Understanding the anatomy of a college essay is not where most admissions guidance starts, but it can be where YOURS starts. You might have thought your college essay was just no more than a loaded 650 words with a central thesis and some compelling take-aways. You know, your most solid self-reflective prose and an ambassador of some facet of your innermost being. Yes, it’s that! But it’s also composed of other vital parts. If you’re new to this body of work, here’s an anatomy lesson. Your college essay has words (of course!) as its cellular building blocks. But it also has: A beating heart Lungs A skeleton Muscles A vascular system A nervous system Whether you’re an anatomy geek like me, or you like slightly hard-to-calibrate metaphors, or are bored of reading the same old same old about this admissions artifact, I see you! For the nuts and bolts, you can read my posts about the college essay timeline and writing process. Here’s a primer on the parts of your college essay. The beating heart The beating heart of the college essay is that moment when your reader can see inside to your vulnerability. The thing which, if grasped hard and pulled, you might not live without. The thing that almost hurts you to show on your sleeve. The thing you’re afraid to admit, but which is part of the alchemy that makes you you. Without a moment in the essay where I arrive at- and FEEL- the heart of the matter, it may not have the emotional energy the best writing needs. The lungs The lungs of the college essay have everything to do with the pace of the writing. The pace of the writing has everything to do with the reader’s ability to take it in what you are talking about. There is a reason we don’t normally inhale for 30 seconds straight. What would we do with all that oxygen? It’s important to strive for variable sentence length, the way you might breathe a little harder and faster to walk up stairs than to walk to your bathroom. Continue Reading …
College essay writing process
College Essay Writing Timeline (A Primer)
College Essay Writing Timeline - A Primer (For parents and curious teens!) Parents of high school juniors and seniors often ask me about the college essay writing timeline and process. At first, the process is shrouded in institutional mystery, because the only part parents really know about is the end goal, or product. But how, and when, do we get there? And is there some kind of magic wand to expedite? There can be a lot of pressure on this one precious piece of writing, and there are ultimately some non-negotiable deadlines and no magic wand. However, if you understand that there is a process, and the college essay writing process produces reliably good results you might exhale. In fact, I hope parents exhale a lot! (Here’s 2 minute guided breath from Dora Kamau) I’m going to describe my recommended (optimal) timeline first, because it’s the first question I get (“When should a student start? How long should it take?). In a separate post, I’ll cover the college essay process, which can occur over a longer or more compressed time period. Later posts will be devoted to the ANATOMY of a college essay. If you’re already feeling overwhelmed about all things college, and prefer to talk directly to an expert and fellow parent, book your 30 min complimentary consultation HERE. Timeline for college essay writing process Spring Start When asked about the college essay process after all their applications have been submitted, students are rarely stressed to have started early. However, I think you can start too early. The college essay you write in Feb of junior year–even if you take a class or have guidance– is rarely going to be the one you send to schools. It’s the throat-clearing, orchestra-tuning round. And it has value as that. That said, all writing teaches you about writing, which teaches you about your thinking, feeling, and self. No effort is wasted! Between winter of Junior year and submissions season is a lot of months. You Continue Reading …
Your college essay is a mess, but it will be amazing
"Messay" Process Your college essay might be a mess before it's amazing. I have many students freaking out when their essay is in the messy inchoate stage. Trust the writing process to move from a-mess-ing to amazing! You know what happens when the sun begins to rise? That's just the idea of the day beginning. It hasn't figured itself out yet. It's a hot mess! The whole sky goes crazy, and it tries out all these different colors. They are not the same colors, or in the same order, as yesterday's sunrise. You know why? Me neither. The sun is just going through a process. The atoms have moved around and swapped outfits. They blaze and reorganize. Take notes for your college essay! Beautiful Oops = Mistake Composting I read my kids a book called Beautiful Oops (if I'm really honest we lost our copy, but stick with me). I recommend everyone get their hands on it and absorb it. This is a how-to book designed to help the perfectionists among us calm the F down. It's also for those who can't handle their mistakes and meanderings as a natural part of the process. This book says-- no such thing as a mistake! Take that coffee spill, that misshapen tree, that sentence that is tomato sauce dribbled on your prom outfit, and turn it into something else. It was getting you to your art all along. In fact, that might be your stroke of genius. It's messy before it's sweet I have a lot of students who come to me very early in the college essay process. They are stressed the F out, because they are not sure what they are writing about, and the essay isn't coming out looking finished, in 650 words. That advice thread on Reddit didn't make their essay get born whole. Prince Ea's magic words didn't conjure it. The messy process of creation is a bit uncomfortable. Hey now! Is the sun making a big deal about its sprawl? Should my kids never scribble scrabble in the process of drawing a dragon (it breathes fire, yo!)? Is it OK that I have to step to the left and right Continue Reading …
Frog and Toad Write Your College Essay
Frog and Toad Write Your College Essay In one episode of the children’s book series Frog and Toad, Toad is concerned. His friend Frog has gone alone to their favorite rock, unannounced. Frog and Toad announce everything to one another, so, yes, this is a little strange. Toad does what any anthropomorphizing amphibian would do in a vacuum of information: he starts making stuff up. Does Frog not like him anymore? Is Frog mad? Does Frog think Toad is not a good friend? Did the flies they had at their last dinner party suck? (They are not true to their species: they eat sandwiches, cookies and ice tea). Did Toad do something wrong? Continue Reading …
Develop Your College Essay like Spreading Peanut Butter
Americans eat something like a billion pounds of peanut butter per year--and most students feel, at their most eye-roll-y moments, like they write about a billion college essays (all those supplements!). If you want to develop a good essay, however, we could learn a thing or two from our popular staple peanut butter. The Peanut Butter /Writing Process My older stepson, K, is a bit obsessed with pb&j. Turns out it's also the #1 choice of pre-game meals for the NBA (though they could afford caviar!), and most non-allergic elementary school kids (who scoff at caviar!). As soon as K walks in the kitchen, the possibility of pb hijacks his decision-making process. He pulls out the bread, the oversized jars of pb and local honey, and gets to work. His heart throbs. The thing is, it's torture watching him make it. Because he takes so very long, spreading that peanut butter. He runs the flat edge of the butter knife over and over the bread until there are zero lumps. The pb is exactly smooth. And 10 minutes have passed, maybe more. He devours it in three bites. Develop, delete; create, destroy; produce, consume; repeat. Why this makes me want to lose my mind is a good question-- it's not my time or my sandwich. Your college essay is not mine either. And I don't lose my mind over it, nor should you (except in the healthy way that sometimes we need to lose ourselves to find ourselves). However, I think we could consider K's approach to peanut butter spreading as one of the perfect metaphors for a common problem-- the essay that a writer did not develop evenly sometimes misses the mark. So what do you need to consider to develop a strong essay? Not a flimsy, disappointing sandwich? How to develop your college essay (quick & dirty): don't over-expend on the intro include enough backstory vivify with scenesmake some meaninghave realistic aspirationsconnections should be freshin conclusion, DON'T SAY IN CONCLUSION!--but give me a gift! Put it Continue Reading …