College-bound high school students across the country will be considering the advice of WUSTL sophomore Laura Cobb when they write their university admission essays this fall.
Cobb’s memories of tackling that daunting piece of the college application process now serve as the introduction to the 2006 edition of Fiske Guide to Real College Essays That Work.
The psychology major in Arts & Sciences is quoted extensively in the introduction to the book by Edward B. Fiske and Bruce G. Hammond, and her essay is chosen to illustrate the authors’ point that “the best essays come from high school students being themselves, with all the depth, wit, charm and quirkiness that they bring to their daily lives.”
Cobb’s essay was submitted with her application to both WUSTL and the National Merit Scholar competition. It is printed in its entirety in the “humor” category of the Fiske Guide, and it one of 109 essays from students who now attend such schools as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia and Stanford.
Her essay was recommended to the guide’s editors from the college counselors at Cobb’s high school, Villa Duchesne in St. Louis. The high school staff recognized her ability to integrate humor and enthusiasm in her aspirations for a research career in psychology and neuroscience.
The St. Louis native says she is especially intrigued with the work being done on autism at WUSTL and values the research opportunities that the school offers to undergraduates.