[quote=“lookingforward, post:8, topic:2796475”]
“The Personal Statement is not a tryout for your possible major. Not meant to be overtly intellectual.”
[quote=“lookingforward, post:6, topic:2796475, full:true”]
“It’s not meant to explain your career interests, nor expound on some academic or intellectual interest.”[/quote]
[quote=“lookingforward, post:8, topic:2796475”]
“ You want to understand the traits your targets look for and show those.”[/quote]
I’ve got to address these because I keep seeing you dispense versions of this bad advice. This first two statements are wrong. The third is misleading and begs the question @INFINITY asks: well, what are those traits?
Public Service Announcement: Each college does not have a unique set of Mystery Traits, specific just to that school, that students need to discover and try to pitch. It should go without saying that there are some differences between MIT, West Point, and Wellesley. But even for those schools, and every other, they are all still looking for the same core set of traits. Why?
Because they are all Colleges with Professors looking for Students. Think about applying to college as a job: What job position are you applying for? Student. Who will you work for? Professors. And who’s hiring you? An admission reader. So if you were hiring someone to be a student who works with professors, what do you think you’re looking for in an essay?
All the things students do with professors. They’re looking for kids who love reading, writing, and thinking about specific academic ideas. They’re looking for all the skills that go with being an excellent student: Being smart, thoughtful, creative, passionate about the life of the mind, academic subjects. They want you to tell them what you want to study. They want to know why you want to study that–what are you going to do with their education when you graduate. In other words, colleges want you to highlight your Intellectual-Traits! Your Student-Traits!
That’s the logic. It’s also confirmed by my training and experience admitting students to Stanford. And here’s another admission officer confirming it: Harvard’s Director of Admissions for 30 years testifying under oath about what made an admitted student’s essays compelling:
“It reminds us that he is a person who loves books and loves reading and loves ideas. We get that throughout the application and from other people. This second essay gives us something of a new twist on this. He created essentially a book club. He calls it the Ulysses Club because they started off by reading James Joyce. What I remember surprised us in the discussion of this case was his enthusiasm for talking about this book with other students.” (Day 6 Trial Tr:13-23 at 168.)
Exactly. Colleges may have specific needs, or slightly different flavors, but you better believe they all want kids who love Books, Reading, Discussing Ideas! That is, the intellectual traits of a . . . Student!
So now you see why @lookingforward’s first two claims are wrong as well: Your essays Absolutely Should explain your career interest, expound on academic and intellectual interests, and be an intellectual tour-de-force, highlighting fields you want to major in. And again, this isn’t just a Stanford thing. Here’s an Emory Admission officer addressing the specific importance of writing about what you want to major in:
"But while the student listed neuroscience as a major, ‘there is no example of neuro in the file’ in terms of activities or in the essays, the admissions officer said. She suggested that they move the application to the wait list, which would be a ‘softer landing’ than an outright denial.” The Wall Street Journal. The Secrets of Elite College Admissions, Jeffrey Selingo, Aug. 28, 2020.
Your college application must tell the reader hiring you to be a student . . . what you want to study and why. It must highlight your intellectual, student-traits. You can write about almost anything–you just need to intellectualize it.
@INFINITY Now, to your essay. You can’t just write about a mental health problem and the story of overcoming this hurdle. Why would that make me want to admit you as student? That highlights personal traits which are secondary to intellectual traits. Instead, you tell your mental health story and then analyze it through the lens of a psychological concept you want to study. Now, you’re highlighting your intellectual qualities: you’re showing off how smart and interested you are in psychology by Doing It on paper. Are there other ways to do it? Of course. I’m just offering one way to try it out.
Don’t get hung up on this advice you heard about writing something “personal.” I know that word throws kids. It’s confusing and misleading. It makes kids think they should write about Who They Are as opposed to the Ideas They Care About and Want To Study. But . . . the ideas you care about ARE who YOU are! The Crucial part of who you are for applying to college. Talking about those ideas IS a way of talking about yourself, of saying something “personal”—and that’s the YOU colleges primarily want to hear about. The BEST-STUDENT-VERSION-OF-YOU.
@INFINITY You’ve got a fine topic. The key to writing is rewriting. Get to work.
