<p>As a lurker on these forums for quite some time, I feel compelled to write about directional guidance in application essays. Hopefully this series of posts will empower you to write from your soul with the necessary strength and spirit.
To stand out.
To be meaningful.
To matter. </p>
<p>TOPIC ONE: WHAT TO WRITE ON?</p>
<p>So many students try to capture that elusive, secret topic that will make their essays stand out. Well, let’s run through the numbers. </p>
<p>Let’s say a reader goes through 400 applications a year, conservatively. They read a main essay and a supplemental, followed by one letter of recommendation. Again, purely conservative. </p>
<p>1200 pieces of reading * 6 years on the job = 7200 longform works.</p>
<p>Again, conservative.</p>
<p>Your essay won’t get much time. Though you might have heard about the “4 minute rule” before, you have to distinguish official PR policy versus reality. If the admission reader just got into a major fight with her boyfriend, sees that this week’s episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” is on a re-run, then finds your essay near the end of her pile…that’s bad news all the way around.</p>
<p>So, what’s the secret topic?</p>
<p>**Answer: You’re asking the wrong question. The right question to ask is…”what combination of topics across my supplementals and Common App will create the strongest persuasive and differentiated profile for myself”?</p>
<p>And this, this my friends, is how you hack applications.**</p>
<p>Write on anything. Absolutely anything. You can’t aim for the magic bullet because—predictably so—the admission officer has statistically seen just about every core essay topic, along with most wrinkles. That hardly matters anyways when you’re fighting the doomsday scenario faced above.</p>
<p>However, if you write something meaningful, rich, passionate, and true to you…that will delight the reader. The topic can be a family vacation, an embarrassing moment in class, a friend’s betrayal, a competitive struggle, whatever. It doesn't matter…</p>
<p>If. You. Execute. Damn. Well.</p>
<p>So while yes, you SHOULD spend time on brainstorming topics, just know that the topic will rarely differentiate you if done in isolation. So…here’s my recommended approach.
1) When brainstorming topics, just outline the story details along with the themes/takeaways you want to convey through them. Think critically about what reflects you
2) Look at the Common App vs. the supplements for your top 5 colleges, and strategically plan out what you want to convey in each of your applications (based on researching those individual colleges). Factoring in the prompt, the specific stories you want to share, and how to best come up with the right cocktail of attributes will set you apart from over 80% of all applicants already…before you even wrote a sentence.
3) Show your topic list to people who will challenge you. People who think logically. Strategically. Maybe your friends who play Starcraft 2.</p>
<p>The next part of this series will cover the construction of an essay.</p>
<p>I cannot guarantee you anything, but I want to give you your best chance.</p>
<p>P.S. There are about 8 topics that have actually captivated me. You can ask them via PM.</p>
<p>P.P.S. I’m available to help anyone with their essays via PM as well, as long as you send it to me 1 week before the deadline as I am busy with my job during most days.</p>
</p>