Writing the college application essay is one of the most difficult things students have to do in preparing their college application essays. Most of the required essays are a very different style than students are used to writing in their high school English classes. Their Personal Statement for the Common Application is probably the most widely required essay that the students I work with have to write. Don’t worry about the prompts yet. We have found that almost any well-written essay can be matched to an appropriate prompt. So let’s get started:
1. Choose a topic-One of the most challenging things for students is figuring out what to write about. The best way to start is to brainstorm ideas about yourself that you would want the college to know. This should be something not too apparent when looking at the rest of your application. It should be something unique about you that makes you different than other applicants. I once had a student who wrote about doing the Funky Chicken on the pier at Pismo. Of course, there was more to the story.
2. Show, don’t tell– Once you have a topic, take the reader to the peak of the action by telling a short anecdote. Write it in first person so the reader can “see” what you experienced. One of my favorite anecdotes was about a dance audition. The twist was that it was written by a male athlete who had never danced before.
3. Develop the body-Once you have shown the readers the peak of the action, take them back to where the story started and tell how it unfolded. The dancer/athlete went back to the time when his friends nagged at him to audition for their school musical. Of course he had no idea he would be chosen for a lead that required a solo dance. See how that worked? They should be able to see the problem the athlete faced.
4. Explain why your story matters– This is perhaps the most important part of your personal statement. The college wants to know what you learned from this story, and why it matters. The dancer-athlete who was a 4.0+ student, learned that if he worked hard enough, he could learn to do something that was difficult for him to do. It matters because he was facing a long and difficult path to medical school but he knows he can do it. And he will!
5. Conclusion-Although all personal statements do not need a “formal” conclusion, I always love an ending that makes the reader think…”Wow! That was not expected”. Or, “Wow! That was an amazing twist”. Or something else that will make the reader remember the student. I like to compare it to what the judges always say in America’s Got Talent. If the judges love the candidate, they give them a “yes” and they say because “I will remember you”. If the candidate gets a “no” it is because their performance is not memorable.
Students need to use their own voice in the essays they write for their college applications. They need to tell the reader something they cannot find anywhere else in the application. It should focus on a short “slice of life” and it must make the student memorable!
