I'm not sure why the personal essay strikes such fear in the hearts and minds of applicants. But it does. And do you know what happens to most people when they are afraid? They stall out. Their minds go blank. They procrastinate. If you recognize yourself in this description, get a grip. Because if you don't, soon it will be the day before the application absolutely positively must be completed....and so you'll crank something out, but it won't be good and it won't do you justice. So let's beat back the fear. If you use these 5 rules for writing the essay, you can draft it this week. I promise. Pinky swear.
YOU are the topic of your essay. Don't worry that YOU aren't sufficiently interesting. News flash - YOU are all you've got to sell. So you'll have to do. And really, most people do have something that can hold a reader's interest for 500 measly words. And, oh, if you're one of those who are trying to figure out what aspect of YOU will appeal to the admissions officer, forget it. There is no universal answer to this question.
Not sure what story to tell? Remember the story should be a part of the "meta-story" that your entire application is telling. (See week 4 of the series [1].) Still not sure?
Don't worry about punctuation, grammar, and phrasing. Just tell the story in words on paper. That's writing. Once the story is written, then go back and edit it. If you try to write and edit at the same time, you tend to write and then delete and start over. You spend hours and have two sentences. Writing and editing really are different tasks and engage different parts of your brain. You start by writing and then only AFTER you have written it do you edit it. You'll save lots of time this way and end up with a better product. You will.
Stories are interesting in direct proportion to their ability to capture the reader's imagination. Details are fuel for the imagination. If your story is about being an X-Treme Skateboarder, tell me what you wear when you skate, what board you use, and what thoughts go through your head at the beginning of a race/when you crash/when you win.
If the admissions officer is the first person who reads your essay besides you, SHAME ON YOU. Everyone benefits from a critique - how else would you know that you sound arrogant or that your story is confusing in the third paragraph or that you have four typos? Leave yourself enough time to have 3 readers give you feedback and then incorporate that feedback into your revision. For the readers, I suggest parents, siblings, friends, teachers, counselors. By the way, don't let the reader do the rewrite - if you do that you lose YOU. Bad, really bad - remember rule #1.
That's it. You better have a draft done in a week. No fooling. Time's up.
Frozen in fear? Writer's block? Post a comment and let people chime in to help you get unstuck!
Alison Cooper Chisolm [3] writes the series 52 Weeks to College [1]. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here [3].
Links:
[1] http://www.annaivey.com/iveyfiles/category/67
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip-line
[3] http://www.annaivey.com/about/team#Alison Chisolm