensable … The book provides a captivating account of Orwell as gardener, lover, parent, and endlessly curious thinker … And, movingly, she takes the time to find the traces of Orwell the gardener and lover of beauty in his political novels, and in his insistence on the value and pleasure of things .”

–Claire Messud ( Harper’s )

4. Girlhood by Melissa Febos (Bloomsbury)

16 Rave • 5 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from Girlhood here

“Every once in a while, a book comes along that feels so definitive, so necessary, that not only do you want to tell everyone to read it now, but you also find yourself wanting to go back in time and tell your younger self that you will one day get to read something that will make your life make sense. Melissa Febos’s fierce nonfiction collection, Girlhood , might just be that book. Febos is one of our most passionate and profound essayists … Girlhood …offers us exquisite, ferocious language for embracing self-pleasure and self-love. It’s a book that women will wish they had when they were younger, and that they’ll rejoice in having now … Febos is a balletic memoirist whose capacious gaze can take in so many seemingly disparate things and unfurl them in a graceful, cohesive way … Intellectual and erotic, engaging and empowering[.]”

–Michelle Hart ( Oprah Daily )

5. Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told by Jenny Diski (Bloomsbury)

14 Rave • 7 Positive

“[Diski’s] reputation as an original, witty and cant-free thinker on the way we live now should be given a significant boost. Her prose is elegant and amused, as if to counter her native melancholia and includes frequent dips into memorable images … Like the ideal artist Henry James conjured up, on whom nothing is lost, Diski notices everything that comes her way … She is discerning about serious topics (madness and death) as well as less fraught material, such as fashion … in truth Diski’s first-person voice is like no other, selectively intimate but not overbearingly egotistic, like, say, Norman Mailer’s. It bears some resemblance to Joan Didion’s, if Didion were less skittish and insistently stylish and generated more warmth. What they have in common is their innate skepticism and the way they ask questions that wouldn’t occur to anyone else … Suffice it to say that our culture, enmeshed as it is in carefully arranged snapshots of real life, needs Jenny Diski, who, by her own admission, ‘never owned a camera, never taken one on holiday.’” It is all but impossible not to warm up to a writer who observes herself so keenly … I, in turn, wish there were more people around who thought like Diski. The world would be a more generous, less shallow and infinitely more intriguing place.”

–Daphne Merkin ( The New York Times Book Review )

6. The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 by Rachel Kushner (Scribner)

12 Rave • 7 Positive Listen to an interview with Rachel Kushner here

“Whether she’s writing about Jeff Koons, prison abolition or a Palestinian refugee camp in Jerusalem, [Kushner’s] interested in appearances, and in the deeper currents a surface detail might betray … Her writing is magnetised by outlaw sensibility, hard lives lived at a slant, art made in conditions of ferment and unrest, though she rarely serves a platter that isn’t style-mag ready … She makes a pretty convincing case for a political dimension to Jeff Koons’s vacuities and mirrored surfaces, engages repeatedly with the Italian avant garde and writes best of all about an artist friend whose death undoes a spell of nihilism … It’s not just that Kushner is looking back on the distant city of youth; more that she’s the sole survivor of a wild crowd done down by prison, drugs, untimely death … What she remembers is a whole world, but does the act of immortalising it in language also drain it of its power,’neon, in pink, red, and warm white, bleeding into the fog’? She’s mining a rich seam of specificity, her writing charged by the dangers she ran up against. And then there’s the frank pleasure of her sentences, often shorn of definite articles or odd words, so they rev and bucket along … That New Journalism style, live hard and keep your eyes open, has long since given way to the millennial cult of the personal essay, with its performance of pain, its earnest display of wounds received and lessons learned. But Kushner brings it all flooding back. Even if I’m skeptical of its dazzle, I’m glad to taste something this sharp, this smart.”

–Olivia Laing ( The Guardian )

7. The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century by Amia Srinivasan (FSG)

12 Rave • 7 Positive • 5 Mixed • 1 Pan

“[A] quietly dazzling new essay collection … This is, needless to say, fraught terrain, and Srinivasan treads it with determination and skill … These essays are works of both criticism and imagination. Srinivasan refuses to resort to straw men; she will lay out even the most specious argument clearly and carefully, demonstrating its emotional power, even if her ultimate intention is to dismantle it … This, then, is a book that explicitly addresses intersectionality, even if Srinivasan is dissatisfied with the common—and reductive—understanding of the term … Srinivasan has written a compassionate book. She has also written a challenging one … Srinivasan proposes the kind of education enacted in this brilliant, rigorous book. She coaxes our imaginations out of the well-worn grooves of the existing order.”

–Jennifer Szalai ( The New York Times )

8. A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib (Random House)

13 Rave • 4 Positive Listen to an interview with Hanif Abdurraqib here

“[A] wide, deep, and discerning inquest into the Beauty of Blackness as enacted on stages and screens, in unanimity and discord, on public airwaves and in intimate spaces … has brought to pop criticism and cultural history not just a poet’s lyricism and imagery but also a scholar’s rigor, a novelist’s sense of character and place, and a punk-rocker’s impulse to dislodge conventional wisdom from its moorings until something shakes loose and is exposed to audiences too lethargic to think or even react differently … Abdurraqib cherishes this power to enlarge oneself within or beyond real or imagined restrictions … Abdurraqib reminds readers of the massive viewing audience’s shock and awe over seeing one of the world’s biggest pop icons appearing midfield at this least radical of American rituals … Something about the seemingly insatiable hunger Abdurraqib shows for cultural transaction, paradoxical mischief, and Beauty in Blackness tells me he’ll get to such matters soon enough.”

–Gene Seymour ( Bookforum )

9. On Animals by Susan Orlean (Avid Reader Press)

11 Rave • 6 Positive • 1 Mixed Listen to an interview with Susan Orlean here

“I very much enjoyed Orlean’s perspective in these original, perceptive, and clever essays showcasing the sometimes strange, sometimes sick, sometimes tender relationships between people and animals … whether Orlean is writing about one couple’s quest to find their lost dog, the lives of working donkeys of the Fez medina in Morocco, or a man who rescues lions (and happily allows even full grown males to gently chew his head), her pages are crammed with quirky characters, telling details, and flabbergasting facts … Readers will find these pages full of astonishments … Orlean excels as a reporter…Such thorough reporting made me long for updates on some of these stories … But even this criticism only testifies to the delight of each of the urbane and vivid stories in this collection. Even though Orlean claims the animals she writes about remain enigmas, she makes us care about their fates. Readers will continue to think about these dogs and donkeys, tigers and lions, chickens and pigeons long after we close the book’s covers. I hope most of them are still well.”

–Sy Montgomery ( The Boston Globe )

10. Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South by Margaret Renkl (Milkweed Editions)

9 Rave • 5 Positive Read Margaret Renkl on finding ideas everywhere, here

“Renkl’s sense of joyful belonging to the South, a region too often dismissed on both coasts in crude stereotypes and bad jokes, co-exists with her intense desire for Southerners who face prejudice or poverty finally to be embraced and supported … Renkl at her most tender and most fierce … Renkl’s gift, just as it was in her first book Late Migrations , is to make fascinating for others what is closest to her heart … Any initial sense of emotional whiplash faded as as I proceeded across the six sections and realized that the book is largely organized around one concept, that of fair and loving treatment for all—regardless of race, class, sex, gender or species … What rises in me after reading her essays is Lewis’ famous urging to get in good trouble to make the world fairer and better. Many people in the South are doing just that—and through her beautiful writing, Renkl is among them.”

–Barbara J. King ( NPR )

Our System:

RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

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10 Successful Harvard Application Essays | 2021

Our new 2022 version is up now.

Our 2022 edition is sponsored by HS2 Academy—a premier college counseling company that has helped thousands of students gain admission into Ivy League-level universities across the world. Learn more at www.hs2academy.com . Also made possible by The Art of Applying, College Confidential, Crimson Education, Dan Lichterman, Key Education, MR. MBA®, Potomac Admissions, Prep Expert, and Prepory.

AcceptU is the #1 rated college admissions consulting group. With a team composed entirely of former college admissions officers, AcceptU advises families on all aspects of the college planning process, from early profile-building to strategy and essay editing. More than 90% of our past students are admitted to at least one of their top three choices and AcceptU clients achieve 4x higher rates of admission to highly selective colleges. Learn more at www.AcceptU.com and schedule an introductory call with an AcceptU advisor today.

Successful Harvard Essay

I had never seen houses floating down a river. Minutes before there had not even been a river. An immense wall of water was destroying everything in its wake, picking up fishing boats to smash them against buildings. It was the morning of March 11, 2011. Seeing the images of destruction wrought by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I felt as if something within myself was also being shaken, for I had just spent two of the happiest summers of my life there.

In the summer of my freshman year, I received the Kikkoman National Scholarship, which allowed me to travel to Japan to stay with a host family in Tokyo for ten weeks. I arrived just as the swine flu panic gripped the world, so I was not allowed to attend high school with my host brother, Yamato. Instead, I took Japanese language, judo, and karate classes and explored the confusing sprawl of the largest city in the world. I spent time with the old men of my neighborhood in the onsen, or hot spring, questioning them about the Japan of their youth. They laughed and told me that if I wanted to see for myself, I should work on a farm.

The next summer I returned to Japan, deciding to heed the old men’s advice and volunteer on a farm in Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido. I spent two weeks working more than fourteen hours a day. I held thirty-pound bags of garlic with one hand while trying to tie them to a rope hanging from the ceiling with the other, but couldn’t hold the bags in the air long enough. Other days were spent pulling up endless rows of daikon, or Japanese radish, which left rashes on my arms that itched for weeks. Completely exhausted, I stumbled back to the farmhouse, only to be greeted by the family’s young children who were eager to play. I passed out every night in a room too small for me to straighten my legs. One day, I overslept a lunch break by two hours. I awoke mortified, and hurried to the father. After I apologized in the most polite form of Japanese, his face broke into a broad grin. He patted me on the back and said, “You are a good worker, Anthony. There is no need to apologize.” This single exchange revealed the true spirit of the Japanese farmer. The family had lived for years in conditions that thoroughly wore me out in only a few days. I had missed two hours of work, yet they were still perpetually thankful to me. In their life of unbelievable hardship, they still found room for compassion.

In their life of unbelievable hardship, they still found room for compassion.

When I had first gone to Tokyo, I had sought the soul of the nation among its skyscrapers and urban hot springs. The next summer I spurned the beaten track in an attempt to discover the true spirit of Japan. While lugging enormously heavy bags of garlic and picking daikon, I found that spirit. The farmers worked harder than anyone I have ever met, but they still made room in their hearts for me. So when the tsunami threatened the people to whom I owed so much, I had to act. Remembering the lesson of compassion I learned from the farm family, I started a fund-raiser in my community called “One Thousand Cranes for Japan.” Little more than two weeks later, we had raised over $8,000 and a flock of one thousand cranes was on its way to Japan.

Professional Review by AcceptU

This essay is very clean and straightforward. Anthony wisely uses imagery from a well-known historic event, the 2011 tsunami, to set the scene for his story. He visited Japan for two summers and provides depth about what he learned: In his first summer, he explored Tokyo and studied the language and culture; in his second summer, he lived in rural Japan and worked long hours on a farm.

We like to see how applicants learn, grow or change from the beginning to the end - and Anthony rightfully spends more time describing the hard work and lifestyle of farming and what he learned from this experience.

The beauty of the essay actually lies in its simplicity. Admittedly, it is not a groundbreaking or original essay in the way he tells his story; instead, Anthony comes across as someone who is very interesting, hardworking, intellectually curious, dedicated, humble and likable - all traits that admissions officers are seeking in applicants.

We like to see how applicants learn, grow or change from the beginning to the end - and Anthony rightfully spends more time describing the hard work and lifestyle of farming and what he learned from this experience. Anthony concludes with a reference to his opening paragraph about the tsunami, and impresses the reader with his fundraising to help victims.

It is not necessarily missing, but perhaps a sentence or two could have been added to explain why Anthony was in Japan in the first place. What was his connection to the country, language or culture? Does it tie into an academic interest? If so, that would make his already strong essay even stronger in the eyes of admissions officers.

Sponsored by Bridge to College, a data company that matches students to colleges that are an academic, financial, and social fit. We provide services to students, families, high schools, and colleges to support all of their admissions needs. Visit https://bit.ly/bridge-to-college-successful-essays for more information on the new platform, sign up for updates and consultations, and learn more about what we do.

Find Bridge to College on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

I entered the surprisingly cool car. Since when is Beijing Line 13 air-conditioned? I’ll take it. At four o’clock in the afternoon only about twenty people were in the subway car. “At least it’s not crowded,” one might have thought. Wrong. The pressure of their eyes on me filled the car and smothered me. “看看！她是外国人！”(Look, look! She’s a foreigner!) An old man very loudly whispered to a child curled up in his lap. “Foreigner,” he called me. I hate that word, “foreigner.” It only explains my exterior. If only they could look inside.…

I want to keep reading because there is something she is saying about her identity--be it performative or actual--that I am curious about.

They would know that I actually speak Chinese—not just speak, but love. They would know that this love was born from my first love of Latin—the language that fostered my admiration of all languages. Latin lives in the words we speak around the world today. And translating this ancient language is like watching a play and performing in it at the same time. Each word is an adventure, and on the journey through Virgil’s Aeneid I found that I am more like Aeneas than any living, dead, or fictional hero I know. We share the intrinsic value of loyalty to friends, family, and society. We stand true to our own word, and we uphold others to theirs. Like Aeneas’s trek to find a new settlement for his collapsed Troy, with similar perseverance I, too, wander the seas for my own place in the world. Language has helped me do that.

If these subway passengers understood me, they would know that the very reason I sat beside them was because of Latin. Even before Aeneas and his tale, I met Caecilius and Grumio, characters in my first Latin textbook. In translations I learned grammar alongside Rome’s rich history. I realized how learning another language could expose me to other worlds and other people—something that has always excited me. I also realized that if I wanted to know more about the world and the people in it, I would have to learn a spoken language. Spanish, despite the seven years of study prior to Latin, did not stick with me. And the throatiness of French was not appealing. But Chinese, more than these other traditional languages, intrigued me. The doors to new worlds it could open seemed endless. Thus I chose Chinese.

If these subway passengers looked inside me, they would find that my knowledge of both Latin and Chinese makes me feel whole. It feels like the world of the past is flowing through me alongside the world of the future. Thanks to Latin, Chinese sticks in my mind like the Velcro on the little boy’s shoes in front of me. If this little boy and his family and friends could look inside, they would understand that Latin laid the foundation for my lifelong commitment to languages. Without words, thoughts and actions would be lost in the space between our ears. To them, I am a foreigner, “外国人” literally translated as “out-of-country person.” I feel, however, more like an advena, the Latin word for “foreigner,” translated as “(one who) comes to (this place).” I came to this place, and I came to this country to stay. Unfortunately, they will not know this until I speak. Then once I speak, the doors will open.

Professional Review by Bridge to College

Your college essay should serve two purposes: allow the reader to gain insights about you that they are not able to do in other parts of your application and provide an example of your writing abilities. To the former, you are hoping to demonstrate five soft skills that most colleges are at least implicitly interested in gleaning, those that indicate your capacity to be a good student at their institution.

Alex arrives at both goals in an interesting way. Without seeing the rest of her application, I can only assume that she is possibly interested in pursuing a major in a language (if she is pursuing a major in an applied math, this essay would be extremely interesting) and she has likely participated in some kind of team sport to demonstrate the soft skill of teamwork. To be honest, as someone who speaks five languages myself and studied Latin in undergrad, I don’t necessarily agree with her assessment of the languages. BUT I’m interested. I want to keep reading. She isn’t supposed to get everything right in this essay; she’s supposed to demonstrate a capacity for learning. And she does that.

I want to keep reading because there is something she is saying about her identity--be it performative or actual--that I am curious about. With our work in college access and admissions, we’ve only worked in underserved communities, be they students of color or girls interested in STEM or first-generation college students or more. People make an assumption that we are exploiting these identities into sob stories that admissions readers will immediately hang on to. We’re not doing that. We are encouraging students to write about something similar to what Alex did—describe how your identity has created a learning opportunity or a moment of resilience or determination. Alex seems like someone who is well resourced: her access to certain text; language curricula and the amount of time she spent studying those languages; even her sentence structure, gives that away. But her openness to adapt with humility is a critical skill that is so necessary to be a great student, and unfortunately a skill that many students miss.

For the second goal, she does a tremendous job of demonstrating her writing abilities. Her sentence structures are varied and there aren’t egregious mistakes in grammar and spelling. The last two sentences of the second paragraph sold me on her skill-level and personhood. I also really appreciated that she wasn’t shying away from what she has been able to access as far as her schooling. Alex is smart, witty, and well-traveled, and you’re going to know it. I love that.

The essay works as an introduction to who she is and her soft skills, as well as a demonstration of her writing abilities.

CEO and Founder of Bridge to College

Elite Educational Institute has been helping students reach their academic goals through test preparation, tutoring, and college consulting services since 1987. Learn more at www.eliteprep.com .

When I was a child, I begged my parents for my very own Brother PT-1400 P-Touch Handheld Label Maker to fulfill all of my labeling needs. Other kids had Nintendos and would spend their free time with Mario and Luigi. While they pummeled their video game controllers furiously, the pads of their thumbs dancing across their joysticks, I would type out labels on my industrial-standard P-Touch with just as much zeal. I labeled everything imaginable, dividing hundreds of pens into Ziploc bags by color, then rubber-banding them by point size. The finishing touch, of course, was always a glossy, three-eighths-inch-wide tag, freshly churned out from my handheld labeler and decisively pasted upon the numerous plastic bags I had successfully compiled.

Labeling became therapeutic for me; organizing my surroundings into specific groups to be labeled provides me with a sense of stability. I may not physically need the shiny color-coded label verifying the contents of a plastic bag as BLUE HIGHLIGHTERS—FAT, to identify them as such, but seeing these classifications so plainly allows me to appreciate the reliability of my categorizations. There are no exceptions when I label the top ledge of my bookshelf as containing works from ACHEBE, CHINUA TO CONRAD, JOSEPH. Each book is either filtered into that category or placed definitively into another one. Yet, such consistency only exists in these inanimate objects.

Thus, the break in my role as a labeler comes when I interact with people. Their lives are too complicated, their personalities too intricate for me to resolutely summarize in a few words or even with the 26.2 feet of laminated adhesive tape compatible with my label maker. I have learned that a thin line exists between labeling and just being judgmental when evaluating individuals. I can hardly superficially characterize others as simply as I do my material possessions because people refuse to be so cleanly separated and compartmentalized. My sister Joyce jokes freely and talks with me for hours about everything from the disturbing popularity of vampires in pop culture to cubic watermelons, yet those who don’t know her well usually think of her as timid and introverted. My mother is sometimes my biggest supporter, spouting words of encouragement and, at other instances, my most unrelenting critic. The overlap becomes too indistinct, the contradictions too apparent, even as I attempt to classify those people in the world whom I know best.

For all my love of order when it comes to my room, I don't want myself, or the people with whom I interact, to fit squarely into any one category.

Neither would I want others to be predictable enough for me to label. The real joy in human interaction lies in the excitement of the unknown. Overturning expectations can be necessary to preserving the vitality of relationships. If I were never surprised by the behaviors of those around me, my biggest source of entertainment would vanish. For all my love of order when it comes to my room, I don’t want myself, or the people with whom I interact, to fit squarely into any one category. I meticulously follow directions to the millimeter in the chemistry lab but measure ingredients by pinches and dashes in the comfort of my kitchen. I’m a self-proclaimed grammar Nazi, but I’ll admit e. e. cummings’s irreverence does appeal. I’ll chart my television show schedule on Excel, but I would never dream of confronting my chores with as much organization. I even call myself a labeler, but not when it comes to people. As Walt Whitman might put it, “Do I contradict myself? / Very well, then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.).”

I therefore refrain from the temptation to label—despite it being an act that makes me feel so fulfilled when applied to physical objects—when real people are the subjects. The consequences of premature labeling are too great, the risk of inaccuracy too high because, most of the time, not even the hundreds of alphanumeric digits and symbols available for entry on my P-Touch can effectively describe who an individual really is.

Professional Review by Elite Prep

Amusing yet insightful, perhaps the most outstanding quality of Justine’s personal statement lies in the balance she strikes between anecdotal flourish and honest introspection. By integrating occasional humour and witty commentary into an otherwise lyrical and earnest self-reflection, Justine masterfully conveys an unfettered, sincere wisdom and maturity coveted by prestigious universities.

Justine breaks the ice by recalling a moment in her childhood that captures her fervent passion for labelling. When applying to selective academic institutions, idiosyncrasies and peculiar personal habits, however trivial, are always appreciated as indicators of individuality. Justine veers safely away from the temptation of “playing it safe” by exploring her dedication towards organizing all her possessions, a dedication that has followed her into adolescence.

She also writes from a place of raw honesty and emotion by offering the rationale behind her bizarre passion. Justine's reliance on labelling is underpinned by her yearning for a sense of stability and order in a messy world—an unaffected yearning that readers, to varying degrees, can sympathize with.

She also writes from a place of raw honesty and emotion by offering the rationale behind her bizarre passion. Justine’s reliance on labelling is underpinned by her yearning for a sense of stability and order in a messy world—an unaffected yearning that readers, to varying degrees, can sympathize with. She recognizes, however, it would be imprudent to navigate all facets of life with an unfaltering drive to compartmentalize everything and everyone she encounters.

In doing so, Justine seamlessly transitions to the latter, more pensive half of her personal statement. She extracts several insights by analyzing how, in staunch contrast with her neatly-organized pencil cases, the world is confusing, and rife with contradictions. Within each individual lies yet another world of complexity—as Justine reflects, people can’t be boiled down into “a few words,” and it’s impossible to capture their character, “even with the 26.2 feet of laminated adhesive tape compatible with [her] label maker.”

In concluding, Justine returns back to the premise that started it all, reminding the reader of her take on why compartmentalizing the world would be an ultimately unproductive effort. The most magical part of Justine’s personal statement? It reads easily, flows with imagery, and employs a simple concept—her labelling practices—to introduce a larger, thoughtful conversation.

The best compliment I ever received was from my little brother: “My science teacher’s unbelievably good at telling stories,” he announced. “Nearly as good as you.” I thought about that, how I savor a good story the way some people savor last-minute touchdowns.

I learned in biology that I’m composed of 7 × 10 27 atoms, but that number didn’t mean anything to me until I read Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. One sentence stayed with me for weeks: “Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you.” It estimates that each human has about 2 billion atoms of Shakespeare hanging around inside—quite a comfort, as I try to write this essay. I thought about every one of my atoms, wondering where they had been and what miracles they had witnessed.

My physical body is a string of atoms, but what of my inner self, my soul, my essence? I've come to the realization that my life has been a string as well, a string of stories.

My physical body is a string of atoms, but what of my inner self, my soul, my essence? I’ve come to the realization that my life has been a string as well, a string of stories. Every one of us is made of star stuff, forged through fires, and emerging as nicked as the surface of the moon. It frustrated me no end that I couldn’t sit down with all the people I met, interrogating them about their lives, identifying every last story that made them who they are.

I remember how magical it was the first time I read a fiction book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I was duly impressed with Quidditch and the Invisibility Cloak, of course, but I was absolutely spellbound by how much I could learn about Harry. The kippers he had for breakfast, the supplies he bought for Potions—the details everyone skimmed over were remarkable to me. Fiction was a revelation. Here, at last, was a window into another person’s string of stories!

Over the years, I’ve thought long and hard about that immortal question: What superpower would you choose? I considered the usual suspects—invisibility, superhuman strength, flying—but threw them out immediately. My superhero alter ego would be Story Girl. She wouldn’t run marathons, but she could walk for miles and miles in other people’s shoes. She’d know that all it takes for empathy and understanding is the right story.

Imagine my astonishment when I discovered Radiolab on NPR. Here was my imaginary superpower, embodied in real life! I had been struggling with AP Biology, seeing it as a class full of complicated processes and alien vocabulary. That changed radically when I listened, enthralled, as Radiolab traced the effects of dopamine on love and gambling. This was science, sure, but it was science as I’d never heard it before. It contained conflict and emotion and a narrative; it made me anxious to learn more. It wasn’t that I was obtuse for biology; I just hadn’t found the stories in it before.

I’m convinced that you can learn anything in the form of a story. The layperson often writes off concepts—entropy, the Maginot Line, anapestic meter—as too foreign to comprehend. But with the right framing, the world suddenly becomes an open book, enticing and ripe for exploration. I want to become a writer to find those stories, much like Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich from Radiolab, making intimidating subjects become familiar and inviting for everyone. I want to become Story Girl.

By combining her previous interest with her newfound love for biology, Carrie is able to highlight how her past experiences have assisted her in overcoming novel challenges. This portrays her as a resilient and resourceful problem-solver: traits that colleges value heavily in their students.

Carrie begins her essay with a fondly-remembered compliment from her brother, introducing her most passionate endeavor: storytelling. By recalling anecdotes related to her love of stories, she establishes herself as a deeply inquisitive and creative person; someone whose greatest virtue is their unfettered thirst for knowledge. Curiosity is greatly prized by colleges, and Carrie’s inclusion of this particular value encourages admissions officers to keep reading.

Going on to explore the intersections between stories and science, Carrie reveals her past difficulties with AP biology; that is, until she learnt about the amazing stories hidden within the subject. By combining her previous interest with her newfound love for biology, Carrie is able to highlight how her past experiences have assisted her in overcoming novel challenges. This portrays her as a resilient and resourceful problem-solver: traits that colleges value heavily in their students.

Carrie ends her essay with her belief that through stories, everything is possible. She expounds on her future ambitions in regards to storytelling, as well as her desire to make learning both fun and accessible to everyone via the power of stories. By comparing her goals to that of a superhero, Carrie is able to emphasise her enthusiasm for contributing to social change. Most importantly, Carrie’s ambitions show how she can contribute to the Harvard community positively, making her a strong applicant.

As an admission essay specialist , Dan Lichterman has been empowering students to find their voice since 2004. He helps students stand out on paper, eliminating the unnecessary so the necessary may speak. Drawing upon his storytelling background, Dan guides applicants to craft authentic essays that leap off the page. He is available for online writing support within the US and internationally. To learn more and schedule a brief complimentary consultation visit danlichterman.com.

I have a fetish for writing.

I’m not talking about crafting prose or verses, or even sentences out of words. But simply constructing letters and characters from strokes of ink gives me immense satisfaction. It’s not quite calligraphy, as I don’t use calligraphic pens or Chinese writing brushes; I prefer it simple, spontaneous, and subconscious. I often find myself crafting characters in the margins of notebooks with a fifty-cent pencil, or tracing letters out of thin air with anything from chopsticks to fingertips.

"One's handwriting," said the ancient Chinese, "is a painting of one's mind." After all, when I practice my handwriting, I am crafting characters. My character.

The art of handwriting is a relic in the information era. Why write when one can type? Perhaps the Chinese had an answer before the advent of keyboards. “One’s handwriting,” said the ancient Chinese, “is a painting of one’s mind.” After all, when I practice my handwriting, I am crafting characters.

My character.

I particularly enjoy meticulously designing a character, stroke by stroke, and eventually building up, letter by letter, to a quote personalized in my own voice. Every movement of the pen and every droplet of ink all lead to something profound, as if the arches of every "m" are doorways to revelations. After all, characters are the building blocks of language, and language is the only vehicle through which knowledge unfolds. Thus, in a way, these letters under my pen are themselves representations of knowledge, and the delicate beauty of every letter proves, visually, the intrinsic beauty of knowing. I suppose handwriting reminds me of my conviction in this visual manner: through learning answers are found, lives enriched, and societies bettered.

Moreover, perhaps this strange passion in polishing every single character of a word delineates my dedication to learning, testifies my zeal for my conviction, and sketches a crucial stroke of my character.

"We--must--know ... " the mathematician David Hilbert's voice echoes in resolute cursive at the tip of my pen, as he, addressing German scientists in 1930, propounds the goal of modern intellectuals. My pen firmly nods in agreement with Hilbert, while my mind again fumbles for the path to knowledge.

The versatility of handwriting enthralls me. The Chinese developed many styles -- called hands -- of writing. Fittingly, each hand seems to parallel one of my many academic interests. Characters of the Regular Hand (kai shu), a legible script, serve me well during many long hours when I scratch my head and try to prove a mathematical statement rigorously, as the legibility illuminates my logic on paper. Words of the Running Hand (xing shu), a semi-cursive script, are like the passionate words that I speak before a committee of Model United Nations delegates, propounding a decisive course of action: the words, both spoken and written, are swift and coherent but resolute and emphatic. And strokes of the Cursive Hand (cao shu) resemble those sudden artistic sparks when I deliver a line on stage: free spontaneous, but emphatic syllables travel through the lights like rivers of ink flowing on the page.

Yet the fact that the three distinctive hands cooperate so seamlessly, fusing together the glorious culture of writing, is perhaps a fable of learning, a testament that the many talents of the Renaissance Man could all be worthwhile for enriching human society. Such is my methodology: just like I organize my different hands into a neat personal style with my fetish for writing, I can unify my broad interests with my passion for learning.

“...We -- will -- know!” Hilbert finishes his adage, as I frantically slice an exclamation mark as the final stroke of this painting of my mind.

I must know: for knowing, like well-crafted letters, has an inherent beauty and an intrinsic value. I will know: for my versatile interests in academics will flow like my versatile styles of writing.

I must know and I will know: for my fetish for writing is a fetish for learning.

Professional Review by Dan Lichterman

We learn that he expresses his innermost self through an art that has become a relic within the information age. As we peer into his mind, we learn something essential about Jiafeng's character–that he is irrepressibly drawn to the intricate beauty of pure learning.

Jiafeng’s essay succeeds by using the metaphor of handwriting, and it’s immense physical satisfaction, to showcase the unbounded pleasure of pursuing knowledge. We can visualize spontaneously crafted letters filling his notebooks. We see him trace Chinese characters into air by chopstick and fingertip. We learn that he expresses his innermost self through an art that has become a relic within the information age. As we peer into his mind, we learn something essential about Jiafeng’s character–that he is irrepressibly drawn to the intricate beauty of pure learning.

Jiafeng goes on to reveal that his intellectual pursuit has been shaped by not one but three Chinese styles of handwriting, each reflecting a distinct element of his intellectual growth. We see Jiafeng’s logic when engaged in mathematical proof, rhetorical flair when speaking before Model United Nations, and improvisational spark when delivering lines on stage. He presents these polymath pursuits as united by writing, indicating to readers that his broad interests are all an expression of the same principle of discovery. By the time readers finish Jiafeng’s essay they have no doubts regarding the pleasure he derives from learning–they have experienced him enacting this celebration of thought throughout every line of this well-crafted personal statement.

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“Ella, what did you think of Douglass’s view on Christianity?” I gulped. Increasingly powerful palpitations throbbed in my heart as my eyes darted around the classroom – searching for a profound response to Dr. Franklin’s question. I took a deep breath while reaching the most genuine answer I could conjure.

“Professor, I don’t know.”

Dr. Franklin stared at me blankly as he attempted to interpret the thoughts I didn’t voice. My lack of familiarity with the assigned text wasn’t a consideration that crossed his mind because he was familiar with my past contributions to class discussions. I was a fervent critic of the corrupted culture behind Christianity of the Puritans in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and modern evangelicals involved in the puzzling divinity of Donald Trump. He arched his flummoxed brows as he began to open his mouth.

“Professor, what I mean is that I’m not sure whether or not I even have a say on Douglass’s statements on Christianity in his Narrative of the Life.”

In class, I often separated the culture of Christianity from the religion. To tie these immensely disparate concepts as one and coin it as Christianity would present fallacies that contradict with the Christianity I knew. Lack of tolerance and hostility were products of humans’ sinful nature – not the teachings of Christ. People were just using Christianity as an excuse to exalt themselves rather than the holy name of Jesus. These were the “facts.”

My greatest realization came when Douglass declared Christian slave-holders as the worst slave-holders he ever met because of their deceptive feign of piety and use of Christianity to justify the oppression of their slaves. I realized that I couldn’t bring myself to raise the same argument that I used to convince myself that my Christianity of love was the only true Christianity. To Douglass, Christianity was the opposite. I didn’t want to dismiss his story. People use this sacred religion to spread hatred, and to many, this is the only Christianity they know. Their experiences aren’t any bit falser than mine.

Christianity isn’t the only culture that harbors truth that transcends the “facts.” America’s less of a perfect amalgamation of different ethnic cultures and more of a society severed by tribal conflicts rooted in the long established political culture of the nation. Issues such as racism, white privilege, and gender disparity are highly salient topics of current political discussion. However, during a time when people can use online platforms with algorithms that provide content they want to see, we fail to acknowledge the truth in other people’s experiences and express empathy.

My protective nature drives my desire to connect with different people and build understanding. To do so, however, I step outside my Korean American Southern Baptist paradigm because my experiences do not constitute everyone else's.

As a Korean-American in the South, I am no stranger to intolerance. I remember the countless instances of people mocking my parents for their English pronunciation and my brother’s stutter. Because their words were less eloquent, people deemed their thoughts as less valuable as well. I protect my family and translate their words whenever they have a doctor’s appointment or need more ketchup at McDonald’s. My protective nature drives my desire to connect with different people and build understanding. To do so, however, I step outside my Korean American Southern Baptist paradigm because my experiences do not constitute everyone else’s.

Excluded from the Manichaean narrative of this country, I observe the turmoil in our nation through a separate lens - a blessing and a curse. Not only do I find myself awkwardly fixed in a black vs. white America, but I also fail to define my identity sandwiched between Korean and American. In the end, I find myself stuck amongst the conventional labels and binaries that divide America.

“You seem to work harder than most to understand other people’s points of view,” Dr. Franklin said after I shared these thoughts to the class.

“I find this easier because I spent my childhood assuming that my culture was always the exception,” I replied. As an anomaly, accepting different truths is second nature.

Professional Review by Crimson Education

At a time in which the Black Lives Matters movement was sweeping America and racial tension was at a high, Ella was able to offer a powerful and brave perspective: how she feels to be neither Black nor White. The true strength of this essay is its willingness to go where people rarely go in college essays: to race, to politics and to religion.

This is a trait that exists in a powerful independent thinker who could push all kinds of debates forwards - academic ones or otherwise.

Her dedication to her religion is evident - but so is her willingness to question the manipulation of the word ‘Christianty’ for less than genuine purposes. It requires intellectual bravery to ask the hard questions of your own religion as opposed to succumbing to cognitive dissonance. This is a trait that exists in a powerful independent thinker who could push all kinds of debates forwards - academic ones or otherwise.

Her word choice continues to emphasize bravery and strength. “I protect my family” inserts Ella as the shield between her family and the daily racism they experience in the south because of their accents and heritage. Her humorous quirks show the insidious racism. She even needs to shield her family from the humble request for some more Ketchup at McDonalds! Imagine if one is nervous to ask for some more Ketchup and even such a mundane activity becomes difficult through the friction of racial tension and misunderstanding. This is a powerful way to deliver a sobering commentary on the real state of society through Ellen’s lived experiences.

She demonstrates her intellectual prowess in her discussion of somewhat high-brow topics but also grounds herself in the descriptions of her daily acts of kindness.

She connects major societal debates (Trumpism for example) with daily experiences (her translations at the doctor’s office) with a gentle but powerful cadence. She demonstrates her intellectual prowess in her discussion of somewhat high-brow topics but also grounds herself in the descriptions of her daily acts of kindness.

Creatively Ella weaves numerous literary devices in and out of her story without them being overbearing. These include alliteration and the juxtaposition of longer sentences with shorter ones to make a point.

Her final dialogue is subtle but booming. “....my culture was the exception”. The reader is left genuinely sympathetic for her plight, challenges and bravery as she goes about her daily life.

Ella is a bold independent thinker with a clear social conscience and an ability to wade in the ambiguity and challenge of an imperfect world.

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"Paint this vase before you leave today," my teacher directed as she placed foreign brushes and paints in my hands. I looked at her blankly. Where were the charts of colors and books of techniques? Why was her smile so decidedly encouraging? The sudden expectations made no sense.

She smiled. "Don't worry, just paint."

In a daze, I assembled my supplies the way the older students did. I was scared. I knew everything but nothing. And even in those first blissful moments of experimentation, it hurt to realize that my painting was all wrong. The gleam of light. The distorted reflection. A thousand details taunted me with their refusal to melt into the glass. The vase was lifeless at best.

As the draining hours of work wore on, I began wearing reckless holes in my mixing plate. It was my fourth hour here. Why had I not received even a single piece of guidance?

At the peak of my frustration, she finally reentered the studio, yawning with excruciating casualness. I felt myself snap.

"I barely know how to hold a brush," I muttered almost aggressively, "how could I possibly have the technique to paint this?"

She looked at me with a shocked innocence that only heightened the feeling of abandonment. "What do you mean you don't have the technique?"

It was as though she failed to realize I was a complete beginner.

And then suddenly she broke into a pitch of urgent obviousness: "What are you doing! Don't you see those details?? There's orange from the wall and light brown from the floor. There's even dark green from that paint box over there. You have to look at the whole picture," she stole a glance at my face of bewilderment, and, sighing, grabbed my paint,stained hand. "Listen, it's not in here," she implored, shaking my captive limb. "It's here." The intensity with which she looked into my eyes was overwhelming.

I returned the gaze emptily. Never had I been so confused…

But over the years I did begin to see. The shades of red and blue in gray concrete, the tints of Phthalo in summer skies, and winter’s Currelean. It was beautiful and illogical. Black was darker with green and red, and white was never white.

I began to study animals. The proportions and fan brush techniques were certainly difficult, but they were the simple part. It was the strategic tints of light and bold color that created life. I would spend hours discovering the exact blue that would make a fish seem on the verge of tears and hours more shaping a deer’s ears to speak of serenity instead of danger.

As I run faster into the heart of art and my love for politics and law, I will learn to see the faces behind each page of cold policy text, the amazing innovation sketched in the tattered Constitution, and the progressiveness living in oak-paneled courts.

In return for probing into previously ignored details, my canvas and paints opened the world. I began to appreciate the pink kiss of ever-evolving sunsets and the even suppression of melancholy. When my father came home from a business trip, it was no longer a matter of simple happiness, but of fatigue and gladness' underlying shades. The personalities who had once seemed so annoyingly arrogant now turned soft with their complexities of doubt and inspiration. Each mundane scene is as deep and varied as the paint needed to capture it.

One day, I will learn to paint people. As I run faster into the heart of art and my love for politics and law, I will learn to see the faces behind each page of cold policy text, the amazing innovation sketched in the tattered Constitution, and the progressiveness living in oak-paneled courts.

It won’t be too far. I know that in a few years I will see a thousand more colors than I do today. Yet the most beautiful part about art is that there is no end. No matter how deep I penetrate its shimmering realms, the enigmatic caverns of wonder will stay.

Professional Review by College Confidential

My favorite college essays begin with one moment in time and end by tying that moment into a larger truth about the world. In this essay, Elizabeth uses this structure masterfully.

This essay is a great example of a create essay. It's real strength, however, lies in showing how the writer pursues her goal despite frustration and grapples with universal questions.

The essay opens with dialogue, placing the reader right in the middle of the action. She shares only the details that make the scene vivid, like the holes in her mixing plate and her teacher’s yawn. She skips backstory and explanations that can bore readers and bog down a short essay. The reader is left feeling as though we are sitting beside her, staring at an empty vase and a set of paints, with no idea how to begin.

The SPARC method of essay writing says that the best college essays show how a student can do one (or more) of these five things: Seize an opportunity, Pursue goals despite obstacles, Ask important questions, take smart Risks, or Create with limited resources. This essay is a great example of a “create” essay. It’s real strength, however, lies in showing how the writer pursues her goal despite frustration and grapples with universal questions.

As the essay transitions from the personal to the universal, her experience painting the vase becomes a metaphor for how she sees the world. Not only has painting helped her appreciate the subtle shades of color in the sunset, it has opened her up to understand that nothing in life is black and white. This parallel works especially well as a way to draw the connection between Elizabeth’s interest in political science and art.

Written by Joy Bullen, Senior Editor at College Confidential

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When I failed math in my sophomore year of high school, a bitter dispute engulfed my household -- “Nicolas Yan vs. Mathematics.” I was the plaintiff, appearing pro se, while my father represented the defendant (inanimate as it was). My brother and sister constituted a rather understaffed jury, and my mother presided over the case as judge.

In a frightening departure from racial stereotype, I charged Mathematics with the capital offences of being “too difficult” and “irrelevant to my aspirations," citing my recent shortcomings in the subject as evi. dence. My father entered a not guilty plea on the defendant's behalf, for he had always harbored hopes that I would follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps -- and who ever heard of a businessman who wasn't an accomplished mathematician? He argued that because I had fallen sick before my examination and had been unable to sit one of the papers, it would be a travesty of justice to blame my "Ungraded” mark on his client. The judge nodded sagely.

With heartrending pathos, I recalled how I had studied A-Level Mathematics with calculus a year before the rest of my cohort, bravely grappling with such perverse concepts as the poisson distribution to no avail. I decried the subject's lack of real-life utility and lamented my inability to reconcile further effort with any plausible success; so that to persist with Mathematics would be a Sisyphean endeavor. Since I had no interest in becoming the entrepreneur that my father envisioned, I petitioned the court for academic refuge in the humanities. The members of the jury exchanged sympathetic glances and put their heads together to deliberate.

Over the next year, however, new evidence that threw the court's initial verdict into question surfaced. Languishing on death row, Mathematics exercised its right to appeal, and so our quasi-court reconvened in the living room.

In hushed tones, they weighed the particulars of the case. Then, my sister announced their unanimous decision with magisterial gravity: "Nicolas shouldn't have to do math if he doesn't want to!" I was ecstatic; my father distraught. With a bang of her metaphorical gavel, the judge sentenced the defendant to "Death by Omission"-- and so I chose my subjects for 11th Grade sans Mathematics. To my father's disappointment, a future in business for me now seemed implausible.

Over the next year, however, new evidence that threw the court's initial verdict into question surfaced. Languishing on death row, Mathematics exercised its right to appeal, and so our quasi-court reconvened in the living room.

My father reiterated his client's innocence, maintaining that Mathematics was neither "irrelevant" nor "too difficult." He proudly recounted how just two months earlier, when my friends had convinced me to join them in creating a business case competition for high school students (clerical note: the loftily-titled New Zealand Secondary Schools Case Competition), I stood in front of the Board of a company and successfully pitched them to sponsor us-- was this not evidence that l could succeed in business? I think I saw a tear roll down his cheek as he implored me to give Mathematics another chance.

I considered the truth of his words. While writing a real-world business case for NZSSCC, l had been struck by how mathematical processes actually made sense when deployed in a practical context, and how numbers could tell a story just as vividly as words can. By reviewing business models and comparing financial projections to actual returns, one can read a company's story and identify areas of potential growth; whether the company then took advantage of these opportunities determined its success. It wasn't that my role in organizing NZSSCC had magically taught me to embrace all things mathematical or commercial -- I was still the same person -- but I recognized that no intellectual constraints prevented me from succeeding in Mathematics; I needed only the courage to seize an opportunity for personal growth.

I stood up and addressed my family: “I’ll do it.” Then, without waiting for the court’s final verdict, I crossed the room to embrace my father: and the rest, as they (seldom) say, was Mathematics.

Professional Review by KEY Education

For some, math concepts such as limits, logarithms, and derivatives can bring about feelings of apprehension or intimidation. So, Nicolas’s college essay reflecting on his personal conflict coming to terms with Mathematics offers a relatable, down-to-earth look at how he eventually came to realize and appreciate the importance of this once-dreaded subject. Not only does Nicolas’s statement use a unique, engaging approach to hook the reader in, but also he draws various connections from Mathematics to his relationship with his family, to his maturation process, and to his extracurricular involvement. A number of factors helped Nicolas’s statement add color to his application file, giving further insight into the person he is.

Nicolas’s choice of Mathematics as the focusing lens is effective for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is genuine and approachable. It is not about some grandiose idea, event, or achievement. Rather, it is about a topic to which many students—and people for that matter—can relate. And from this central theme, Nicolas draws insightful linkages to various aspects of his life. At the outset of his essay, Mathematics is presented as the antagonist, or as Nicolas skillfully portrays, the “defendant”. However, by the end of his piece, and as a demonstration of his growth, Nicolas has come to a resolution with the former defendant.

Adding to the various connections, Nicolas presents his case, literally, in an engaging manner in the form of a court scene, with Nicolas as the plaintiff charging the defendant, Mathematics, with being too difficult and irrelevant to his life.

Through Nicolas’s conflict over Mathematics, we gain a deeper understanding of his relationship with his father and the tension that exists in Nicolas fulfilling his father’s wishes of following in his entrepreneurial footsteps. His father’s initial attempts at reasoning with him are rebuffed, however Nicolas later acknowledges that he “considered the truth of his words” and eventually embraces his father, signifying their coming to a resolution with their shared understanding of each other. Furthermore, Nicolas connects his evolved understanding of Mathematics to his important organizational role in creating the business-focused New Zealand Secondary Schools Case Competition, acknowledging how “mathematical processes actually made sense when deployed in a practical context, and how numbers could tell a story just as vividly as words can.” As he states, “I needed only the courage to seize an opportunity for personal growth,” which he ultimately realizes.

Adding to the various connections, Nicolas presents his case, literally, in an engaging manner in the form of a court scene, with Nicolas as the plaintiff charging the defendant, Mathematics, with being too difficult and irrelevant to his life. Bearing in mind word count limitations, what would have been interesting to explore would be deeper insights into each of the connections that Nicolas drew and how he applied these various lessons to other parts of his life.

Nicolas employs a number of characteristics essential for a successful essay: a theme that allows for deeper introspection, an engaging hook or approach, and a number of linkages between his theme and various aspects of his life, providing insight into who he is and how he thinks.

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Successful Harvard Essay by Abigail Mack

Abigail gained national attention after reading her application essay on TikTok earlier this year, with over 19.9 million views on the first video. Her essay helped her to recieve a rare likely letter in the most competitive Harvard application cycle in history with a less than 4 percent acceptance rate, and now she uses her platform to help other college hopefuls navigate the application process. Watch her read the beginning of her essay here and check out her other writing tips on her TikTok .

I hate the letter S. Of the 164,777 words with S, I only grapple with one.

I hate the letter “S”. Of the 164,777 words with “S”, I only grapple with one. To condemn an entire letter because of its use 0.0006% of the time sounds statistically absurd, but that one case changed 100% of my life. I used to have two parents, but now I have one, and the “S” in “parents” isn’t going anywhere.

“S” follows me. I can’t get through a day without being reminded that while my friends went out to dinner with their parents, I ate with my parent. As I write this essay, there is a blue line under the word “parent” telling me to check my grammar; even Grammarly assumes that I should have parents, but cancer doesn’t listen to edit suggestions. I won’t claim that my situation is as unique as 1 in 164,777, but it is still an exception to the rule - an outlier. The world isn’t meant for this special case.

The world wouldn’t abandon “S” because of me, so I tried to abandon “S”. I could get away from “S” if I stayed busy; you can’t have dinner with your “parent” (thanks again, Grammarly) if you’re too busy to have family dinner. Any spare time that I had, I filled. I became known as the “busy kid”- the one that everyone always asks, “How do you have time?” Morning meetings, classes, after school meetings, volleyball practice, dance class, rehearsal in Boston, homework, sleep, repeat. Though my specific schedule has changed over time, the busyness has not. I couldn’t fill the loss that “S” left in my life, but I could at least make sure I didn’t have to think about it. There were so many things in my life that I couldn’t control, so I controlled what I could- my schedule. I never succumbed to the stress of potentially over-committing. I thrived. It became a challenge to juggle it all, but I’d soon find a rhythm. But rhythm wasn’t what I wanted. Rhythm may not have an “S”, but “S” sure liked to come by when I was idle. So, I added another ball, and another, and another. Soon I noticed that the same “color” balls kept falling into my hands- theater, academics, politics. I began to want to come into contact with these more and more, so I further narrowed the scope of my color wheel and increased the shades of my primary colors.

Life became easier to juggle, but for the first time, I didn’t add another ball. I found my rhythm, and I embraced it. I stopped running away from a single “S” and began chasing a double “S”- passion. Passion has given me purpose. I was shackled to “S” as I tried to escape the confines of the traditional familial structure. No matter how far I ran, “S” stayed behind me because I kept looking back. I’ve finally learned to move forward instead of away, and it is liberating. “S” got me moving, but it hasn’t kept me going.

I wish I could end here, triumphant and basking in my new inspiration, but life is more convoluted. Motivation is a double edged sword; it keeps me facing forward, but it also keeps me from having to look back. I want to claim that I showed courage in being able to turn from “S”, but I cannot. Motivation is what keeps “S” at bay. I am not perfectly healed, but I am perfect at navigating the best way to heal me. I don’t seek out sadness, so “S” must stay on the sidelines, and until I am completely ready, motivation is more than enough for me.

Professional Review by HS2 Academy

There's an honesty here as she reveals to the reader her attempts at filling this void in her life by constantly keeping busy. It's further satisfying to see these attempts at committing to various activities evolve into what she terms a double

Abigail’s essay navigates one of the most delicate sorts of topics in college applications: dealing with personal or family tragedy. Perhaps the most common pitfall is to take a tragic event and effuse it with too much pathos and sense of loss that the narrative fails to reveal much about the author’s own personality other than the loss itself. In short, a “sob story.” However, Abigail’s essay adeptly skirts this by utilizing wit and a framing device using the letter “S” to share a profoundly personal journey in a manner that is engaging and thought-provoking.

Rather than focus purely on the loss of one of her parents to cancer, Abigail reflects on her life and the adjustments she has had to make. It is particularly poignant how she expresses the sense that her life with only one remaining parent seems somehow anomalous, that the constant reminders of the completeness in the familial structures of others haunts her.

What also makes this essay all the more intriguing is how we get a glimpse into her internal life as she learns to cope with the loss. There’s an honesty here as she reveals to the reader her attempts at filling this void in her life by constantly keeping busy. It’s further satisfying to see these attempts at committing to various activities evolve into what she terms a “double S,” or “passion,” as she discovers things that she has become passionate about. Perhaps this essay could have been strengthened further by giving the reader a sense of what those passions might be, as we’re left to speculate based on the activities she had mentioned.

Lastly, we see a sense of realism and maturity in Abigail's closing reflection. It’s easy to end an essay like this with a sense of narrative perfection, but she wisely concedes that “life is more convoluted.” This poignant revelation gives us a window into her continuing struggles, but we are nonetheless left impressed by her growth and candor in this essay.

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I learned the definition of cancer at the age of fourteen. I was taking my chapter 7 biology test when I came upon the last question, “What is cancer?”, to which I answered: “The abnormal, unrestricted growth of cells.” After handing in the test, I moved on to chapter 8, oblivious then to how earth-shattering such a disease could be.

I learned the meaning of cancer two years later. A girl named Kiersten came into my family by way of my oldest brother who had fallen in love with her. I distinctly recall her hair catching the sea breeze as she walked with us along the Jersey shore, a blonde wave in my surrounding family's sea of brunette. Physically, she may have been different, but she redefined what family meant to me. She attended my concerts, went to my award ceremonies, and helped me study for tests. Whenever I needed support, she was there. Little did I know that our roles would be reversed, forever changing my outlook on life.

Kiersten was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 22. Tears and hair fell alike after each of her 20 rounds of chemotherapy as we feared the worst. It was an unbearable tragedy watching someone so vivacious skirt the line between life and death. Her cancer was later classified as refractory, or resistant to treatment. Frustration and despair flooded my mind as I heard this news. And so I prayed. In what universe did this dynamic make any sense? I prayed to God and to even her cancer itself to just leave her alone. Eventually, Kiersten was able to leave the hospital to stay for six weeks at my home.

But the beauty that resulted from sympathizing as opposed to analyzing and putting aside my own worries and troubles for someone else was an enormous epiphany for me. My problems dissipated into thin air the moment I came home and dropped my books and bags to talk with Kiersten. The more I talked, laughed, smiled, and shared memories with her, the more I began to realize all that she taught me.

My family and I transformed the house into an antimicrobial sanctuary, protecting Kiersten from any outside illness. I watched TV with her, baked cookies for her, and observed her persistence as she regained strength and achieved remission. We beat biology, time, and death, all at the same time, with cookies, TV, and friendship. Yet I was so concerned with helping Kiersten that I had not realized how she helped me during her battle with cancer.

I had been so used to solving my problems intellectually that when it came time to emotionally support someone, I was afraid. I could define cancer, but what do I say to someone with it? There were days where I did not think I could be optimistic in the face of such adversity. But the beauty that resulted from sympathizing as opposed to analyzing and putting aside my own worries and troubles for someone else was an enormous epiphany for me. My problems dissipated into thin air the moment I came home and dropped my books and bags to talk with Kiersten. The more I talked, laughed, smiled, and shared memories with her, the more I began to realize all that she taught me. She influenced me in the fact that she demonstrated the power of loyalty, companionship, and optimism in the face of desperate, life-threatening situations. She showed me the importance of loving to live and living to love. Most of all, she gave me the insight necessary to fully help others not just with intellect and preparation, but with solidarity and compassion. In this way, I became able to help myself and others with not only my brain, but with my heart. And that, in the words of Robert Frost, “has made all the difference.”

Professional Review by collegeMission

Nikolas is candid, writing about how he could solve problems intellectually, but struggled to cope emotionally during Kiersten's diagnosis and treatment. Ultimately, he finds his way and gains a deeper perspective on life, and thus shares a story of overcoming and of complex intellectual and emotional growth.

Nikolas uses an unexpected approach in this essay, sharing a story of someone else’s struggle, as he highlights change within himself. The emotions and connection that he felt for Kiersten, his older brother’s girlfriend, are quite powerful, as is his recognition of his own attempt to navigate his way through the experience. Nikolas is candid, writing about how he could solve problems intellectually, but struggled to cope emotionally during Kiersten’s diagnosis and treatment. Ultimately, he finds his way and gains a deeper perspective on life, and thus shares a story of overcoming and of complex intellectual and emotional growth.

Nikolas’ use of imagery is terrific. We first see it in the essay when he describes one of his first impressions of Kiersten, with her blonde hair flowing in the wind by the Jersey Shore and how that contrasted with the dark hair of his family. That description then flows as we read the next paragraph, where he talks about the impact of her cancer. “Tears and hair fell alike after each of her 20 rounds of chemotherapy as we feared the worst.” Instead of explicitly sharing everyone’s heartbreak, through details that heartbreak becomes so very evident.

One missing piece here is an explanation of why Kiersten stayed with Nikolas’ family rather than returning home to her own family. Maybe a quick explanation would have helped the reader make sense of her location, and create an even stronger linkage with Nikolas and his family. Additionally, Nikolas might have taken one more step toward the end of the essay to connect this newfound emotion to other parts of his life. The final paragraph feels slightly repetitive, and a compelling route could have been to show how he went on to embrace the idea of “loving to live and living to love.” Nonetheless, Nikolas reveals that he is capable of growing through adversity, a character trait that this admissions committee clearly appreciated.

What a Year! Photo Essay Captures an Extraordinary 2021

From remote learning to the return to campus life this fall, a year unlike any other in BU history

Bu today staff.

Before we get too far into 2022, we wanted to take a look back at 2021. It was a remarkable year by any measure, overshadowed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which by December had claimed more than 800,000 lives in the United States.

2021 marked year two of mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing on BU’s campuses, but also heralded the arrival of coronavirus vaccines and boosters. And it was a year that saw not one, but two Commencement ceremonies: the first, in May, for the Class of 2021 without family members or guests present, and another in October for the Class of 2020, whose ceremony was delayed 17 months because of the pandemic.

This photo essay from BU Today photographers Janice Checchio, Jackie Ricciardi, and Cydney Scott, and others, captures how the year played out on campus, tracing the transition from remote learning to the resumption of residential life, live performances, and fans in the bleachers.

Below, take a look back chronologically at an unforgettable year.

Photo of Ayush Kadakia (ENG’24) towing a yellow cart as he brings his things to move back into his West Campus dorm on January 21, 2021. He wears a black coat and face mask as snow gathers on the sidewalk.

Ayush Kadakia (ENG’24) moves back into his West Campus digs for the spring 2021 semester on January 21. The weather was anything but springlike. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo taken from the catwalk of the Metcalf Ballroom as Professor Igor Lukes teaches in a blue button down and khakis at the front of rows of students spaced 6 feet apart. A camera is set up and Lukes is seen on a projector behind him. Everyone wears face masks.

Instead of its usual role of hosting large University gatherings, such as celebrations and appearances by well-known speakers, on January 25, the Metcalf Ballroom was the site of the semester’s first History of International Relations Since 1945 class, taught by Igor Lukes, a CAS professor of history and international relations. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

Photo of Senior F Jesse Compher (SHA), Freshman F Clare O'Leary (CAS), Junior F Mackenna Parker (CAS), Junior F Kaleigh Donnelly (CAS) on ice in their hockey uniforms with colorful stripped masks in honor of the Pride Week Celebration put on by BU Athletics.

BU Athletics annual Pride Week Celebration supporting the LBGTQIA+ community was held January 31 through February 6, with various panels and events hosted via Zoom by Athlete Ally, the Athletics student-led organization that fosters an inclusive environment for LGBTQIA+ student-athletes and allies. The women’s hockey Terriers—among them Jesse Compher (SHA’21) (from left), Clare O’Leary (CAS’24), Mackenna Parker (CAS’22), and Kaleigh Donnelly (CAS’22)—wore rainbow masks to show support before their February 5 game against Merrimack. Photo courtesy of Patrick Donnelly

Photo of Laith Hijazi (QST’23) with his lips pursed as he stretched back to throw a water polo ball to one of his teammates on his club team at FitRec January 21. A huge splash of water is seen to his right and behind him, and the red and white floating lane dividers of the pool are seen in the background.

When club sports started back up at FitRec in February, there was much rejoicing. Water polo club members, among them Laith Hijazi (CGS’21), on February 21 follow University-approved health and safety protocols, including distancing during practice, but are able to go mask-free while in the water. Photo by Cydney Scott

Aerial photo of the COM Lawn at a slight angle. The intersection of two cement paths is seen in the top left of the image, and the rest of the space is green and filled with people sitting on Adirondack chairs. A few people walk down the sidewalk on the right.

A cross? A lowercase “t”? No, it’s the COM Lawn, viewed from the Kilachand Center top floor, with some additions—Adirondack chairs placed around campus by the University so everyone can enjoy the much-anticipated, much-longed-for spring weather (while social distancing) on March 23. Photo by Cydney Scott

Composite image, with a photo of Reggie Jean in a red shirt holding a city of Boston proclamation on the left, and on the right, a copy of that proclamation. The document on the right reads: “The City of Boston,” above the gold Boston City seal. Below, it says “Proclamation” and reads “Whereas, Upward Bound at Boston University is a federal TRIO educational opportunity program that addresses the social, economic and cultural barriers to higher education in Boston. Today, we recognize the hundreds of past participants of Upward Bound at Boston University who are often the first members of their family to enroll in and graduate from college, that made higher education a reality; AND, whereas,

On April 10, Boston University Upward Bound, a federally funded TRIO Program providing outreach and student services to low-income and first-generation college students from Boston Public Schools, celebrated its 30th anniversary. Former Upward Bound student William Onuoha, executive director of Boston’s Office of Fair Housing and Equity, read a proclamation from Boston Mayor Kim Janey declaring April 10 Upward Bound Day. The proclamation recognizes “30 years of collective work of helping students access educational opportunity and [celebrates] being part of this family,” said Upward Bound director Reggie Jean (CAS’95, Wheelock’04) (holding proclamation). Photo courtesy of Wheelock College

Photo of the BU women’s tennis team hoisting up the trophy as a group after winning the championship match. The women wear red bows and visors and have face masks on. The trophy is silver and sits in a wooden base with plaques on it.

The BU women’s tennis team won their fifth Patriot League championship in eight seasons on Sunday, May 2, beating Navy 4-3 and earning them a spot in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Photo courtesy of BU Athletics

Photo of Yuqing Wu (COM’23), in a black Snoopy t-shirt, getting his vaccine from Kristin Lopes, registered nurse, in bright pink scrubs with a floral pattern, at the Moderna vaccine clinic at FitRec May 4. Both people wear masks.

Yuqing Wu (COM’23) receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot from Healthway RN Kristin Lopes at FitRec May 4. Boston Medical Center had provided the University with several thousand doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for BU students, faculty, and staff needing their first or second shot. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo of Julia Lee (SAR’22), right, and Jack Gardiner (SAR’22) sitting under the lights on BU Beach in Adirondack chairs and working on their laptops.

Whole lotta studyin’ goin’ on: Jack Gardiner (Sargent’22) (left) and Julia Lee (Sargent’22) are among the finals-minded Terriers working on the BU Beach outdoor village April 20. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo of Mrinal Ghosh (ENG’21) with his arms and legs extended as Camden Kronhaus (ENG’21) holds him up over the seal in Marsh Plaza May 11. They both wear suits and their caps and gowns and smile.

Seniors Camden Kronhaus (ENG’21) (standing) and Mrinal Ghosh (ENG’21) having fun on the BU seal on Marsh Plaza, May 11, ahead of their Commencement. Photo by Cydney Scott

Students celebrate on Nickerson Field after commencement by throwing their caps in the air

As BU graduates do every year, the 2021 grads participated in a more than century-old tradition at the 148th Commencement on Nickerson Field, May 16. But, in an effort to provide adequate social distancing, the ceremony was broken into two separate events: one for graduate students in the morning, and one for undergraduates (above) in the afternoon. And families and friends were unable to attend due to the pandemic. Photo by Cydney Scott

Seniors Camden Kronhaus (ENG’21) (standing) and Mrinal Ghosh (ENG’21) having fun on the BU seal on Marsh Plaza, May 11, ahead of their Commencement. As BU graduates do every year, the 2021 grads participated in a more than century-old tradition at the 148th Commencement on Nickerson Field, May 16. But, in an effort to provide adequate social distancing, the ceremony was broken into two separate events: one for graduate students in the morning, and one for undergraduates (above) in the afternoon. And families and friends were unable to attend due to the pandemic. Photos by Cydney Scott

Aerial photo of a bunch of hands reaching in towards the middle of a group of plant pots as students plant kale and spinach seedlings.

On June 13, a Campus Climate Lab team installed an herb garden on the Warren Towers fourth floor patio, with the intention of creating a living-learning lab for students to better understand the importance of urban gardening. Sidney Hare (CAS’22), who has worked on the idea for some time, and nine other students brought in crates, dirt, herbs, and flowers and got to work. Photo by Lauren Richards (COM’22)

Anna Hohler, Harrison Bane, James Terwilliger, Karen Antman, Sanjay Shetty, and Frank Pomposelli cut a ribbon at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center sympbolizing the start of a 5 year agreement adding St. Elizabeth's as a training hospital for the Boston University School of Medicine.

Celebrating a partnership: On July 12, Boston University and Steward Health Care’s St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (SEMC) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the new five-year affiliation between BU and SEMC, which went into effect July 1. Helping to wield the scissors: Anna Hohler, SEMC chair of neurology (from left); Harrison Bane, president of Steward Health Care North Region; James Terwilliger, SEMC president; Karen Antman, MED dean and Medical Campus provost; Sanjay Shetty, Steward North America president; and Frank Pomposelli, SEMC chair of surgery. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo of BU School of Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony on the Talbot Green August 2. In the front row, Austen Mauch, from left, Nisha Mathur, Saaz Mantri, Avni Madhani, and Kendra Lujan stand and receive their white coats. Behind them, staff and/or others receiving their coats are seen. They stand underneath a white tent on a stage on Talbot green.

Members of BU School of Medicine’s Class of 2025, Austen Mauch (from left), Nisha Mathur, Saaz Mantri, Avni Madhani, and Kendra Lujan, embark on their medical careers at MED’s annual White Coat Ceremony on Talbot Green, August 2. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo of students rolling bright yellow moving bins in opposite directions along Commonwealth Ave on Transition Day Move in on campus August 16, 2021.

An annual sight: students rolling yellow bins up and down Comm Ave during Move-In. August 16 presaged the return of a fully occupied campus, albeit with pandemic-necessitated safety protocols in place. Photo by Cydney Scott

Members of the Boston University Class of 2025 walk past Marsh Chapel on Commonwealth Ave towards their Matriculation Ceremony at Agganis Arena.

The BU Class of 2025 Matriculation procession, August 29: In a long-standing tradition, incoming class members march to their welcome and initiation ceremony. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

Photo of Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, wearing a dress and a face mask, giving an elbow bump to a student on stage, during the Menino Scholars and Community Service Awards event, held August 31, 2021 at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. President Brown is seen at left in a black face mask.

BU’s ceremony honoring 2021’s 27 Thomas M. Menino Scholars and 57 BU Community Service Award scholarship recipients, all graduates of Boston Public Schools (BPS), was held August 31 at the Questrom School of Business. Robert A. Brown (left), BU president, Brenda Cassellius (center), BPS superintendent, and 2018 Menino Scholar Jami Huang (CAS’22) spoke at the ceremony. Bumping elbows with Cassellius is 2021 recipient and Boston Latin School grad Christian Badawi (CAS’25). Photo by Jake Belcher

Photo of Yan Huang QST'22 and Zitong Zhao QST'22 holding their lobsters before eating them. They are sitting in Marciano Commons and there are a few bowls on the table.

What’s a sure sign of a new BU school year? Correct—it’s Lobster Night! The annual event has become a wildly popular tradition. Yan Huang (Questrom’22) (left) and Zitong Zhao (Questrom’22) enjoyed their lobsters at Marciano September 9. Photo by Lauren Richards (COM’22)

Photo of Maria Erb, Director of the Newbury Center, takes to the podium during the grand opening and open house at the Newbury Center September 3 in Marsh Plaza. In the foreground, two students student, one has a red t-shirt on, other people sit to the right of the podium.

The Newbury Center, BU’s support hub for first-generation students—undergrad, grad, and nontraditional—held a grand opening and open house for the BU community on September 3. Maria Dykema Erb, center director (at podium), welcomed guests on Marsh Plaza. Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer, and Crystal Williams, former vice president and associate provost for community and inclusion, were among the speakers. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo of Veronica Robles, dressed in a red mariachi outfit with gold trim, and a wide brimmed red sombrero singing joyfully into a microphone and holding a 5 string acoustic guitar. Other members of the band, dress in black, and holding horns, are seen behind her.

The all-female Veronica Robles Mariachi Quartet was among the vibrant performers at the fourth annual BU Global Music Festival on September 18. Because of COVID, the performances were outdoors, at the BU Beach and on Marsh Plaza—“a silver lining” to the event, according to CFA’s Marié Abe, festival artistic director. Photo by David Green

Photo of Teddy Heinrich, wearing a blue helmet and holding his bike, while Tristan Djaafar, crouching, in black, fixes something near his wheel. Another person holding their bike is seen in the left foreground. They appear to be on Marsh Plaza.

Teddy Heinrich, a BU Environmental Health & Safety senior specialist, takes advantage of one of the many free offerings at the September 23 Sustainability Festival on Marsh Plaza: a bike safety check from Tristan Djaafar of CommonWheels, a do-it-yourself community bike organization. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

At left, Onlookers including President Robert A Brown, from right, Provost Jean Morrison, and Azer Bestaveros watch as the final beam is put into place during the Topping Off ceremony at the Data Sciences Building September 30. At right, .Covered in signatures, the final beam is put into place during the Topping Off ceremony. A large beam is guided into place by two construction workers on top of the building. The sky is grayish blue.

The final beam for the Center for Computing & Data Sciences building on Comm Ave was put in place September 30. After a lunch on the COM Lawn for about 350 people, who were able to sign the beam, it was moved to the project site to be hoisted. Among those at the momentous occasion: Robert A. Brown, BU president (from right to left), Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer, and Azer Bestavros, associate provost for computing and data sciences. In the photo at right, the final beam, covered in signatures, is in place. The event celebrated the “topping-off” tradition milestone and was a thank-you to the workers. Photos by Cydney Scott

Phoo of white streamers filling the air over graduates at the 2020 Commencement ceremony. The Jumbotron reads "congratulations graduates!" in the background.

A history-making Commencement: on Sunday, October (not May) 3, the BU Class of 2020, and the University, celebrated a pandemic-postponed graduation ceremony on Nickerson Field. The exuberant grads were unfazed by a bit of afternoon drizzle. Photo by Janice Checchio

Photo of Ethan Wang on stage with his dad Willis. They are both dressed in graduation caps and gowns, and wear red face mask. Ethan uses his walker on stage; in the walker’s pocket is his red diploma.

When Ethan Wang left for a BU Study Abroad semester in Sydney in 2019, it was with anticipation and excitement. A few weeks later, a surfing accident made it look like he would never walk again. But with grit, determination, his family’s support and encouragement, and the best medical care in Singapore and Boston, Wang (CAS’20) (front right) on October 2 walked across the stage at the Class of 2020 College of Arts & Sciences Recognition Event, and was handed his diploma by his father, Willis Wang, BU vice president and associate provost for global programs. The event was held in Agganis Arena as part of BU’s historic delayed 2020 Commencement. Photo by Cydney Scott

Photo of Jane Stabb (WFT Founder) hugging another alumn. She smiles wide and has white hair.

On October 2, Wheelock Family Theatre celebrated four decades of entertaining families with a 40th Family Reunion held on the Fenway Campus green. Billed as “part picnic, part performance, part creative playground,” the reunion included performances from past productions. Actor, director, and composer Jane Staab (center), a theater cofounder and co–artistic director for 33 years, was among the celebrants. Photo by Michael D. Spencer

Photo of Pass and Review on Nickerson Field. From left to right, Commander Cadet Nathan Tadigiri, Rifleman- Cadet Kenneth Ziniti (Army), National Colors- Cadet Salem Adda-Berkane, Army Colors- Cadet Joseph Carey, Navy Colors- MIDN Sasha Wong Marine Corps, Colors-MIDN Ian Benitez-Rio Air Force Colors, Cadet Jacob Bresnahan Rifleman, Cadet Ju Young Kang (Army). They each wear camouflage uniforms and hold flags and rifles. Behind them, a larger group of ROTC members are seen.

Boston University’s 39th annual Joint Service Pass-in-Review was held on Nickerson Field October 23. Each year, cadets from BU’s Division of Military Education Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps ROTC programs, consisting of cadets from several area schools, join together for the ceremony, one of the Army’s long-standing traditions. Pictured above: Color Guard Commander Cadet Nathan Tadigiri of UMass Boston (from left), Cadet Kenneth Ziniti (Questrom’24), Cadet Salem Adda-Berkane (CAS’23, ENG’23), Cadet Joseph Carey (CGS’22), Midshipman Sasha Wong, Midshipman Ian Benitez-Rio, Cadet Jacob Bresnahan, and Cadet Ju Young Kang (Questrom’24). Photo by Chris McIntosh

Photo taken during a Memorial for former BU president Jon Westling on Wednesday at March Chapel. At the podium at left, Westling's son Matthew Westling reads "Invective Against Swans," a poem by Wallace Stevens. Behind him, sits Reverend Hill. A photo of Westling leans against the altar at right. The heads of a few people sitting in the first pew are seen.

A memorial service for BU President Emeritus Jon Westling (Hon.’03), BU’s eighth president, was held at Marsh Chapel on October 27. Westling came to the University in 1974 and his career at BU spanned 46 years and included several top leadership posts. His son, Matthew Westling (CGS’04, CAS’06), read the Wallace Stevens poem, “Invective against Swans,” during the service. Photo by Jacob Chang-Rascle (COM’22)

Photo of, from left to right, Albie O’Connell (CAS’99), current men’s hockey head coach; Jack Parker (Questrom’68, Hon.’97), former head coach; and Travis’s parents, Brenda and Lee at a memorial in the Agganis Arena for Travis Roy. The group stands at the edge of the ice, with a Travis Roy jersey hanging above them. Behind them, people sit in the stands.

After Travis Roy was paralyzed from the neck down in his first BU hockey game in 1995, he went on to establish the Travis Roy Foundation, which helps those with similar injuries and has donated millions in grants for spinal cord research. On October 29, the one-year anniversary of his death, BU honored Roy (COM’00, Hon.’16) at Agganis Arena. Pictured are: Albie O’Connell (CAS’99), men’s hockey head coach (from left); Jack Parker (Questrom’68, Hon.’97), former head coach; Roy’s parents, Brenda and Lee; Jay Pandolfo (CAS’96), associate head coach; and Drew Marrochello, assistant vice president and athletics director. Photo by Chris Lyons

Photo of Donovan Black (CFA 22), a young, tall, Black man, wearing a gray t-shirt and shoes similar to ballet slippers, while rehearsing for Colossal. He kneels center stage and puts his hand on the ground.

A scene from Colossal , a movement-heavy piece following a star college football player in the wake of a spinal cord injury, tackles themes of love, ability, masculinity, and how we use our bodies to communicate along the way. The piece was part of CFA’s annual Fringe Festival. Rehearsing (above): Donovan Black (CFA’22). Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

Photo of a group of MBTA officials dressed in dark suits and/or formal attire and wearing dark masks as they cut a green ribbon. They stand on the green line track and blue sky is seen behind them. From left to right: Andres Achury – GLT Senior Director Desiree Patrice – Deputy Chief, Angel Peña MBTA Chief Capital Transformation Steve Poftak – MBTA General Manager Kenneth Green – Chief Transit Police Derek Howe – BU Senior Vice President of Operations Shauna Connelly—GLT Senior Project Coordinator. Photo by Janice Checchio

MBTA Green Line B Branch’s Amory Street Station Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony, November 16: Andres Achury, senior director, project, Green Line Transformation (GLT) (from left); Desiree Patrice, GLT senior director, project; Angel Peña, chief of capital transformation programs; Steve Poftak, MBTA general manager; Kenneth Green, chief, MBTA Transit Police; Derek Howe, BU senior vice president of operations; and Shauna Connelly, GLT senior project coordinator. Photo by Janice Checchio

Kaiden Kane (Sargent’21) and treasurer for the Trans Listening Circle, placed trans flags in remembrance of those 375 LGBTQIA+ people reported murdered internationally within the last year. The group placed 400 flags on Alpert Mall, Friday, November 19, 2021 for Transgender Day of Remembrance on Saturday, November 20th. Photo by Jake Belcher

Trans Listening Circle treasurer Kaiden Kane (Sargent’21) (center) and circle members placed 400 trans flags on Alpert Mall (aka the BU Beach) November 19 in remembrance of the 375 transgender people reported murdered internationally within the last year. They did so in observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, held annually on November 20. Photo by Jake Belcher

Photo of Rabbi Shmuel Posner lighting a large menorah outside the GSU Dec 1, the fourth night of Hanukkah. He has a long gray beard and a black hat, and dark blue sky is seen behind him.

Rabbi Shmuel Posner of Chabad House of Greater Boston lights the menorah outside the George Sherman Union during the fourth night of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, on December 1. Photo by Cydney Scott

Two dancers pose against a red/orange background on a stage

The 20th Aurora Borealis: A Festival of Light and Dance was performed at the BU Dance Theater December 6, presented by the CFA School of Theatre and the Department of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. The annual event features dance and movement pieces by faculty and students in a vibrant exploration of the relationship between light and form. Photo by Jacob Chang-Rascle (COM’22)

Photo of the 48th Service of Lessons & Carols on Friday, December 10, 2021 at Marsh Chapel. The chorus leader stands behind an altar covered with purple close and directs the rows of singers dressed in red robes and holding song books. In the foreground, the backs of peoples' heads in the audience are seen.

Another revered and much-anticipated University tradition was held in person on December 10: Marsh Chapel’s 48th annual Service of Christmas Lessons and Carols. The liturgy, based on the University of Cambridge King’s College iconic century-old Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, included a selection of Christmas carols, motets, and anthems. Photo by Jake Belcher

BU soccer player, Claire Orson (Questrom 22) reads books to students at Blackstone Elementary School on Monday, December 13, 2021. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi for Boston University

Each year around the holidays, Terrier student-athletes visit Boston public elementary schools to read to students and give them a book. BU soccer player Claire Orson (Questrom’22) and several fellow athletes were able to visit in person this year on December 13, much to the enjoyment of Blackstone School students. Last year’s visit had to be virtual because of the pandemic. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

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Happy New Year 2021: Wishes, Greetings, Messages, Images, Pics To Share

New year 2021: a new year's greeting card or message is the perfect way to let your near and dear ones know that you are thinking of them..

Happy New Year 2021: Here are some messages and wishes you can share on New Year's Day

New Year 2021 is almost knocking on the door - and the world is ready to welcome it with open arms. All across the world, people are looking forward to welcoming 2021 and bidding goodbye to the challenging year that was 2020. The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to look forward to new beginnings and this time, more than ever, the hope is that 2021 will bring health and prosperity to all. The countdown to end this rollercoaster of a year has already begun, and now is the time to remember friends and acquaintances with a thoughtful Happy New Year greeting.

A New Year's greeting card or message is the perfect way to let your near and dear ones know that you are thinking of them.

Here are some Happy New Year 2021 wishes, greetings, messages, images and quotes that you can share with your friends and family:

I hope that 2021 multiplies your joys and divides your sorrows. Happy New Year 2021!

For this new year, my hope is that you and yours remain healthy, happy and safe.

May the coming year bless you with prosperity May it bring good luck to you and your loved ones Happy New Year 2021

2020 has been a mad year but I am so grateful I had you by my side throughout.

Happy New Year 2021

Happy New Year to the person who made this year better by being in it.

May you find great success and happiness in this new year. Happy New Year 2021 to you and your loved ones.

In a challenging year, you stood by me like a rock I hope I can do the same for you in 2021 Happy New Year!

Every winter brings the promise of spring in a new year full of opportunities.

May you hold your loved ones close in 2021

This year, I hope you embrace all that life has to offer, conquer your fears and reach new heights. Wish you a wonderful year ahead.

As this year ends, I count my blessings and wish you more. Happy New Year, my dearest friend.

I hope 2021 brings for you good health, happiness and lots of food!

Here's hoping that 2021 sparkles!

Cheers to a new year!

Here's to another year of laughing without reason and making beautiful memories. Happy New Year 2021!

Sending good vibes your way this new year's day!

As we bid farewell to 2020, Let us remember the good times along with the bad And pray for sunnier days in 2021 Happy New Year

Hope this year is filled with love, laughter and light.

May 2021 bring you success and good health. Happy New Year

Share a New Year greeting with a friend

Thank you for being with me every step of the way in 2020. I hope the next years brings you only good luck and great joy.

Have a wonderful New Year surrounded by those who mean the world to you.

In the pandemic year, your presence was a ray of hope Thank you for being a part of my life

I am so proud of all that you have achieved this year May the coming year bring more success your way Happy New Year

In 2021, may your days be filled with laughter And your life with happiness That's my wish for you as we bid goodbye to 2020

I hope that 2021 is a year of personal growth for you I hope you find inner peace and things that spark joy

2021 should be a time to rejoice in hope for a better future I hope this year brings you unlimited happiness and prosperity

Happy New Year 2021, have a good one!

Remembering all the good times we shared in 2020 and thinking of you fondly Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2021: Send a new year wish to a loved one

Here's hoping that dreams and big and bills are small in 2021

As we step into another year, I'd like to thank you for all your support and encouragement. I hope 2021 brings better days for all of us.

May success knock on your door this year May all your joys multiply May you find joy and love and light In this new year 2021

Each year I spend with you is the best one yet! Here's to making more memories in 2021

I hope this year takes you to success and the path is filled with happiness and laughter

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Wipe the slate of 2020 clean and start afresh this new year. Revel in new joys and let go of past regrets.

We may not be able to spend New Year's Eve together this time But my thoughts and well wishes are with you

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NPR Editor Speaks Out: How National Public Radio Lost Americans' Trust Honestly with Bari Weiss

Society & Culture

Uri Berliner is a senior business editor at NPR. In his 25 years with NPR, his work has been recognized with a Peabody Award, a Gerald Loeb Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and a Society of Professional Journalists New America Award, among others. Today, we published in The Free Press his firsthand account of the transformation he has witnessed at National Public Radio. Or, as Uri puts it, how it went from an organization that had an “open-minded, curious culture” with a “liberal bent” to one that is “knee-jerk, activist, scolding,” and “rigidly progressive.” Uri describes a newsroom that aimed less to cover Donald Trump but instead veered towards efforts to topple him; a newsroom that reported the Russia collusion story without enough skepticism or fairness, and then later largely ignored the fact that the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion; a newsroom that purposefully ignored the Hunter Biden laptop story—in fact, one of his fellow NPR journalists approved of ignoring the laptop story because “covering it could help Trump.” A newsroom that put political ideology before journalism in its coverage of Covid-19. And, he describes a newsroom where race and identity became paramount in every aspect of the workplace and diversity became its north star. In other words, NPR is not considering all things anymore. On today’s episode: How did NPR lose its way? Why did it change? And why does this lone journalist feel obligated to speak out? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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My Dreams and Expectations in New Year | Free Essay Examples

In this article, you will read about the dreams and expectations of people of various age groups in the new year. You can add what you expect from the coming new year after the stressful 2021 and what is your new year 2022 resolution.

My New Year Resolution Essay -1

Hello readers, I am a blogger and a housewife. It has been just a year since I started my blogging journey, it all started during lockdown 2020. I feel last year was fortunate for me as I got time and guts to follow my passion. In the year 2022, I am planning to enrol myself on a content writing course to polish my writing skills. I want to go deeper into the field of blogging. It will have a dual effect on my life- it would enable me to earn my first income and expand my knowledge horizon too. Besides my professional life, I have some expectations for my family life which can’t take a back seat. I dream that my children would excel in their respective fields of study. I expect my husband, a businessman, to eat on time, take care of his health, and keep his weight under control. If God is kind enough to shower more earnings on us, we would plan a family trip with that money. I would conclude this essay before I sound boring to you. In the end, I would pray to God to save all the earthlings from evils and diseases. Any of us do not want to face any epidemic or pandemic for the coming years of our life.

My New Year Resolution Essay- 2

Last year my cousin told me about the new year resolution. It fascinated me so much that I had decided in my mind that I would also make a resolution on the 1st of January 2022. So, here comes my new year resolution in front of you. Resolution is a promise that we make to ourselves to change, improve, or quit any bad habit or learn something new within a preset time frame.

My New Year 2022 resolution is about improving the English language. In my previous class, I got only 50% marks in English. This year I will try my best to take it to at least 75%. I am not saying 95% or 100% because that will make it unachievable. My cousin told me that one should always make practical resolutions.

To fulfil my resolution I searched for certain websites and YouTube channels that teach the English language for class 10th. I found Homework Help by RG to be the best suitable channel for me and I subscribed to it. I did so because here the teacher is teaching English in the Hindi language which I can understand easily. Moreover, she explains even the minute details of common errors that students make in English writing.

My second resolution is to make myself healthy. Last year my annual health checkup report showed that I was low in haemoglobin (HB). It made my parents angry with me. The doctor warned me that skipping fruits and vegetables from our daily diet can have disastrous consequences.

I have got a customised diet plan from the doctor in which he has advised me to eat 2 servings of fruits every day which I would try to follow. For the first one month, I would start with one serving. Gradually when I get into the habit of eating fruits, I would shift to two servings in a day.

I am hopeful of fulfilling my resolutions positively. I feel like everyone should resolve them. A new year is a perfect time to resolve. I wind up here and aspire to achieve my resolution in the year 2022.

Happy New Year 2022!! What are your expectations from 2022? Do let us know of your new year 2022 resolution by commenting below.

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NPR whistleblower Uri Berliner claims colleagues ‘confidentially’ agree with him about broadcaster’s hard-left bias

T he veteran National Public Radio journalist who blew the whistle on the broadcaster’s overt liberal bias said that he has heard from colleagues who secretly agree with him but can’t go public with their criticisms.

Uri Berliner, an award-winning business editor and reporter during his 25-year career at NPR, said his essay in Bari Weiss’ online news site The Free Press generated “a lot of support from colleagues, and many of them unexpected, who say they agree with me.”

“Some of them say this confidentially,” Berliner told NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.

Berliner said that he wrote the essay partly because “we’ve been too reluctant, too frightened to, too timid to deal with these things.”

“And I think that this is, this is the right opportunity to bring it all out in the open.”

In the essay — titled “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust” — Berliner said that among editorial staff at NPR’s Washington, DC, headquarters, he counted 87 registered Democrats and no Republicans.

He wrote that he presented these findings to his colleagues at a May 2021 all-hands editorial staff meeting.

“When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile,” Berliner wrote.

“It was worse.”

Berliner wrote that his colleagues reacted with “profound indifference.”

“I got a few messages from surprised, curious colleagues,” he wrote. “But the messages were of the ‘oh wow, that’s weird’ variety, as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star.”

Berliner accused his bosses at NPR of allowing their pro-Democrat political leanings to seep into editorial judgments, including its decision to turn a blind eye to the Hunter Biden laptop story.

The Post was the first to report on the existence of the laptop , which contained emails that shed light on Hunter Biden’s business relationships overseas.

Former national security officials opposed to Trump signed a letter claiming that the laptop story was the product of Russian disinformation. Still, independent investigators and the FBI later confirmed that the emails and the contents of the computer were authentic — confirming The Post’s reporting.

According to Berliner, senior editors at NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden story for fear that it would help Trump’s re-election chances just weeks before voters cast their ballots in the fall of 2020.

He wrote that NPR had skewed so far to the left that it played up Russia collusion allegations against Donald Trump while giving scant attention to the findings by special counsel Robert Mueller, who recommended no criminal charges against the Trump campaign.

When asked by Cuomo if he fears for his job given the fact that he’s a “white guy” who’s “not 18 [years old],” Berliner said: “I’m not worried.”

“I think people want open dialogue…[and] honest debates,” Berliner told Cuomo. “There’s a hunger for this. Most people are not locked into ideologies, and I think many people are just sick of it.”

Berliner said that while NPR reporters were always liberal, it was never as evident in their work as it has been in recent years.

“We were kind of nerdy and really liked to dig into things and understand the complexity of things, I think, that’s evolved over the years into a much narrower kind of niche thinking,” he told Cuomo.

Berline said that NPR has been plagued by “a group think that’s really clustered around very selective, progressive views that don’t allow enough air enough, enough spaciousness to consider all kinds of perspectives.”

Berliner’s bosses responded to the claims of bias, saying they “strongly disagree” with his take that NPR suffered from “the absence of viewpoint diversity.”

“We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories,” NPR’s chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote to employees.

Chapin wrote that “none of our work is above scrutiny or critique.”

“We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole,” she told employees in a memo.

A spokesperson for NPR said the agency would have no further comment.

When asked by Cuomo about management’s memo, Berliner said he was “not surprised” by the response, which came from “the same managers that I’ve been making a lot of these points about.”

NPR whistleblower Uri Berliner claims colleagues ‘confidentially’ agree with him about broadcaster’s hard-left bias

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Uri Berliner, an award-winning business editor and reporter during his 25-year career at NPR, said his essay in Bari Weiss' online news site The Free Press generated "a lot of support from ...