It was late February when I received my rejection letter in the mail.
I didn't know how to react.Over the time that I wrote my essay, applied and waited for a response I became more and more sure that I would be accepted to the Legislative Page Program; I got my hopes up.
Because I did that to myself, when I got the letter in the mail telling me that I was not chosen to serve as a Page, I was crushed.
So I made an oath to myself: I would get accepted. I had two more chances to apply, and I was going to take them and get into the program.
But to apply again, I needed to write a new essay.
I figured the best way to write a better essay, would be to learn from my mistakes.
So here is my list of ways not to write an essay.
- Be Passive; In my first essay, I often say 'If I were to get into the Page Program...' etc. When I was writing my second (and successful) essay, I made sure not to do this. Instead, I wrote in the active tense; "When I get accepted to the Legislative Page Program...' and so forth. And guess what? I did get accepted.
- Use false information; I actually didn't realized that until recently, but my first essay had some factual mistakes. My biggest error was probably when I stated that in the Legislature of Ontario there are 308 seats. In truth, there are 107 Ridings in Ontario, and therefore 107 seats.
- Be Partisan; The act of being partisan, or choosing a group/party over another is an extremely important thing to avoid if you are planning on applying to the Legislative Page Program. I can't even express how vital it is for the staff working in the Legislature of Ontario to be partisan; the Legislative Page Program Coordinator (A.K.A. My teacher while I am serving my duty) explained to me that she even had to sign a contract that swore she would be non-partisan. In my essay, I wrote something that may have been misinterpreted by the Legislative Page Program team as a political statement. I was explaining about my chances to be accepted, and I was referring to the other applicants and I as different coloured jellybeans in a jar. Unintentionally, the colours I chose in my essay are colours that represent two of the political parties in Ontario.
Hi Daniella,
ReplyDeleteI am a girl applying to the page program this year.
I absolutely love your blog. I was just wondering in which part of your essay did you include the information of the Legislature of Ontario. Also, how much factual information should I add in my essay?
Hey daisy123!
DeleteThank you so much!
I personally felt it was important to include a few facts when I was talking about what I could give to the Page Program. For example, I stated that I'm good at memorizing names, which would be an important skill to have as you need to memorize 107 faces/names. Say you have good navigational skills, you can talk about the fact that there are many parts to the Legislative building.
It is really up to you, and depends what you mean by factual information. If you say "I play on a soccer team", that is factual information (Unless you are lying... though idk why you'd do that ;P). However, facts about the Legislature, etc are not REQUIRED by any means. How you include factual info is really up to you ;)
Good luck!
-Daniella
Thank you so much!
DeleteHi Daniella,
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be writing my essay and I was wondering if it would make sense if I included in my list of activities something that I'm going to be starting, like a sport
Hey there,
DeleteIf you truly are going to be starting this activity (Say you're joining a soccer team in the summer) then yes, it's worth adding to your essay. As long as it actually happens, I don't see any problem with that :)
Good luck on your application!!
-Daniella
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteVery good advice for newbies in text writing. Check out this custom writing service http://www.essayservice.info/. This is true information for students from all colleges.
ReplyDeleteRegards. Got a problems with approval essay to ielts here is nice essay writing service Globalessays. This one always giving structured essay with guarantees!
ReplyDeletehow did you send the application 'cause i couldn't find it on the website. plz reply thx
ReplyDelete