Rhetorical Analysis Of What I Wanted To Write In My Admissions

Writers often use rhetoric to convey their ideas and to engage the reader with their subject. Rachel Toor’s essay “ Which of These Essay Questions is the Real Thing?”, and Alexander J. G. Schneider’s “What I really Wanted to Write in My Admissions Essays”, both compare and contrast as they appeal to pathos and logos to express how the college application process is flawed. Toor’s and Schneider's use of tone conveys this message. Each writer appeals to ethos and allows the reader to relate to the author as the intended audience will also be writing college application essays.
In each essay, the authors show that the questions given by the colleges are flawed. To show this, Rachel Toor does not take the questions seriously. Her tone is mocking …show more content…
Schneider uses humor and irony to appeal to pathos as was done in Toors essay. In response to a question asking about his academic interests he would have liked to have said that he is “not a very academic person” and that he “is not a big fan of academic activities”. This comes across as ironic as it is not what a reader would expect to hear in an essay written in high school. Toor states that she is a member of the “Teens for a drug-free America club, and the legalize cannabis club.” Her mocking tone comes across as extremely prominent here as irony is used. This statement is ironic because cannabis is marijuana, an illegal drug. It wouldn't make sense for her to be part of a club focusing on getting rid of drugs and a club focusing on legalizing them at the same time. Toor also uses sarcasm to present her mocking tone. In answering her question of “What is the most important social problem currently facing society?” She says homelessness. She writes about how homeless people have signs saying that they are an out of work vet. Her response to this is “ If you're a vet, there are plenty of sick animals that could use your services.” She uses irony to present a sarcastic comment, showing that she is not taking the question seriously. She also uses her mocking and humorous tone to appeal to pathos as it is funny that she tells homeless vets to help animals and states that she participates in the “BYOB” club. Also similar to Toor’s essay is Schneider's appeal to ethos as he establishes credibility by allowing his intended audience to relate to him. Rachel Toor's and Alexander J.G. Schniderś essays are similar as they use a mocking tone, sarcasm, irony and their appeal to pathos help in presenting the underlying message that the college application essay is flawed. In their appeal to ethos, credibility is established as the intended audience is also able to relate to the author. As they too will be filling out