Writing College Essays
Writing Your Personal Statement
We cannot overemphasize the importance of your personal statement in your college application. Admissions officers look to your personal statement not only to evaluate your writing skill, but also to learn about your motivations, character, and aspirations. A powerful personal helps your application reader understand the human being behind all the impersonal data, thereby distinguishing you from other highly qualified applicants. Lastly, as application deadlines approach, you cannot do much to change your GPA, extracurricular achievements, or SAT scores, but you still have complete control over the quality of your essays. For all of these reasons, we recommend starting early, choosing a topic carefully, and writing many drafts to arrive at an exceptional personal statement.
When writing your essay, try to keep the bigger picture in mind. The admissions officer reviewing your application may have read hundreds of other essays over the past few days. He or she will receive a package that includes your transcript, test scores, recommendation letters, and essays, and will use these various pieces to achieve the best possible understanding of you. Though your academic record and extracurriculars will communicate certain things, he or she must look to your essay to answer these questions:
· How do you think, and what experiences have influenced your outlook?
· What values, goals, and commitments are important to you?
· Can you observe and describe events in an insightful way?
· Are you a good writer?
An effective essay will go deep enough to reveal your personal process of development and how your experiences have influenced your outlook. Above all, you should strive to convey the best version of yourself, and to make your essay unique and personal.
Choosing a Topic:
One strategy for choosing a topic, is to make a graphical map or timeline depicting activities, events, and/or relationships that have shaped your identity. If you cannot decide on one event or experience to write about, start writing about two different ones. You may end up trying three or more topics before you decide upon one that represents you well.
Students from low-income families have often overcome challenges that can become excellent college essay material. For instance, Quest students in the past have written about working to support their siblings, surviving unhealthy home environments, and immigrating to the US (if you choose immigrating as your topic, you may need to work hard to make it unique and personal). The challenge when writing about a serious or emotional topic is to avoid conveying a dark or troubled tone. An essay that is too heavy can hurt your application. This approach is not right for everyone, but if you can address a major obstacle in a mature, upbeat way, your essay will demonstrate your strength and resilience in the face of adverse circumstances.
Choose a topic that only you can write about. Brainstorm topics that reveal something central about your personality or background. Only choose a common topic (see below) if you believe you can address it in a fresh, unique, and meaningful way.
Write about something meaningful to you. If you feel passionate about your topic, you will write more vividly. However, you do not need to identify one deep, macrocosmic event that altered the course of your whole life. Most people do not experience such events, and pinpointing one may sound forced and artificial. You can write powerfully about one of the many places, experiences and people that have shaped you.
Be candid and personal. The most effective essays are sincere and self-reflective. Your goal is to capture the best version of your true self, rather than tell the story you think the reader wants to hear.
Focus your essay. Many students choose to use a narrative form. Others may anchor their essay with a description of a scene or a piece of art. Whatever form you choose, make it concrete and specific. Sharp, colorful details paint a more memorable, definite picture.
Give it a beginning, middle, and end. The most compelling essays tell a story to help engage the reader. Some literally narrate a single event, while others string together anecdotes to describe a longer process of development. Focus especially on writing an introduction that draws the reader in, and conclusion that leaves a positive final impression.
Common topics. Some topics appear frequently in college essays. If you choose one of these, make sure you can write about it in an exceptional way. Because admissions officers have read many other essays on this topic, you will have to work even harder to make your essay unique.
The following list of common topics comes from Harry Bauld’s On Writing the College Application Essay:
The Trip, “Visiting __________ changed my life…”
You should only choose this topic if you can use the trip as a springboard to talk about fundamental aspects of your identity. For instance, a student from Guatemala could write an excellent essay about returning to explore his or her familial and cultural roots.
My Room (“My room perfectly illustrates who I am…”)
The Big Issue (World Peace, etc.)
Tales of My Success (“I’m student body president and…”)
Admissions officers can read your activities list. However, you may want to choose one of your activities or achievements and explore it more deeply.
The Jock Essay (“Football taught me how to work as a team…”)
If you are an exceptional athlete, and your sport is an important part of your life, you may be able to write a strong essay on this topic. However, make sure you can delve beneath the surface to convey a unique message.
The Autobiography (“I was born on April 17th, 1980.”)
Other topics that QuestBridge has seen frequently, and which generally are not effective:
“The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was enrolling in all AP’s and risking not getting a 4.0”
“My boyfriend/girlfriend changed my life . . .”
Historical figure (Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt)
This topic often fails to communicate anything unique about the student. You should write about something that you have experienced first-hand in order to achieve the level of detail and candidness that makes a great essay.
Style and Format:
Your writing style says a great deal about you. Your facility with words, the metaphors and descriptive words you use, and even your punctuation and sentence length can give the reader ideas about your skill as a writer and also your character.
Be professional. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting should all be flawless. If your essay appears unprofessional, this says to the reader that you have not taken your college application seriously.
Be concise. Use as few words as you can to convey each idea effectively. This sharpens your writing, and makes efficient use of limited space.
Choose words that feel natural. Avoid using obscure words because you think they sound impressive. Instead, select the word that communicates your idea most effectively.
Pay particular attention to tone. Choose words that convey a mature, positive attitude. Your reader will form impressions based as much upon how you say things as what you say.
Use sophisticated style and structure. Choose active rather than passive verbs, and vary the length and structure of your sentences. Use transitions and topic sentences to guide your reader through your story. Your English teacher may be willing to read your essay and help you with these elements.
Follow the guidelines for each essay’s suggested length.
Your challenge should be paring down an essay to fit in the space provided. If the first draft of your essay fits easily within the word limit, you probably have not delved deep enough or provided enough detail to make your essay revealing and personal.
Ask family, close friend, teachers, and others who know you well to critique your essay. In addition to helping you with mechanical elements like style and grammar, your readers can also tell you whether they hear your voice in the essay.
Finally, perfecting your essay will require many drafts. Give yourself plenty of time to experiment and revise.
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