Prework
Your Writing Voice
The essay is NOT about when your team won the state championship, or the homeless kids you met on a church trip to Panama, or the time you were robotics team captain, or even why Hamilton is your favorite play. However, it about how this event impacted and changed you. This is an opportunity to reflect on the experiences you’ve had. Are you a different person as a result? If so, how? Is there something significant you learned about yourself?
Everyday Experiences
When students trust the process and allow their story to develop naturally, the essay isn’t so overwhelming. Some of the best essays build on everyday experiences that create a beautiful story. It’s often the simple things that we don’t think twice about. A student who dropped a shift at work to babysit a younger sibling. An annual family camping trip on the beach. A student trying out for a role in the school play or pet sitting for the neighbor’s cat.
We learn valuable life lessons during these seemingly ordinary moments, and it’s in these moments that our most genuine traits bubble to the surface.
Standing Out
Essays are a great place to showcase your strengths. Like many other students, you’ve participated in a variety of activities. These accomplishments will be listed on your application, so don’t make the mistake of using up valuable word space re-listing all your activities in your essay. Instead, you want to use the essay to tell the admissions readers something NEW about you that they can’t glean from your application. Beyond the facts - the grades, test scores, and the activities - admissions readers are trying to answer this question: “Who is this student?” The essay acts as an invitation to get to know you on a personal level and can substitute for an interview (something that most colleges don’t have the time to do). This is your opportunity to stand out and shine and tell your story. But, how will your essay stand out amongst the sea of other essays? The secret is your writing voice. Your voice is what makes your essay unique because no one can tell your story better than you.
It's OK to Sound Like a Student!
Admission officers expect you to write like a 17 or 18-year-old because you are - so DON’T try to write like an adult! Eyebrows will be raised if your essay sounds too “adult-ish.” The voice of a 17-year-old student is far different from a 50-year-old and college admissions readers can 100% tell the difference! Want to kill your chances for admission? Give the school a reason to NOT admit you by leaving the impression that you didn’t write your own essay or that you had a lot of hands perfecting your essay. This is why I don’t recommend asking your parents or your English teacher for input or feedback. Parents want to be helpful, but they unknowingly erase your voice from the essay and quickly insert their own. English teachers treat the college essay as an academic paper and don’t understand what admissions officers are looking for in the essay. Students often find their feedback frustrating because it conflicts with mine. Hold off on collecting input from others. You’ll have the opportunity in the final steps to seek other’s input if you decide to do so.
Your writing voice is unique to you. That’s what will make your essay special.
Your Unique Voice
Right about now, you might be feeling a little anxious or panicky and maybe you fall into the camp of, “I don’t know my writing voice!” Your writing voice is just as distinctive as your speaking voice, and trust me, it’s in there! Are you witty? Thoughtful? Quirky? Do you write flowery sentences or do you tell it like it is? Guess what? That voice will come through in your essay. Let go of trying to sound like something you’re not - that’s not going to serve you well. Just be your authentic self.
Here’s an example of an opening line of a college essay: "I would have never guessed I had intestinal parasites dining on my insides."
What’s your first thought? Ewww! Yuck! Gross! Am I right? However, it’s an intriguing first line. It caught the attention of the admissions team at the University of Oregon, made them read on, helping them to decide to admit this student to the U of O Honors College. The student was successful in achieving her goal: she explained what happened in a way that made the reader want to know more.
Next, she detailed why it mattered in a compelling story about how an auto-immune condition led to new lifestyle routines focused on stress management and a desired career path in health care. The bottom line is that the authentic story about intestinal parasites worked. It drew the reader in, making them want to know more, while letting them get to know the student on a deeper level. It wasn’t just about intestinal parasites, it was how the student grew from that experience.
Can I use ChatGPT?
Do you want your essay to blend in with all other essays or would you stand out? If you want your application to shine, then don’t use Chat GPT. While it can produce a solid essay, it doesn’t create one that will stand out in a crowd and admissions readers can absolutely tell when an essay is "vanilla" sounding and doesn't include unique details. Also, some schools forbid the use of ChatGPT and run essays through plagiarism dedectors.
What Should I Write About?
The college essay is different from any other writing assignment you’ve done. It’s likely the first time that you will write about yourself in the first person. Many students are uncertain about what to write about and it’s probably the first time you’ll write something that directly impacts your future. Embrace it. There are not many off-limits topics. Focus on topics that include aspects of personal growth and insight.
The essay is NOT a five-paragraph high school paper or report. It’s also NOT an opportunity to “sell” yourself to a school or try to make a case for why a college should pick you over other students. You are, however, required to do one thing: answer the prompt. And in the process, we want to invite the reader to meet the wonderful person that you are.
In a few minutes we'll start brainstorming some essay ideas!