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Writing Personal Statements and Essays

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During the graduate and professional school application process, you will likely be required to write a statement or essay. The requirements for these statements and essays will vary from program to program, but some general rules do apply. Check out this guide to get some tips on where to start!

Berea College

• Cost & scholarships
• Essay prompt

Want to see your chances of admission at Berea College?

We take every aspect of your personal profile into consideration when calculating your admissions chances.

Berea College’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Diversity short response.

Berea College was created 168 years ago and became the first interracial and coeducational college in the South. Please tell us in 168-ish words or less, how this is meaningful for you in context of your personal experience.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.

Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.

We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.

College Essay Basics

Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.

• Why do essays matter in the college application process?
• What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
• How to format and structure your college essay

Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:

How a college essay fits into your application

What a strong essay does for your chances

How to create an application theme

Learn the Types of College Essays

Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.

• How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
• Personal Statement Essay Examples
• How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
• Extracurricular Essay Examples
• Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay
• Diversity Essay Examples
• Tips for Writing a Standout Community Service Essay
• How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay
• How to Write a “Why This Major” Essay if You’re Undecided
• How to write the “Why This College” Essay
• How to Research a College to Write the “Why This College” Essay
• Why This College Essay Examples
• How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
• Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type

What each type of essay is really asking of you

How to write each essay effectively

The Common App essay

Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.

• How to Write the Common App Essay
• Successful Common App Essay Examples
• 5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
• 11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to choose which Common App prompts to answer

How to write a successful Common App essay

What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers

Supplemental Essay Guides

Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.

These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.

See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.

Essay brainstorming and composition

Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.

• Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
• Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
• How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
• What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
• 8 Do’s and Don’t for Crafting Your College Essay
• Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

Understand how to write a great hook for your essay

Complete the first drafts of your essay

Editing and polishing your essay

Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.

• 11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
• Getting Help with Your College Essay
• 5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
• How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
• Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
• College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

Proofread and edited your essay.

Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.

Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.

Advanced College Essay Techniques

Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.

• 10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays
• How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay
• How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your College Applications

Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Writing resources students help peers become better writers.

Berea student Leeroy ’23 doesn’t know how he would have made it through college without the support of Writing Resources.

“I don’t like the writing process, and the consultants helped me develop a more efficient writing style,” he said. “I tend to include multiple perspectives, and they helped me narrow it down to one topic. It has elevated all of my writing.”

Leeroy, a senior Biology major, originally consulted with the Writing Resources staff about a technical paper for a law class his first year and has since sought feedback on other papers, scholarship applications and his personal statement for medical school. Receiving scholarships, with Writing Resources assistance, has been essential to his experience at Berea.

Myasia Watson ’22 is a Berea alum who utilized Writing Resources every semester of college. She continues to benefit while studying in the Master of Social Work program at West Virginia University.

“There was a big leap in writing from high school to college,” Watson said. “I am really bad at grammar, and the consultants’ explaining why they were making changes really prepared me for graduate school.”

These students are not alone. According to Dr. Amy Nichols, director of Writing Resources, the staff serves 450 students per year through more than 1,000 individualized consultations. That is more than a quarter of the Berea College student body. They are welcome to consult on any writing piece, from a capstone project to a love letter.

Berea has had some form of writing assistance program since the 1980s. Writing Resources is easily accessible, conveniently housed in the basement of the campus library. Along with comfortable furniture and space for conversations, the space hosts a display of writing tip sheets covering all aspects of the art and skill of good writing.

Beyond one-on-one sessions with students, consultants lead more than 50 workshops a year. Professors can request a variety of presentations including integrating sources, plagiarism, introduction to Writing Resources and styles of citations. Student leaders personalize them for each class, taking into account what they are currently studying.

Many students are first exposed to the program during their required general studies classes (GSTR), which are mandatory all four years at Berea. The required research paper gets longer each year, from five pages at first to 20 pages as a senior.

“These are massive research papers, and most GSTR classes are not taught by writing professors,” explains Callista ’23, Writing Resources student labor manager. “It is important that students have another avenue of support that is not the internet.”

Writing Resources offers that support in a third space, utilizing a student-centered, peer-to-peer model. A peer-led environment can feel safer, and can foster a different kind of conversation, than an expert-led one.

It is easier to be more vulnerable about writing and accept feedback from other students. They can genuinely talk to us and not conceal parts of themselves to seem professional. It is not a stiff academic space. Callista ’23

“It is easier to be more vulnerable about writing and accept feedback from other students,” Callista said. “They can genuinely talk to us and not conceal parts of themselves to seem professional. It is not a stiff academic space.”

It is important for leaders that students have ownership and agency in the consulting process. That means meeting them where they are and following their lead in sessions. Consultants guide gently with questions: What would you like help with? What are your goals? How do you want this paper to be received? The process focuses on what the student wants to do with this writing in the moment.

Through extensive training, consultants gain College Reading and Learning Association certification as tutors. It covers not just the nuts and bolts of basic grammar, how to organize an essay and taking a paper to the next level, but the soft skills necessary to make students feel welcome and supported in one-on-one sessions.

“Our student-oriented training work reminds consultants we are working with a person, not just a paper,” Callista said.

Callista has worked at Writing Resources for three years as part of her labor assignment. She particularly remembers one student who arrived at her consultation stressed and anxious about her assignment. Callista was able to reassure her, calm her down, and work through the problem with her. Through subsequent meetings, the two developed a productive and dynamic working relationship.

“To watch her writing get better was so amazing,” Callista said. “At her last appointment I was able to say her work was perfect and didn’t need anything. It is rewarding to really guide somebody and help them.”

Ultimately, Writing Resources staff are not grading, but supporting, student writing. “The consultation is actually a very empowering process,” Leeroy said. “At the Writing Center, my vision is understood. I am understood.”

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Berea College Requirements for Admission

Choose your test.

What are Berea College's admission requirements? While there are a lot of pieces that go into a college application, you should focus on only a few critical things:

• GPA requirements
• Testing requirements, including SAT and ACT requirements
• Application requirements

In this guide we'll cover what you need to get into Berea College and build a strong application.

School location: Berea, KY

Admissions Rate: 24.6%

If you want to get in, the first thing to look at is the acceptance rate. This tells you how competitive the school is and how serious their requirements are.

The acceptance rate at Berea College is 24.6% . For every 100 applicants, 25 are admitted.

This means the school is very selective . If you meet Berea College's requirements for GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and other components of the application, you have a great shot at getting in. But if you fall short on GPA or your SAT/ACT scores, you'll have a very low chance of being admitted, even if you meet the other admissions requirements.

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We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools.

Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

Berea College GPA Requirements

Many schools specify a minimum GPA requirement, but this is often just the bare minimum to submit an application without immediately getting rejected.

The GPA requirement that really matters is the GPA you need for a real chance of getting in. For this, we look at the school's average GPA for its current students.

Average GPA: 3.62

The average GPA at Berea College is 3.62 .

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA.

With a GPA of 3.62, Berea College requires you to be above average in your high school class. You'll need at least a mix of A's and B's, with more A's than B's. You can compensate for a lower GPA with harder classes, like AP or IB classes. This will show that you're able to handle more difficult academics than the average high school student.

If you're currently a junior or senior, your GPA is hard to change in time for college applications. If your GPA is at or below the school average of 3.62, you'll need a higher SAT or ACT score to compensate . This will help you compete effectively against other applicants who have higher GPAs than you.

SAT and ACT Requirements

Each school has different requirements for standardized testing. Only a few schools require the SAT or ACT, but many consider your scores if you choose to submit them.

Berea College hasn't explicitly named a policy on SAT/ACT requirements, but because it's published average SAT or ACT scores (we'll cover this next), it's likely test flexible. Typically, these schools say, "if you feel your SAT or ACT score represents you well as a student, submit them. Otherwise, don't."

Despite this policy, the truth is that most students still take the SAT or ACT, and most applicants to Berea College will submit their scores. If you don't submit scores, you'll have one fewer dimension to show that you're worthy of being admitted, compared to other students. We therefore recommend that you consider taking the SAT or ACT, and doing well.

Berea College SAT Requirements

Many schools say they have no SAT score cutoff, but the truth is that there is a hidden SAT requirement. This is based on the school's average score.

Average SAT: 1217

The average SAT score composite at Berea College is a 1217 on the 1600 SAT scale.

This score makes Berea College Competitive for SAT test scores.

Berea College SAT Score Analysis (New 1600 SAT)

The 25th percentile SAT score is 1163, and the 75th percentile SAT score is 1273. In other words, a 1163 on the SAT places you below average, while a 1273 will move you up to above average .

Here's the breakdown of SAT scores by section:

SAT Score Choice Policy

The Score Choice policy at your school is an important part of your testing strategy.

Berea College has the Score Choice policy of "Highest Section."

This is also known as "superscoring." This means that you can choose which SAT tests you want to send to the school. Of all the scores they receive, your application readers will consider your highest section scores across all SAT test dates you submit .

Click below to learn more about how superscoring critically affects your test strategy.

For example, say you submit the following 3 test scores:

Even though the highest total you scored on any one test date was 1000, Berea College will take your highest section score from all your test dates, then combine them to form your Superscore. You can raise your composite score from 1000 to 1400 in this example.

This is important for your testing strategy. Because you can choose which tests to send in, and Berea College forms your Superscore, you can take the SAT as many times as you want, then submit only the tests that give you the highest Superscore. Your application readers will only see that one score.

Therefore, if your SAT superscore is currently below a 1273, we strongly recommend that you consider prepping for the SAT and retaking it . You have a very good chance of raising your score, which will significantly boost your chances of getting in.

Even better, because of the Superscore, you can focus all your energy on a single section at a time. If your Reading score is lower than your other sections, prep only for the Reading section, then take the SAT. Then focus on Math for the next test, and so on. This will give you the highest Superscore possible.

Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.

Berea College ACT Requirements

Just like for the SAT, Berea College likely doesn't have a hard ACT cutoff, but if you score too low, your application will get tossed in the trash.

Average ACT: 25

The average ACT score at Berea College is 25. This score makes Berea College Moderately Competitive for ACT scores.

The 25th percentile ACT score is 23, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 27.

Even though Berea College likely says they have no minimum ACT requirement, if you apply with a 23 or below, you'll have a very hard time getting in, unless you have something else very impressive in your application. There are so many applicants scoring 25 and above that a 23 will look academically weak.

ACT Score Sending Policy

If you're taking the ACT as opposed to the SAT, you have a huge advantage in how you send scores, and this dramatically affects your testing strategy.

Here it is: when you send ACT scores to colleges, you have absolute control over which tests you send. You could take 10 tests, and only send your highest one. This is unlike the SAT, where many schools require you to send all your tests ever taken.

This means that you have more chances than you think to improve your ACT score. To try to aim for the school's ACT requirement of 27 and above, you should try to take the ACT as many times as you can. When you have the final score that you're happy with, you can then send only that score to all your schools.

ACT Superscore Policy

By and large, most colleges do not superscore the ACT. (Superscore means that the school takes your best section scores from all the test dates you submit, and then combines them into the best possible composite score). Thus, most schools will just take your highest ACT score from a single sitting.

We weren't able to find the school's exact ACT policy, which most likely means that it does not Superscore. Regardless, you can choose your single best ACT score to send in to Berea College, so you should prep until you reach our recommended target ACT score of 27.

Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and ACT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.

SAT/ACT Writing Section Requirements

Currently, only the ACT has an optional essay section that all students can take. The SAT used to also have an optional Essay section, but since June 2021, this has been discontinued unless you are taking the test as part of school-day testing in a few states. Because of this, no school requires the SAT Essay or ACT Writing section, but some schools do recommend certain students submit their results if they have them.

Berea College considers the SAT Essay/ACT Writing section optional and may not include it as part of their admissions consideration. You don't need to worry too much about Writing for this school, but other schools you're applying to may require it.

Final Admissions Verdict

Because this school is very selective, strong academic scores are critical to improving your chances of admission . If you're able to score a 1273 SAT or a 27 ACT or above, you'll have a very strong chance at getting in.

For a school as selective as Berea College, rounding out the rest of your application will also help. We'll cover those details next.

But if you apply with a score below a 1273 SAT or a 27 ACT, you unfortunately have a low chance of getting in. There are just too many other applicants with high SAT/ACT scores and strong applications, and you need to compete against them.

Admissions Calculator

Here's our custom admissions calculator. Plug in your numbers to see what your chances of getting in are. Pick your test: SAT ACT

• 80-100%: Safety school: Strong chance of getting in
• 50-80%: More likely than not getting in
• 20-50%: Lower but still good chance of getting in
• 5-20%: Reach school: Unlikely to get in, but still have a shot
• 0-5%: Hard reach school: Very difficult to get in

How would your chances improve with a better score?

Take your current SAT score and add 160 points (or take your ACT score and add 4 points) to the calculator above. See how much your chances improve?

At PrepScholar, we've created the leading online SAT/ACT prep program . We guarantee an improvement of 160 SAT points or 4 ACT points on your score, or your money back.

Here's a summary of why we're so much more effective than other prep programs:

• PrepScholar customizes your prep to your strengths and weaknesses . You don't waste time working on areas you already know, so you get more results in less time.
• We guide you through your program step-by-step so that you're never confused about what you should be studying. Focus all your time learning, not worrying about what to learn.
• Our team is made of national SAT/ACT experts . PrepScholar's founders are Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers . You'll be studying using the strategies that actually worked for them.
• We've gotten tremendous results with thousands of students across the country. Read about our score results and reviews from our happy customers .

There's a lot more to PrepScholar that makes it the best SAT/ACT prep program. Click to learn more about our program , or sign up for our 5-day free trial to check out PrepScholar for yourself:

Application Requirements

Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews. We'll cover the exact requirements of Berea College here.

Application Requirements Overview

• Common Application Not accepted
• Electronic Application Available
• Essay or Personal Statement Required for all freshmen
• Letters of Recommendation 2
• Interview Required
• Application Fee No fee required
• Fee Waiver Available? None
• Other Notes Financial aid application required for freshmen

Testing Requirements

• SAT or ACT Considered if submitted
• SAT Essay or ACT Writing Optional
• SAT Subject Tests
• Scores Due in Office April 30

Coursework Requirements

• Subject Required Years
• Foreign Language
• Social Studies

Deadlines and Early Admissions

• Offered? Deadline Notification
• Yes March 31 November 15

Admissions Office Information

• Address: 101 Berea, KY 40404
• Phone: (859) 985-3000 x3000
• Email: [email protected]

Other Schools For You

If you're interested in Berea College, you'll probably be interested in these schools as well. We've divided them into 3 categories depending on how hard they are to get into, relative to Berea College.

Reach Schools: Harder to Get Into

These schools are have higher average SAT scores than Berea College. If you improve your SAT score, you'll be competitive for these schools.

Same Level: Equally Hard to Get Into

If you're competitive for Berea College, these schools will offer you a similar chance of admission.

Safety Schools: Easier to Get Into

If you're currently competitive for Berea College, you should have no problem getting into these schools. If Berea College is currently out of your reach, you might already be competitive for these schools.

Data on this page is sourced from Peterson's Databases © 2023 (Peterson's LLC. All rights reserved.) as well as additional publicly available sources.

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Coalition App: Everything You Need to Know

Coalition App

How Does it Work?

Essay Prompts

What Schools Use It?

The Common App is the most widely used application for colleges in the US, but not the only one. The main alternative is the Coalition App, an application platform that is now accepted by more than 150 schools

Are you looking to know more about the Coalition App? Well, you're in luck because today, we're diving deep into this application platform; what it is, how it works, and what schools use it.

What is the Coalition App?

Similar to the Common App , the Coalition App is an online platform designed to streamline the college application process by allowing you to submit applications to a diverse range of schools, all in one place.

This makes it much simpler to apply to your target colleges without having to submit multiple applications . But with that said, some schools might ask for specific additional materials or supplemental documents outside of the main Coalition App.

The Coalition App is much newer than the Common App, and it’s used by fewer schools. This is because there’s a specific type of school that uses the Coalition App - schools with financial and academic programming for lower-income, under-resourced, and first-generation students.

In fact, one of the defining characteristics of the Coalition App is its focus on accessibility and inclusivity, and how it aims to break down barriers to higher education. The online platform it uses provides an online locker that makes it easier for you to track your achievements and documents throughout your high school journey.

Interested in learning more? Attend one of our free events

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How Does the Coalition App Work?

The Coalition App is designed to simplify the college application process, and so the steps to applying using it are fairly simple as well:

• Create Your Account on their website : This will serve as your central hub for managing your college applications.
• Identify Your Colleges: Choose the colleges you're applying to. (see list of colleges that accept the Coalition App below)  
• Gather Your Materials: Gather all the necessary materials, such as transcripts, test scores, letters of recommendation, and personal statements. Remember that the Coalition App provides a digital Locker where you can store and organize these documents throughout your high school journey.
• Complete Your Profile: This includes providing basic information about yourself, your academic history, extracurricular activities, and any other relevant details.
• Write Your Essays: The Coalition App allows you to write and revise your essays directly within the platform, making it easy to keep track of your progress. (See essay prompts below)
• Request Recommendations: If required, you can request letters of recommendation from teachers, counselors, or mentors through the Coalition App's Collaboration Space. This feature allows you to invite others to review and provide feedback on your application materials.
• Submit Your Applications: Once you've completed all the necessary sections of your application and reviewed everything for accuracy, it's time to submit! The Coalition App allows you to submit your applications to multiple colleges with just a few clicks, saving you time and hassle. 

Coalition App Essay Prompts

The Coalition App provides you with 5 essay prompts, but you only have to choose one to write about. 

Keep in mind that every member school that accepts the Coalition App requires this essay. Additionally, some schools might require college-specific essays for their individual application. 

These prompts might change in the future. However, they’re the same for both year 2023-24 and year 2024-25. Here are the essay prompts: 

• Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
• What interests or excites you? How does it shape who you are now or who you might become in the future?
• Describe a time when you had a positive impact on others. What were the challenges? What were the rewards?
• Has there been a time when an idea or belief of yours was questioned? How did you respond? What did you learn?
• What success have you achieved or obstacle have you faced? What advice would you give a sibling or friend going through a similar experience?

What Schools Use the Coalition App?

Keep in mind that the list of member institutions may evolve over time. As of May 2024 , here is the list of all the schools that use Coalition App: 

How Many Schools Can You Apply to on the Coalition App?

The short answer is as many as you want.

On the Coalition App, there is no set limit to the number of schools you can apply to. You have the flexibility to apply to as many member colleges as you want.This flexibility allows you to cast a wide net and maximize your chances of finding the perfect fit for you.

With that said, keep in mind that each school may have its own application fee and specific application materials, so it's important to strategize and prioritize your applications based on factors such as your interests, preferences, and resources.

Are There Coalition-Exclusive Colleges?

While some colleges initially committed to being "Coalition-exclusive," meaning they only accepted applications through the Coalition App, that landscape has evolved.

The University of Washington-Seattle was the sole Coalition-exclusive institution for a while, but it recently announced a change in its admissions process, no longer accepting Coalition Applications for fall 2023 admissions.

This shift means there are currently no remaining Coalition-exclusive schools.

Coalition App vs Common App: What’s The Difference?

Navigating college applications can feel like a maze, especially when comparing platforms like the Coalition App and the Common App.

The main difference lies in their membership and accessibility. While both platforms aim to streamline the application process, the Coalition App is backed by a specific coalition of colleges and universities, focusing on access and affordability. 

On the other hand, the Common App boasts a larger membership base, including a wide range of institutions across the globe.

When deciding which platform to use, consider factors like your preferred schools, application requirements, and personal preferences. 

• Read our post explaining the differences in details:  Common App vs Coalition App

Final Thoughts

We hope this deep dive into the Coalition App has provided you with valuable insights as you embark on your college application journey.

With its emphasis on accessibility and inclusivity, the Coalition App provides a robust platform for showcasing your unique qualities and achievements to a diverse array of colleges and universities.

Whether you're a first-generation student or come from a low-income background, this application offers valuable resources and support to help you navigate the college admissions process with confidence.

If you need help with finding the perfect school for you and applying to it, whether it's through the Common App or Coalition App, our expert strategists are ready to help.

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Appalachia: Who Cares, and So What?: Essay

Essay for gstr210 by dr. chad berry, appalachia: who cares and so what .

For the past two decades or more, we have heard a great deal about globalization—about the transformation of local or regional things or phenomena into global ones. Coal, for example, mined in Eastern Kentucky is then shipped to China. In return, people from Eastern Kentucky can buy a number of different things made in China at their local Walmart. Globalization can also be used to describe a process by which the people of the world are unified into a more connected and cohesive society and can function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural, and political forces, and many people have written about how such transformations are normal, desirable, and beneficial.

The problem is, we don’t often hear about the local. It is my argument that for every movement made in the direction of the global, there is simultaneous response in the direction of the local. Media today seem to be unaware of—or perhaps even unconcerned about—how important the local continues to be amid all the globalist talk. Neither the local, though, or the global exclusively is a panacea for economic and social challenges; it shouldn’t be either/or but rather both/and. We can learn about the global by learning about the local, and we can learn about the local by applying what we know about the global.

I study and write about Appalachia—a region that runs generally along either side of the Appalachian Mountain chain in the eastern United States. The federal government defines the region as stretching from southern New York state all the way down to northeastern Mississippi. More than 400 counties comprise Appalachia (and several new ones occasionally are added), as well as about 25 million people.

You attend a college that has, since the late nineteenth century, been committed to serving the Appalachian region mainly through educating students from the region. Many of you reading this come from somewhere in Appalachia. You’ve probably not always identified with being “Appalachian”; you may have come here thinking of yourself by your own community—Big Creek, for example—or by your county or your city. Others of you come from different areas of the United States, or even the world. And to you, too, “Appalachia” may be a mysterious word.

The point I’d like to make is that place matters in this globalized age. You’re living in Appalachia at the moment—on the western fringe, actually (take a look out of the windows in Baird Lounge, and you will see the western foothills of Appalachia). And whether you come from Eastern Kentucky, Atlanta, or Kenya, you’ll make your home here for the next several years. It’s thus important to learn about your new place. And one of the best ways to learn about home is to leave it. I remember once living for a time in a rural village in Ghana called Bompata, not far east of the large city of Kumasi. One night I was having a difficult time sleeping because it was still very hot and humid at bedtime. I started recounting my day’s experiences and connecting those experiences with what I knew about life in Appalachia. I came up with a rich list. The point is, I had to leave home to learn about home. This semester, you’ll learn more about Appalachia in GSTR 210 and, in the process, I hope, learn more about your home.

Although the mountains we call Appalachia are some of the world’s oldest mountains (between 400 and 500 million years old), “Appalachia” as a region is much younger. Spanish cartographers were the first to give name to the region—“Apalchen,” in 1562, mistakenly associating it with the Apalachee tribe of Native Americans, who lived in Northern Florida (that’s right—what is now Florida). French cartographers followed a few years later. Hence, the geographic definition of Appalachia was born. 1

It wasn’t until the late nineteenth century, though, that the term “Appalachia” was applied to the entire eastern mountainous region in economic, cultural, and social ways. Beginning in the 1870s, local-color writers such as Mary Noailles Murfree and John Fox, Jr., began using mountaineers in fictional stories, stories that characterized mountaineers as being quaint (read: different ) and isolated from the rest of mainstream America. Some two hundred stories featuring Appalachian characters would eventually be written—in magazines, as well as novels—over the next few decades, and several became national best sellers. Sometimes these stories were positive (for example, describing the way mountaineers stuck with the Union during the Civil War), other times negative (implying that mountaineers were backward in an otherwise industrializing and urbanizing United States). Both views publicized mountain folk as different—as traditional and quaint on the positive side or as regressive and poor on the negative side. The result was that such difference attracted outsiders to come to Appalachia, either to preserve what they saw or to change it, depending on one’s perspective.

As President of Berea College between 1892 and 1920, William Goodell Frost had a great deal to do in identifying the people here as “Appalachian Americans” and attributing backwardness to isolation economically, socially, and geographically. Otherwise, he argued, mountaineers were our “contemporary ancestors” and deserved the attention of northern philanthropic foundations and educational institutions such as  Berea. 2  Settlement schools, such as those at Hindman and Pine Mountain in Eastern Kentucky, were founded throughout the mountains to provide education to the people, and other institutions were formed to help bring the region’s people into the “mainstream.” Plenty from as far as Europe came to record the cultural traditions there—the oral folklore and songs, the material culture traditions, and the like, and a great deal of the material recorded, documented, and preserved is in Berea’s Special Collections and Archives, there for you to discover. This group felt that the culture of the mountaineer was worthy of charitable and educational uplift.

But there was a negative side, too. Papers such as the New York Times and the Louisville Courier-Journal reported at times shocking and titillating stories about feuding families, moonshining, and people living in squalor. A frequent question of such stories was, “How did these folks go so wrong?” Again, readers throughout the nation were often spellbound by these stories.

Some scholars say that Appalachia was “discovered” during this time in the late nineteenth century. It would be more correct to say that “Appalachia” was created, though remember the first time this region was named was in the sixteenth century. Powerful people, such as President Frost and others, delineated a portion of the country that was said to be different from the area outside it. It was almost as if a section of the country’s map was outlined with a bold black pen and “identified,” “named,” “created,” “constructed,” or even “invented.” Appalachia wasn’t the first region so created; remember that all 50 states—indeed all land areas around the world—have been so created. What we know as “Colorado” today was in some ways similarly born: look on the U.S. map and you will see a rectangular area in the American West. If you are from Africa, you probably know that powerful people, mostly in Europe, carved up the African continent’s boundaries in a similar fashion.

These people not only created and defined the region known as Appalachia. They also defined who the people were and who they were not. The region that came to be Appalachia was always a tri-racial place after Europeans and Africans joined Native Americans. But the people of Appalachia—our “contemporary ancestors”—came quickly to be known as white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant (WASP). Ignored were the Native Americans who had been here for generations and Africans who had forcibly been resettled here. Even other ethnicities from eastern and southern Europe were ignored. Appalachia, in short, became whitewashed.

Other writers, such as John C. Campbell, referred to Appalachia as a a “coherent region inhabited by an homogeneous population possessing a uniform culture.” 3   The result of such portrayals led to mythic notions about the people inside the region. By mythic, I don’t necessarily mean false; instead, mythic refers to things that can’t necessarily be proven or disproven, which is why such beliefs remain powerful to this day. For every mountaineer who used a kerosene lamp, one could find another mountaineer yearning for electric lights; one could find a poor mountaineer and a wealthy one in the same community. Or an African American or a Polish American right alongside a WASP mountaineer. Such mythic beliefs, however, can also tend toward stereotyping.

Historian Altina Waller reminds us that the late historian Henry Shapiro gave us a convincing argument in trying to understand why people in mainstream America might need to create a region such as Appalachia, a place that many referred to as a strange region inhabited by a “peculiar” people. “This perception,” she writes, “came not from the reality of Appalachian peculiarity but from the needs of middle-class Americans” in industrial areas of the country. These folks had left rural areas and flocked to cities such as Chicago and Detroit, where they found factory or office jobs that were often maddeningly monotonous. They were removed from extended families, and they lived rather anonymously in apartment houses and perhaps eventually in cookie-cutter suburban homes. If they lost their job, they could lose their ability to house and feed themselves. They no longer knew how to live close to the land, growing food. They were, she argues, nostalgic for the past and fearful of the future.

And let’s be clear: their perception of mountain people could also be much more sinister, giving them someone to whom they could look down upon, grateful that they had electricity, indoor plumbing, and all the marvels of “modern” life. Waller continues: “Appalachia became the ‘other,’ a place and a people to be admired, patronized, converted, taught, uplifted, disciplined, and sometimes even emulated.” Notice the words she uses in the previous sentence. Ask yourself which of these words has a positive connotation and which have a negative one. Here, “the people were assumed to be everything most Americans were not, but were still clearly of similar heritage and  culture.” 4

Hence, the construction or the invention of Appalachia sometimes had very little to do with reality, just as the construction of the “cowboy” or the “Indian” has very little to do with truth and accuracy. And so it is with “Appalachian.” Such construction is the reason why Appalachia is the most misunderstood region in the United States today. That’s right: the most misunderstood region in the U.S.

After the War on Poverty in the 1960s, (when the government took a more active approach to end poverty in places such as Appalachia and elsewhere), and with the increasing rise of a powerful media in the twentieth century and beyond, such “construction” of Appalachia and its people has continued. One of the best examples of the way film affirms stereotypes about mountain people is Deliverance , released in 1972, about a canoeing trip gone very bad. A later example is Wrong Turn, released in 2003, where six people, having taken a “wrong turn,” find themselves hunted down in West Virginia by cannibalistic and “inbred” mountain men. More recently, think about Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett, from Orange is the New Black ; her character is replete with stereotypes and, interestingly, a woman to complicate stereotypic men. Reality TV shows, such as Buckwild , Moonshiners , and Appalachian Outlaws only continue to perpetuate the stereotypes of mountain people. Close your eyes, and when I say the word “Appalachian,” you will likely envision a white male, usually wearing overalls, no shoes, and sporting a beard.

So let’s come back to the beginning. Appalachia: Who cares, and so what? By now I hope you understand a bit more about how “Appalachia” was created around difference. People here weren’t supposed to be like people elsewhere—they were either better or (more frequently) worse—they were different. If they were deemed better, then the people and the place were to be celebrated, preserved, visited, and even commodified, meaning cultural artifacts could be purchased and taken back home. If they were deemed worse, then the people and the place were to be scorned, ridiculed, patronized, changed, and avoided at all costs.

For the last one hundred years, for example, people have flocked here because they knew about this difference. They came to educate, to straighten out, to convert, to feed, to clothe…the list is endless. Tourists crave this difference. Ten million people each year come to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the surrounding area. They want to see “quaint” log structures and maybe a bear—or maybe some bargain outlet mall prices. Some folks leave their monotonous, homogenous suburban life to stay in an “authentic” Smoky Mountains cabin, with indoor plumbing and an outdoor hot tub, mind you. Along the way, they may pull off I-75 and buy an Appalachian quilt or basket in Berea and take it back to their home to hang on the wall. And the interesting thing is that every one of the fifty-plus countries around the world has a place like Appalachia. Again, learning about the local deepens our understanding of the global, and vice versa.

The significance is that so many misperceptions are connected with the people of Appalachia that it takes concerted effort to try to analyze and understand the complexity of the way the people and the place have been constructed. This is what I hope you will do in GSTR 210 this semester. It also means learning more about an institution that for at least a hundred years has been committed to providing high-quality education to students from Appalachia and beyond—an institution that encourages students to go into Appalachia and make a difference. This is part of 210’s focus on place, race, gender, and class.

One reason stereotypes are so alluring is because they tend to make the complex exceedingly simple. It’s easy to think that all Appalachian people are _____________________ (you fill in the blank). It’s much harder to make sense, for example, of the plethora of peoples who’ve historically inhabited Appalachia since time immemorial—Native Americans, African Americans, a multitude of ethnic groups who came to work in the coalfields and factories, even those who’ve been here only a few short months or years from Latin America. It’s much easier to believe all people in Appalachia are poverty stricken; it’s much harder to make sense of a region that includes both the very poor—many from Central Appalachia, for example—as well as some very rich people—especially in Southern Appalachia. It’s sometimes difficult to make sense why Central Appalachia has had some of the world’s richest natural resources, but why its inhabitants have been and continue to be among the poorest in the U.S. It’s also easy to think of people from the mountains as being rural hayseeds; it’s harder to consider the city dwellers in places such as Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Birmingham, and Asheville.

So there you have it. Who cares, and so what? Place matters . While you’re here, you’re an Appalachian. In learning about this region, you’ll learn about yourself and your own home, wherever it is. Because of the stereotyping and the construction of Appalachia, chances are that before you can learn about Appalachia, you’ll first have to unlearn what you think you know. Folks in Appalachia are not all that different from folks anywhere else. As one author writes, “What we ‘know’ often obscures the fact that Appalachian residents, regardless of subregion, are average and ordinary human beings, who under a given environment will develop like other human  beings.” 5

I’ll close by switching the conversation from what studying Appalachia can do for you to what you can do for Appalachia. There are tremendous assets here, and there are tremendous deficits. Some people in the region struggle for jobs—today more than ever—for basic necessities taken for granted elsewhere, and dignity. Learning all you can about such a place, while you’re a student at an institution that has long had a commitment to this region, can open up new and unexpected possibilities for you. Learning about the local and the regional can enhance your understanding of the global. Even today, the region and its people need those who are willing to devote a life of learning and service. If you want to learn more, the good people in the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center in Stephenson Hall can assist. 

1 See David Walls, "On the Naming of Appalachia ," from An Appalachian Symposium: Essays written in honor of Cratis D. Williams , edited by J. W. Williamson (Boone: Appalachian State University Press, 1977)   Call Number :   975 A6463 .

2 For more of Frost’s writing, see “Appalachian America,” Woman’s Home Companion , September 1896, pp. 3-4, 21 , and “ Our Contemporary Ancestors in the Southern Mountains ,” Atlantic Monthly , March 1899, pp. 311-19.

3 Quoted in Henry Shapiro, Appalachia on Our Mind: The Southern Mountains and Mountaineers in the American Consciousness, 1870-1920 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978), ix. Call Number :   301.2975 S529a

4 Altina L. Waller, “Feuding in Appalachia: Evolution of a Cultural Stereotype,” in Appalachia in the Making: The Mountain South in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 349.  Call Number : 975 A64545

5 Richard A. Couto, “Appalachia,” in Appalachia, Social Context Past and Present , fifth ed., ed. Phillip J. Obermiller and Michael E. Maloney (Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt, 2007), 9.  Call Number : 330.975 A6465 2007

Vice President for Alumni, Communications and Philanthropy

(former director, loyal jones appalachian center; goode professor of appalachian studies, pdf of this essay.

• Appalachia: Who Cares, and So What? (pdf) This essay by Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, Goode Professor of Appalachian Studies, Professor of History, and Former Director of the Appalachian Center, explores the creation and meaning of the term Appalachia.

Additional Resources

• William Goodell Frost
• Appalachian Photoarchives
• Appalachian Volunteers Records, Parts I and II
• Appalachian Volunteers Oral History Collection
• Voices From the Sixties Oral History Collection
• Council of Southern Mountains, 1912-1970
• Council of Southern Mountains, 1970-1989
• Council of the Southern Mountains Oral History Collection
• Hindman Settlement School Collection
• Pine Mountain Settlement School Collection, 1913-2011
• John Lair Papers, 1930-1984
• Last Updated: Jan 16, 2024 11:58 AM
• URL: https://libraryguides.berea.edu/essayappalachia

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