Writing Your Way Into College Without Crushing Your Soul
Written by Michelle Kim
Even the best writers - those kids who seem to get an A+ on every English assignment - find it hard to write a college essay they love. It probably feels like you’re either erasing every sentence you write, painfully pulling each word out of your fingertips, or spending hours simply staring at a blank screen. And it’s not like you don’t have ideas; you probably have a magnum opus milling around in your head. It’s just that you can’t seem to get it down on the screen in front of you. While there is no magic spell to getting an essay to unfold itself before you, here are 5 tips to make the process a little less painful.
1) IF YOU’RE HAVING TROUBLE WRITING IT OUT, TRY TALKING IT OUT
You can either talk to yourself, talk to your pet dog/cat, or talk to someone else (like me!) And while you’re at it, record it. Many students find that they can talk much more fluidly about themselves and that even if they hit a roadblock, it’s easier to talk through it because you don’t feel pressured to set your words into stone (or in our case, your computer screen). Talk through the ideas you want to include in your essay, talk about what you want to show/don’t want to show in your essays, and talk about how you’d like your essay to look in terms of structure, content, message, etc. Then transcribe what you’ve just said, word for word, onto your screen. While you may be cringing about how many times you’ve said “like” or “you know” etc, you may be surprised to find how many sharp insights have come from your lips that you barely remember saying.
2) COLLEGE ADMISSIONS OFFICERS ARE NOT LOOKING FOR A SUPERHUMAN
Are you staring at those viral memes about the incredibly accomplished/smart applicants who have successful businesses/sold an app/have other “wow” factors and didn’t get into any of their schools? And are you wondering what chance you, with your normal stats and typical activities, have of getting into any college at all?
You have just as good of a shot as anyone, because colleges aren’t looking for extraordinary - they’re looking for a good potential student. And what does a good student look like? It looks like someone who has something they want to learn and who’s willing to put in the necessary work. Not someone who’s so amazingly accomplished that they have nothing they need to learn.
What other qualities do colleges seek?
They don’t want perfect people. They want people who take accountability for their mistakes because they know you’ll be making at least one mistake during your college career
They want someone who is genuinely excited about attending their college because they’re pretty proud of the work they’ve put into building their program
They want someone who can work well with others because collaboration is at the heart of academia
So, revisiting those incredibly accomplished people and why they didn’t get into any of their top schools, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense why they didn’t get in: they were probably so busy showcasing their achievements that they forgot that a college is ultimately a place where students go to learn, not brag.
3) NO ESSAY COMES OUT IN IT’S FINAL FORM
Ok, you’re not going to like this one, but here it is: no one’s first draft is their final draft. Bad news: you’re going to have to put some work into making multiple drafts. Good news: what you write doesn’t have to be perfect until you get to your final draft. So during your initial stages of making your essay, don’t worry about perfect form or eloquent sentences. You can brainstorm, you can make bullet points, you can draw a flow chart of how you want your essay to go. Then, go back and try fitting your pieces together and seeing what needs to be fleshed out and what you could probably do without. And then go take a break and come back to review your draft with fresh eyes. What do you like? What do you dislike? Where could you go deeper? Rinse and repeat until it’s time to press submit.
4) NO NEED TO BE EXCESSIVELY GRAND OR FORMAL
Here’s a little secret: as much as you dislike writing college essays, chances are your admissions readers dislike reading them even more. If you think about it, they have to read thousands and thousands of essays every day. Sounds painful to me. So try to make your essay enjoyable for them to read. If you can make it humorous, great. If you can leave them with a warm and fuzzy feeling, great. And if none of these sounds like you, see if you can make it sound like a conversation rather than a speech or *shudder* an academic journal. Trust me; making your essay easy and fun to read is what will make it memorable.
5) ASK FOR OPINIONS, BUT REMEMBER THAT IT’S ULTIMATELY YOUR ESSAY
Feedback is great, and it can be valuable! Some of the people who can provide great insight are:
your high school counselor
the teacher who will be writing your recommendations
a sibling/relative/friend who was recently admitted to college.
Some of the questions you can ask them are:
From this essay, what can you learn about me?
What kind of emotions did you feel while you were reading this essay?
Where are some areas you think I could improve?
But remember: feedback is subjective and you aren’t obligated to take all - or any - of the advice you receive. In fact, you may find you receive different feedback from different individuals; your counselor may love your anecdotes while a friend may find them tedious. What one person finds humorous may come across as frivolous to another. So it’s always important to keep in mind that you are ultimately behind the wheel and you’re the one who gets to steer your essay in the direction you want it to go.
So that’s it for now; if you want to talk further, we’re always here to help. And while I know that the thought of getting through your college essays may seem like you’re entering a tunnel with no foreseeable end, let me also tell you this: every student I have worked with in the past 15 years has emerged unscathed from the college application process, and almost every single one of them comes back after a year and tells me “I don’t know why the underclassmen are complaining so much about college essays. It really isn’t so bad”.