The College Application essay. Oh! the passport to my enrollment into MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale and Brown. Yes, I am willing to give an arm and a leg to get into those Ivy League schools !!! How do I go about writing an earth shattering essay ? What can I write about that will floor the college admission officers, tip the scales in my favor and clear the passage for my entry into one of the topnotch schools ?
You have heard it all. You have seen this before. Prospective students scrambling at the last minute to complete the essay before the deadline, and sending it across to various colleges and earnestly hoping that the essay will get them a seat in those mouthwatering Ivy League schools or at the very least in some reputed colleges. Students straining every sinew and nerve to get into the best colleges in this highly competitive and pressure cooker environment.
Relax and breathe easy !!! The essay should not be a matter of life and death. There are more important matters like SAT scores, AP performances, Class GPA, Academic Index and so on that are going to decide which college you go to. However never underestimate the power of the essay. For one, scholarships require essays. That apart, in a close call, tight odds and stakes, at crunch time it is the essay that could be the deal breaker, the vital ingredient that could just give you the edge, the slender advantage over certain other students with similar credentials, candidates who are in your ballpark of performance. You could get a slim but sufficient lead to nose ahead of the competition and prevail in the photofinish. The essay could very well turn out to be the distinguishing and decisive factor in your acceptance into a major college.
But first things first. How do you go about writing an essay, even a good one ? I spent some hours figuring this out, visiting websites, watching videos, listening to lectures, and have come up with some pointers which I believe are worth reading. Where do we begin ? Let us start with a typical story and slowly build up the momentum.
A favorite and overused essay is one that begins with: "The cold wind was biting into our limbs as we struggled desperately to reach the summit" and concludes with something like: "I learnt that no matter how hard it is, if you really stretch yourself you will surely succeed." A good percentage of the college essays are a variation on the above two lines, give or take some words, and will not help sway the college admission counselors to vote in your favour. Another very common theme amongst students is writing about some community service they did, how they helped mankind, how they went to the Katrina-ravaged community in New Orleans to rebuild houses, how they found some wonderful people suffering there, got along well with them, and towards the end were feeling depressed to leave them. Fairly predictable and monotonous. Yet another ad nauseum topic is a kind of eulogy or obituary to a grandfather or relative who meant a lot to you: "I remember grandma telling me bedtime stories about how much difficulty she had to go through to raise three kids, and now they are all grown up but my grandma is no longer in this world".
While you can accuse me of stereotyping many candidates you can be sure that I am being blunt in stating the facts. College counselors, in general, are not going to be all that impressed by these narrations. They have seen hundreds of voluntary service stories and any number of want-to-remove-the-world-
You have to write an essay that defies categorization but comes from a flashpoint in your life. Don't hesitate to be a nonconformist. You don't need to write what your friends write. You are your own person. The essay has got to be unique since it is only you who went through it, nobody else has experienced it, and it should show your behavior, attitude, mentality, personality and approach without you having to enumerate it out. You have to put it in such a way that it should capture their attention, and the officer reading your essay should start thinking: "My goodness, I never looked at the world that way. This is a wholly new and different perspective". If you have done or achieved something truly remarkable, write about that experience so that they can see and appreciate the level of commitment and dedication you have shown. If you do not have any outstanding achievement to talk about, don't worry. You can still come up with a fascinating story.
Read the following extract before we go further:
Though we did not have the chance to regularly play fast bowling of international quality, I made up some unusual drills for myself. I would tell my team members to throw down tennis balls from 15 yards, to simulate what playing the fast bowlers might feel like. I got many puzzled looks, to many it seemed like a waste of time. For me it felt like essential preparation for everything that was to come. By this time I was being talked about as a national probable I even captained the Indian Under-19 team. One question I got wherever I went was: "When are you going to play for the country?" Now this is not something I had any control over but the question began to dominate my life and my game. I ended up playing five years of domestic cricket before getting my national grade. It was frustrating. I remember putting a sticker on my Kinetic Honda which read: "God's delays are not God's denials." It was a gentle reminder to myself to keep faith, when I started the scooter engine and loaded my kit bag in the morning.
Looking back now I don't think I would have been prepared for the battles and the success I had at the international level had I not gone through the finishing tool that domestic cricket provided. Spin or fast bowling, easy or difficult batting conditions, I was well prepared for anything. The opportunity that I had got to play experienced spinners in the Ranji Trophy helped me play Shane Warne and Muralitharan with confidence. Those tennis ball drills did not seem all that silly when I played the likes of McGrath, Wasim Akram and Allan Donald on tough pitches. When I speak to youngsters I like talking about this phase of my life, likening it to a fascinating plant which I am going to entangle.
You can take a Chinese bamboo seed and plant it in the ground, water and nurture that for an entire year. You will not see any sprout. In fact you will not see a sprout for 5 years. But suddenly a tiny shoot will spring from the ground. Over the next 6 weeks the plant can grow as tall as 90 feet. It can grow as fast as 39 inches every 24 hours. You can literally watch the plant grow. What was the plant doing in those five years, seemingly dormant? It was growing its roots. For five full years, it was preparing itself for rapid massive growth. Without its roots structure the plant could not simply support itself for future growth. Some say that the plant grew 90 feet in 6 weeks. I would say it grew 90 feet in 5 years and 6 weeks. This period tested my faith and my willingness to believe in my own talent at the beginning of my journey.
----- End of the essay.
The above extract is not from an actual essay but from a speech given by the well known Indian Test cricketer Rahul Dravid. It took Dravid a few years to break into the Indian team but he never gave up hope, as he mentions about the message sticker he put on his scooter to keep reminding himself never to lose faith. And when he finally made it to the Indian team at the age of 23, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and made it big. The message is loud and clear !!!
The essay, as you can see above is very inspirational. Inspirational to you as well as to others. The colleges are always looking for candidates who are well rounded, driven, self motivated, inspired and can motivate others to give off their best. They are looking for students who are unique and who can bring a positive vibe, a vibrant diversified atmosphere to the community with their fresh breath of creativity. People who can think outside the box. People who can accomplish. But before I go too far let me get back my feet firmly on the ground . You need not have found a cure for cancer nor do you need to possess Albert Einstein's intellect. The colleges know it.
When you start your essay try to grab your reader's attention in the very first statement you make. You need to begin with a bang. Go for the jugular. Plumb your depths about what you want to say. Don't have a timid opening in your essay: "My name is Shreya and I am an 11th grader studying in ..........". Get off to a rapidfire start. Begin something on the lines of: "As I got into the crowded train and noticed a short, young woman trying to hold on to her child while not letting go of her purse .........". Spark their curiosity and make them hold their breath while reading your essay. Maintain the tempo and never let it flag. Show a keen sense of genuine interest in writing the essay. Introduce some intrigue, bring in some suspense. Make it colorful. Give it a punch. Add some humor for good measure. A little levity can cover a multitude of sins. The readers will love it.
Most importantly, sell your story. This is your personal story, your personal life. Don't hold back. Be very forthcoming. Pour your heart out. Tell them your unique story. This is not the time to be laidback. Be clear about what makes you special. Write about very specific situations. Do not be abstract. Feel free to state the facts. Your perspective and presentation are much more important than the actual topic itself as long as the topic is not in the run-of-the-mill category that I mentioned earlier. Do not brag or exaggerate. Do not come across as stretching the truth or misleading. Be as honest as possible but do your best within the framework. Strive for clarity, vision and brevity. Do not go out of your way to use impressive vocabulary words or complex sentences. Keep it simple. It does not have to be structured beyond a certain level. Use anecdotes. Avoid fluff and boasting. Don't show prejudice. It makes no sense to use Shakespearean vocabulary. Do not use certain words in this article, especially the difficult ones that I have written. I am an adult --- in case you have not figured it out yet !!!
Follow Ernest Hemingway's principle: "Show, don't tell". Incorporate various kinds of texts to enable the reader to experience the story through action, words, thoughts, senses and feelings rather than through your elaboration, summary and description. Your goal should be not to put the reader to sleep through overblown adjectives but rather to allow the reader to interpret and absorb significant details in the text. Do not come up with trite and superficial statements like I am the leader of our organization, I have leadership skills, other students look to me for directions, I am a good mentor, I love to be challenged, and so on. Be more on the side of writing about how you tutored some students, how you taught Calculus skills to a classmate, or how exactly you helped your group to ace the dance performance in the school event. Or what thought process you came up with to beat those mediocre performances in your early years and turned the tables over the last few years to be able to get to the point where you are sitting pretty now. Rather than explicitly explaining what sort of a person you are, let it come across in your essay on its own.
Have a trustworthy friend read your write-up and ask her the gut feeling she got about your personality by just reading the essay, as if she had never met you before. Ask her to be as honest as possible. This is not the time for diplomacy, white lies or being nice. It's your life, your career that is on the line. While the essay is not going to make or break your future it will certainly play a crucial role in shaping your path to a certain extent. If the response from your friend is anything less than effusive praise it's back to the drawing board for you. Ask your parents to proofread the essay but make it clear to them that it is you who is writing the essay. Parents, being adults, have a tendency to edit your essay and inadvertently remove all the vitality and innocence in it and make it too polished and perfectly groomed. I am sure this is true with all parents --- including me, of course !! Admissions officers catch it if an adult has filtered the write-up. Moreover if you have written a family story, parents may not feel comfortable about you airing your home grievances to an audience. Exercise caution and just don't cross the line when it comes to a family story. Remember, you are writing this to people who are deciding your entry into college.
Never treat the writing of the essay as a chore. Think of it as a privilege. Utilize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get across aspects of your personality that do not show up in other places on your application. Look at it as an artist who would use a paint brush and paint a beautiful and scenic landscape. Come up with a creative way to express your unique attributes. You will be pleasantly surprised that you can pull it off. And you will find that writing an essay is no longer confusing, daunting or overwhelming. It is neither intimidating nor an arduous task. On the contrary it is a rewarding experience and you will enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
I hope my write-up is going to be beneficial to all the youngsters who have taken the time to read it and apply at least some of the techniques and suggestions I have put forth here. I also honestly believe that in my own, small way, no matter how minute it may be, I am preparing you to mentally gear up for the intensive challenges you will face in college and life beyond. And that one day many, many years from now you will hopefully be able to tell your grandchildren how you aced the college application essay and got into the college of your choice. Thank you, good luck and best wishes.
