This is a thing I hear a lot: I don't have something to write about. Franklyn said it. Erin said it. Fatou said it. You might have said it. It's not true. And your admissions essay writing process should prove that to you. Are your cells not dividing, just because you can't see it happening from your current vantage point? No: in so far as we know, we are always breaking something down in order to grow. So there is always a bitty thing leading to a bigger thing. That's writing: the power of the specific and small to expose something more. You do have something to write about: you can write about anything. Choose smaller Often, the students that show up for my help carting their Big Something to write about end up having to switch gears and pick a new topic. They were trying to impress, not investigate. They need to get really small. The orange rind they left in their backpack in third grade, that started their interest in problems mold can cause. The way their mom's tamales smelled on Sunday mornings, that led to family competition who could eat theirs the slowest. The time they missed the bus and found a dying baby bird. These things are small. They are not often things we call Something. The best writing begins with anything. Sometimes, it's better that you write beginning with something random, not loaded, so you feel more free to explore: "paperclip"; "backwash"; "pothole"; "queasy." Our minds are so good at making up stories-- and so you feed your mind a word, it often spits out a situation, a scene, a reflection. Follow that, open the boring-looking door, get nosy. Find or make a pattern with your thinking We are pattern detecting machines; but we are also pattern generating machines. When I ask students to make a connection or association in their personal essay writing, the a-ha's, I'm really asking them to find the pattern, and if they can't find one, make one. Is it true that Orion's belt is just hanging out in the Continue Reading …
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Newest Common App Prompt #7
The Newest Common App Prompt #7 is all joy! I have to say, as a fan of freedom, I love number the new Common App prompt #7. And I quote: "Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design." If none of the other Common App prompts are really pulling forth what you want to say, here’s where you, well, go crazy! Be sure the essay you pick and the topic you choose STILL fulfill the purpose of the personal essay. It should show something important and revelatory about you that the rest of the application does not, in story form. News Flash: What we write about sometimes picks us Some applicants love a highly structured prompt. But others need more space and choice. The new addition of prompt #7 is an example of the Common App being really generous. They understand sometimes our best and most exemplary writing just happens to us unbidden. It picks us! This may not happen in response to a prompt. We may be pining for a chance to share that other thing that they didn't exactly ask for in any of the other six prompts. Voila! It's a fact (albeit muffled in certain education environments, boo hiss) that creative choice of topic and form drives your engagement. This can generate a passionate, powerful and, um, personal written product. Why? You had the license to receive and value whatever came to you. All the admissions committee wants in response to Common App prompt #7 (or any other) is for you to show your best writing and unique self. This gives them a perfect window into you. So, no excuses, friends. Prompts are meant to get your best for the admissions committee! Also-- it's worth re-tooting here that the admissions team is not working against you. The Common App revises their prompts year after year to try to offer applicants the best opportunities to produce meaningful, insightful, and representative writing. They want the good Continue Reading …
Can’t I write about sports?
No, You can't write about (just) sports Here's why-- if you write about sports, the likelihood of your essay being cliched, or, worse, of you not realizing it's cliched-- is mighty strong. But also, Yes, you can. If you can make a surprising connection while writing about sports, you're golden. Admissions officers will remember you for (most of) the rest of their lives. Example of brilliant sports essay (Hint-- it's not about Sports!) Here's an incredible essay by Natalie Diaz, an amazing poet and thinker and former b-ball champ: She is not writing about basketball-- she is writing about basketball, and. Basketball and _______: violence against Native peoples how Brown bodies are subjugated growing up poor the visceral nature of writing as a body used to being in motion. escape cultural navigation Get it? Sports, And What? If you are hell-bent on writing about sports, I suggest making your list of and's. Consider: Why are you writing about this sport, really? What other story about your life is it helping you tell? Avoid these cliched approaches to sports essays I could recite the following essays in my sleep, because I've read them too many times. So have you. No surprises here. Please don't write these overdone, canned essays-- even if you really mean them. (And I really believe you mean them) "And then I heard my ligament pop and knew my life would never be the same." "I learned that life is like a game and you need to be a team-player!" "We turned in around in the last quarter, and that taught me I could overcome anything!" (Because, actually, that's a premature conclusion! MAYBE you can overcome anything; or maybe you just overcame this.) I believe in being a realist with teenagers. When you step beyond the cliches and the lessons you could have read somewhere else, you learn something more true, and more valuable, about your life and yourself. Get your game-writing on Here's Continue Reading …
10 Senior-Year Conversation starters NOT about College applications!
Please Don't Make this conversation about College Apps! To make friendly conversation, it's tempting to ask seniors in high school how the college application process is going, or where they are applying. They MAY be tempted to strangle you, but they'll probably act decently about it and politely recite their list. Maybe even tell you it's going OK. What they really want to do is go to the closest room and scream so loudly that the Common App site crashes (or so they tell me, but it's kinda obvious if you just look closely at their faces). Think about it this way: if you were applying for a high stakes job that took many hundreds of hours and every time you saw anyone THAT WAS ALL THEY WANTED TO TALK ABOUT WITH YOU IN ALL CAPS. Arg. Ick. PSA, Care Elsewhere! This post is a PSA from someone in the industry, moi (I SEE YOU, TEENS!): if you are hanging out with high school seniors these days and strike up conversation TRY REALLY HARD NOT TO ASK THEM ABOUT COLLEGE/COLLEGE PROCESS. Like, AT ALL. I know you really care, but unless you're their guidance counselor, care about something else. Really, you will get so many cool points for not making the conversation about C-O-L-L-E-G-E. They need the mental break. They need to know they are interesting and valuable and very awesome BEYOND this demanding process. At this point in the fall, COLLEGE CRAP (that's how they are thinking of it) is all anyone asks about (Not you? Cool, you should run a tutorial for other adults!). It gets Teen-TEDIOUS. Branch out the conversation Rule of thumb: No college crap. While you are at it, avoid school generally. Ask them, like, what they had for lunch, or to tell you about something weird they noticed on the street. Here are 10 suggestions to start up a real conversation with a teen in the middle of college applications. What's the last thing that really got you mad? What's the last thing that made you feel completely relaxed? What makes you want Continue Reading …
“Grandma Essay” or College Essay As Eulogy?
The "Grandma Essay" Everyone Warns You About...Is Not what you think! I'm writing to tell you a story. This story ends with a college essay that became a eulogy. It was a topic no-no turned yes-yes: the "grandma essay" your counselor warned you about. But this story started as a young, earnest kid, J, clutched a pencil, and tried to tell me, like every other gritty kid I coach has told me, that he is determined. Show me, I said. Tell me a story that shows me. Or maybe it started differently. Maybe we were eating sandwiches while we worked together, sifting through his life, looking for particulars, and he mentioned how his grandma only liked her chicken sandwich this one particular way. Uh-oh, he said "grandma." Cue the sentimental violin chorus. Now, how a person likes a sandwiches can reveal a lot about personality-- it's true. But an applicant is supposed to be careful not to focus too much on other family members in the personal essay-- right? Right, guys? And we ALL KNOW "the grandma essay" is soggy toilet paper of a topic, right? (Even if I'm personally a sucker for the elderly). But my interest came from somewhere else. My interest was peaked because of the look in his eye, the flicker that showed me that one comment about grandma had sent him to some gold-nugget inner place. Continue Reading …
Procrastination got your college essay? Try this!
Is your college essay due this weekend, or next week, and you've been procrastinating epically? Here's how to beat the procrastination paralysis and crank out a college essay by deadline. Note & Plug! The photo featured above shows gung-ho participants in a customized Essay Intensive college essay writing workshop, Just Write, at The TEAK Fellowship. They beat procrastination, just like you will, and punched out some quality personal essays! So, speaking of-- back to you. The moment is Now It's beyond crunch-time. You're panicking that you don't have time (because you screwed yourself) to be all that you need to be in your college admissions essay: insightful, creative, authentic, reflective, and thoughtful. (You're wrong-- keep reading). You're seriously considering writing your college essay on your dog's midlife crisis as you watch him limp after spastic squirrels. And ending it with a line about the pointlessness of striving in this world. Think again. Let your dog have his own crisis. Seize your loaded moment for what it's worth, and use our tips to write. Continue Reading …