If you’ve ever asked a senior, what they thought was the hardest part of the application process chances are, they will say it was writing the personal essays. Having spent hours upon hours brainstorming about my life, writing drafts and then scrapping them at 3 am, I would probably say the same.
Trying to make your multi-faceted personality shine through a mere 650 words is no easy task – which is why in this post, I’ve included tried and tested tips to help you answer those dreaded prompts.
Note: If you’re still unsure of the words college essay and prompt and what exactly a prompt looks like, before proceeding, I’d advise you at to take a look at my previous article Surviving College Essays (Part 1). It’s all been explained there.
#1 When To Start?
EARLY. Always, always start early. Leaving the essay section for the night before the deadline may sound very cool and tempting, but believe me when I say that, that is NOT what you want to do. These essays aren’t things that you could finish in one sitting. You’ll need time to think, write a few lines and see if you’re setting the right tone, and then think in a new way to create something better. After a gazillion other drafts, I finished the first good draft of my Common App essay, sometime in late November – it never, ever hurts to work ahead of the deadline.
#2 Which One Should You Write First?
The number of essays you need to write will, of course, vary depending on where you’re applying. Say, for example, each of your universities requires 5 short essays along with the common app essay – always go for the Common App essay first. This 650-word piece sets the theme for your whole app and once it’s done you’ll feel tons more relaxed.
#3 How To Begin Writing:
As mentioned in my previous article, these essays are slices of your life. They should each be a meaningful, touching story that reflects an important piece of your character. Notice how I’ve emphasized the term story; your essays should not list your extracurriculars or your grades – the examiners already know those. What they don’t know is the real you and you don’t to express that without boring them.
When I began writing my Common App essay, my first piece ended up becoming a story that was pretty to read but didn’t reflect me. I chose the background prompt and instead of focusing on the event that literally shaped my whole life (my transition from England to Bangladesh) I wrote things that didn’t matter as much. At the very end, I realized that the shift in countries and culture was what I should have been writing all along!
Think about your own life… what important event impacted you the most and changed your personality into the way it is now? How did it impact you? Did this event develop your diverse nature/make you more mature? This should be your main essay.
#4 Samples:
Yes, samples do help a little. There’s no harm in reading the ‘50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays’ book; it will help you understand how your writing should read like a story, and not a personality trait or accomplishment list. What you shouldn’t do from samples is, first of all, copy from them (obviously) and secondly, be overwhelmed. I mean, the book contains some great samples from amazing students – but just because someone, for example, built a car in their garage when they were a kid, does not mean you need have done the same. Just be you.
Quick tips while writing:
- When you feel as if you’ve got the right idea, immediately begin writing. Don’t hesitate.
- Make your work interesting! Admissions officers like essays that make them really feel emotion. Not negative emotion mind you, but a good feeling. Essays that bore don’t work.
- DO NOT COPY samples. It’s boring, easy to detect and will not be counted as your own work.
- Try not to get too attached to what you write – almost all of it will at one point, need to be scrapped.
- Scrapping work is normal – you’ll need to do it, to get the best results.
- DO NOT DELETE scrapped work. You may need this material later on for another essay.
- Begin writing only when you’re in a calm, pleasant mood. Writing in times of negative emotion doesn’t help.
- Tell the truth. Don’t make up lies in your essays; the admission officers should get to know how you really are, in order to decide how well you would fit into their college.
Finally, remember that the smallest events make for the best essays. Once, a piece of my laptop’s hardware was malfunctioning and instead of immediately taking it to the store, I taught myself how to fix it. I managed for about two weeks before it had to be taken to be repaired – those two weeks ended up contributing to one of my essays.
I hope you enjoyed my two-part write-up on vanquishing the college essay for good. If you haven’t already, you might want to check out part one: there’s a keyword-highlighted version of the latest 2017-18 Common App essay prompts, if you’re interested :)
Feel free to leave any questions or feedback you may have; I’ll answer them as best I can.
Suha
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