Don’t channel stuffed potatoes or exploding cauliflower. Or wise old men.
Channel an idea.
Your college application is a story. A story about you are and who you want to be, how your interests and passions have shaped you and most importantly, why the school you’ve chosen is the next chapter in that story.
And the college essay, or many, sometimes even more many, essays, are an important element of college applications. Especially US applications whether you’re applying for an undergrad degree or a Phd.
Please don’t think you can churn out an essay in an evening or the night before your applications are due. You need a few weeks at least. A few months to really think about who you are and what you want to say, mull over and sleep on drafts, get feedback and comments from teachers, counselors, friends and family. You might wonder why you need so much time and feedback but these are all ways of getting to the bottom of what you really want to say. It really does take time. Especially because your brain does a lot of the work when you’re not looking. When you’re not writing, thinking, obsessing about your essay is when your brain is at its subliminal best.
So start early. At the latest, the beginning of the summer before the year you hope to start college. In the US, that’s the summer before your senior year. In the UK, that’s the summer before Year 13. Latest.
For each school you’re applying to, make a list of all the essays, including supplementals and short answer questions. Write short notes or make a bullet list of what you think you might want to say in response to each. This way you won’t end up repeating yourself. That’s something you absolutely don’t want to do. Do not waste precious space repeating yourself.
Read and re-read the prompt for all your college essays. We have seen far too many essays where the applicant clearly didn’t read beyond the first line of the prompt and ended up responding to some other prompt entirely. Also, make time to just read.
Write an outline. Write a draft. Step away from it for a few days. Come back and edit it. Sleep on it. Come back to it again. Edit again and send it off for opinions and advice. Make sure you give your editorial team time to read it thoroughly. A week would be considerate. Edit again based on the feedback you received. Sleep on it again. Finalize your draft and share with one other reviewer. Do a final edit and proofread with spellcheck. Compare your final draft to the original prompt just to make sure you didn’t wander off course during all the edits and re-edits.
Keep the writing natural. Don’t obsess about using the right words or phrases. You don’t need to come across as Charles Dickens. But nor do you want to sound like poor E. L. James who keeps turning up in lists of the world’s worst writers. Even though she’s sold a lot of books.
Anyhoo. Just don’t channel stuffed potatoes or exploding cauliflower. Channel thoughtful, observant, curious, funny, determined, hardworking. Channel grace and wisdom. Ok, maybe not that. You’re not one of the Wise Old Men.
Oh, and keep an eye on the word count. It’s easy to rabbit on, much harder to cut and craft!
That’s it. Easy!
If you’d like help starting, writing, editing your college essay or with your college application, write to us to make an appointment with Max or Raz.
