So, I’m an international student who’ll be applying a little later this year and already started on my essay. After half a draft, I decided it was worthless and deleted it. I honestly have no idea what to write about. At all.
I’m a regular guy, haven’t won any national awards or climbed a mountain, or anything like that. I live in this little dot of a country, immigrated when I was a kid, and that’s probably the only thing unique about me - something I’ve been thinking of basing my essay on. However, I cannot, for the life of me, think of any way this has “shaped” or “awakened” me. Perhaps I just haven’t been thinking much. If somebody could please tell me how I can expand this topic, and the general direction I could take it in, it’d be really helpful.
Deep breath. It’s great that you’re getting an early start. Few 17 year olds have profound or dazzling experiences or insights to draw on. College admissions readers know this and some of the best essays they see are about how people look at simple, everyday things.
Here’s an idea: instead of deleting drafts, file them away. Create a folder on your computer called “essays” and then subfolders for potential essay themes. Write a little bit every day…a paragraph about anything that strikes your fancy, no matter how short or insignificant. File that paragraph in the appropriately themed subfolder, creating new subfolders as needed.
Over time you will find yourself returning to a few specific themes or topics and you can start to focus on and expand those.
Thanks for your advice! I’m definitely thinking of spinning it around the country (Maldives) I’ve spent my life in. It could make for a really interesting essay and I’ll be sure to follow your drafting technique.
Between now and September, whenever an idea for an essay comes to mind, find a scratch piece of paper, scribble down one or two sentences about the idea, stuff the paper in your wallet, and forget about it.
Come September, you’ll have a bunch of ideas, ideally 20-30. Look at each one again. Some you’ll toss out immediately, others will seem OK, and a few will get you excited to select and write about.
I’m going to agree with the preceding poster on all but one point:
Here’s what I did with my son and daughter, and with my SAT prep classes:
Day 1: Copy each Common App essay prompt on the top of a new page. Set a timer for 5 minutes per page. List anything in your life experience that could possibly fit the prompt, no matter how off the wall it is. Show the list to mom/dad/siblings and see whether anyone has any stories they could add to your list.
Day 2: Take a look at your list and list a brief set of bullet points of what you would say in response to each one. At this point, you’ll be eliminating some of those too “off the wall” ideas.
Day 3: Look at what you have, and with each, ask yourself:
- Does it address the prompt?
- Does it paint me in a positive light, as someone who has grown?
- Is it a story that’s unique to me, or will it be the 50th essay they read about personal growth after being cut from the basketball team?
- Does it make me look like someone they want on their campus-- does it “Give them a reason to say yes???”
I think the best approaches are the small stories, the stories that are uniquely yours. You’re a 17 year old kid-- no one is looking for you to climb mountains or cure cancer. Find the stories that show that you’re a normal 17 year old kid who has experienced growth, who has the potential to someday climb that mountain or cure cancer. It’s the normal stuff they’re looking for, the things that make your friends and parents and teachers KNOW that you’ll be a success in college.
One warning: some of the prompts, Common App prompt # 2 in particular, might lead you to concentrate more on a failure than on a success. You can absolutely write about an obstacle or a failure, but it shouldn’t be the focus of the essay. Mention the obstacle, but make the focus on how you overcame it, and how you learned from it. Remember… “GIVE THEM A REASON TO SAY YES.”
OK, here’s where I disagree: do NOT wait until September!!! Use this summer to get that essay written! Why wait until you’re back in school, with all the pressures that brings? Get it done, get your applications done, and submit them in early or mid September.
Good luck!
Oops, left out Day 4:
Write a rough draft of each. Don’t worry about the intro or conclusion, just get words down on paper. Then go back, see what you have, and concentrate on the one you like best. Do NOT delete the runners up-- you may have a use for them at some point between now and the fall-- the ideas you have may address a prompt from another school you haven’t considered yet.