Tell me a story - through your college application

I love stories. I always have.  From Make Way for Ducklings to Blueberries for Sal to The Trolley Car Family, I have always been enthralled with books. I dreamt about life in colonial Boston with Johnny Tremain, and I’ve walked the moors with Jane Eyre. I almost majored in political science because of Advise and Consent, the first of Allen Drury’s political thrillers, and I loved the real-life drama found in biographies of Kit Carson and Catherine Graham. Stories, both real and fictional, make people come to life and help me see them in ways that often exceed my imagination (both good and bad).

A college application is itself a story, only it is the story of you.  Though some applications don’t require much more than name, address, and school name, many of them offer students a chance to connect with a reader on a different level.  At their best, college applications provide insight into who you are, what you value, what you might imagine your future to look like. It lets you color in the blank spaces that your transcript and test scores cannot communicate.  Yet telling your story, especially to total strangers (like an admissions rep), is difficult, because a good story also asks you to open up, to be vulnerable. 

Now, I’m not suggesting you tell colleges your deepest, darkest secrets, but there are several ways you can convey your story in an application.

Many colleges ask “why do you want to attend this college?” or something similar. A well-crafted answer can illustrate how much you know about the school, but it also allows you the opportunity to show the wide variety of your academic interests, or it lets you connect your quirkier side to a student group on campus.  You can describe how excited you were to sit in on a Politics of Global Immigration class during your visit junior year, or you can discuss how you would take advantage of their entrepreneurship program.  You can mention your immediate connection to your tour guide, or you can talk about people watching at the popular coffee shop just off campus. Perhaps you have already heard about the music professor that you must have before you graduate, or you can describe how overwhelmed you were the first time you attended Lessons and Carols in the college chapel. Tell a story about your visit, make it personal, make it authentic. One word of caution: if you can substitute any college name in your answer, then you’re not trying very hard, and this is not the place to tell them how good you look in their school colors.

“Describe one of your activities” is another common application question, and again, it is a chance to reveal something about yourself.  Yes, you take AP art, but do colleges know that about your passion for Tromp Loy, a style of pottery that means to fool the eye in French, and that this art form is what helped you learn to do everything with purpose?  Do they know how your afternoons at the local recreation center have taught you more about the value of community and shared space than any classroom lesson ever could?

Of course, your college essay is perhaps the ultimate opportunity to tell your story - the exact moment when you understood why you have been called to be a nurse, the conversation that showed you why your stubbornness wasn’t the positive attribute you thought it was, the relationship that taught you what it really meant to be lonely or afraid.  The college essay requires you to dig deep, to look past the obvious, to take risks, to examine what happened and why. Too many students lament that nothing has ever happened to them, but I’ve read moving essays on what it’s like to be the last one picked for a softball team or how it felt to realize for the first time that you did not share your parent’s political convictions.  I’ve read beautiful essays on the mystical connection between a student and a violin, the joys of backbreaking work in a garden, and a girl’s obsession with pajamas.  These were not life-altering events, but they were moments in time that had meaning.

We all have a story to tell, and more often than not, it is the little things, the everyday moments, that yield the best results. That’s the part of life we all recognize, and those are the stories that can make our hearts laugh or cry. And at the end of a good story, we’ve learned something about the writer and even perhaps ourselves.

So, what is your story? Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to tell it.  If it’s real, it will be good enough.

Writing Your College Essay

It's about that time of year.  Seniors are gearing up for their college essay (or already writing it), and that makes this advice from the University of Richmond all that more important.  However, I particularly like the comments about the college search process as a whole.  If it's just a series of checkboxes and jumping through hoops, then you will miss an opportunity to discover something valuable about yourself, and ultimately your essays may not be very interesting.  Take a few minutes to read the article and take the advice to heart.

And thanks to a GPS senior for sending me the link.

2015-16 Common App Prompts

If you haven't already seen the new Common Applications essay prompts for 2015-16, they were released a few weeks ago.  Although the wording has changed on the first three, the questions are essentially the same.  (The changes are noted in italics.)  Question #4 is really the only new question, replacing the "describe a place where you are perfectly content" prompt.

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Essay Tips

We've posted essay advice before, but it never hurts to be reminded of a few things, and these tips are as good as any.  Sometimes I think students try so hard to write the perfect essay (or the perfect angel essay, as the author describes it), that it is not very authentic.  It's more about who they want to be - or what they think the college wants to hear - rather then who they really are. 

To get started, the writer suggests you interview other people who know you well - parents, grandparents, friends, even teachers - and ask them what they know about you.  They may remember experiences that you have forgotten all about, or they may be able to recall events that help you illustrate your ideas.  They just can't write the essay for you!

You could also try an exercise we did at application boot camp this year.  Using lots of colored markers and crayons, we asked each student to draw a big picture of herself and then begin listing adjectives, holidays, people, vacations, memories...anything they could think of off the picture. They also talked to the people next to them to get ideas, but the end result was some possible essay topics.  Come to think about it, it was kind of like interviewing yourself, and for some students, it worked. 

Just remember girls, you're not trying to write the next great American novel. It's only an essay, and as long as you stay true to yourself, it will be good.

Writing Your College Essay

My seniors, and probably all seniors everywhere, are busy working on their college essays.  They have the new Common Application prompts (although not all of them are using them), and their English teachers are critiquing, suggesting, smiling, frowning - perhaps all of the above.  Many counselors and teachers do suggest student shy away from topics such as "the big game," or "my trip to Spain," but in reality, you can write about those topics as long as they are genuine and true to who you are.  You just have to be careful that they don't sound cliché. But as this author says, "The first-person pronoun is a mighty tool. Use it."  Keep reading for more essay advice.

The College Essay

College applications tend to be fairly cut and dry.  They ask for your name, address, parents name, school information, and activities, and some of them will ask you a few additional short answer questions like "Why do you want to go to school here?"  That one is actually important, but the real opportunity to say something about yourself is the long essay (or if you're doing the Common Application, the 650 word essay).  The essay is, as this article states, your chance to say something about who you are - something that doesn't otherwise appear on your application.  So, when you sit down to write you that essay, you might do well to consider these five simple rules.

Speaking of applications, here is some additional advice on what not to do on your college application.

Good Advice for Juniors

There are two very thoughtful articles that are worth the attention of every junior right now.  The first is titled "Choosing a Practical Major," and it argues that recognizing your interests and aptitudes are an important part of figuring out your major.

The second article, "Decoding the Common App's Essay Prompts," is a good way to get started thinking about next year's college essay.  While it is a little early to actually write the entire essay, it's not too early to begin brainstorming ideas that might make for a compelling response.