Applying To College

College Essay Writing and Interview Skills

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Writing College Admissions Essays: Organize Your Thoughts

My college roommate Vera used to do a remarkable thing. She’d sit down and write a paper. Not one paragraph. Not two paragraphs. The entire thing. Start to finish, introduction to conclusion.

And then there was me, writing my outline, then writing, revising and editing.

How could she do that so fast? (Okay, besides the genius factor. I mean, who sits down and writes an entire college paper from their head? ) Here’s the answer: She didn’t. While I wrote my outline, Vera was thinking. I wrote it down, but she didn’t. We did the exact same thing in two different ways. We both spent time thinking before we started. We organized our thoughts.

When people ask me what college admissions readers are looking for in an essay I say three things:

  • How well you convey what’s unique and interesting about you
  • How well you write
  • How you structure and organize your thoughts

That’s the top three. If your thoughts are rambling and your ideas are scattered you might as well save the money for your application fee. So how do you organize your thoughts for a college admissions essay? The best way to start is with an outline.

If you need help getting starting, use this tried and true method: Divide your essay into three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.

Your introduction needs to be compelling enough to propel the reader into the rest of your essay. For example, you can ask a question that needs to be answered, or present an event in a way that reveals itself as the essay unfolds. In the body you answer that question or reveal that information. This is where you present your facts, tell your story, and include your details. You end with your conclusion.

Don’t know where to start with your outline? I’m with you. It can be tough to get going. So brainstorm. Take a quiet moment and think about your topic. Write down all the thoughts that come to you. All of them. Don’t edit yourself. Be creative. Ask yourself questions, and answer them. Think about details and write them down. Think about humorous things or sad things or what people said, and write that down, too. Let your mind take you and go there. You’ll have a treasure trove, I promise you. Then edit and organize those thoughts, and you’ll have a starting place for your outline.

The work that takes place before you begin to write is the hard part. Work on your outline. Make sense of your essay. Organize your thoughts. You’ll be well on your way to success.


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College Essay Writing: Will The College Think You’re A Match?

I had lunch this weekend with a friend from Norwalk, Connecticut, who told me about the essay help her daughter had gotten from a high school teacher. The teacher asked her students to be very creative with their ideas, and my friend’s daughter wrote about a dream to fly in hot air balloons.  My friend said the essay was good; it was interesting, filled with ideas and a good sense of self, and was, indeed, very creative. But it wasn’t a good submission for their daughter. Why? Because this young lady was applying to a physician assistant’s program, and her parents felt she needed to show that her goals matched the goals of the school. They were right.

If this young lady were an aspiring writer or pursuing another form of the arts, a creative essay on balloon flight might have served her well. But for her, the essay didn’t achieve an important purpose.

Colleges want to see that you can write creatively about your goals and aspirations. But colleges also want to see that you understand who THEY are. Do you understand their educational philosophy? Can you show them how you’ll fit in and make a positive contribution to their school? Are you a match?

Given the program she wanted to attend, this young lady hadn’t done that. She needed to make a change.

So my friend’s daughter wrote a different essay, discussing the influences in her life that led her to want to care for others. She was creative, but she also found ways to show the college that she was a good match for their program. It was a good essay choice. This year, her mother told me, she’s starting their physician assistant’s program.


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“Can I Write About Abortion?” and Other Controversial Application Essay Subjects

A few days ago a student I was working with from Stamford asked me if she could write about abortion.  Half an hour later she was back on the phone asking if she could write about drugs.

Should you write about controversial subjects in your college application essay? I don’t recommend it. You don’t know who’s reading your essay. He or she might have a real problem with the subject matter or the side of the topic you decide to take. You just don’t know. Why take the risk when the process is already so competitive?

If you still want to go ahead, you have to cover your subject matter maturely, from both sides. That’s not to say you can’t have your own ideas. You can and you should. But there’s no room for petulance.

Why, by the way, are you writing about this subject? Are you passionate about it? Do you have a personal experience dealing with it? Does it somehow reflect (or affect) your sense of self in the world,  your sense of right and wrong? I asked the young woman who called me, and she gave me an interesting answer. She said that lately some of her struggles with her parents had been over their differing ideas of right and wrong. She extrapolated from that, and ended up at abortion and drugs.

What had happened was the student started with a personal experience, and then, feeling she had to have a “big topic,” chose one that she actually had very little connection to.  The connection she had was to her own experience, her own sense of right and wrong. I asked her to think about that and perhaps develop it into what could be a compelling essay — a true personal statement.

Every college essay has to reflect the writer — who you are, your interests, your goals and personality.  If you’re going to write about a controversial subject you’re taking a risk. But ultimately the subject has to boil down to you.