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Your story matters more than ever

February 23, 2021 by Sara Nolan Leave a Comment

Your story matters

Does anything matter now? Yes! It's hard to think straight some days about what matters, when we've lost so much in the past year of the pandemic. We're at the 500,000 mark, in February; where is the sun, again? But in this context, your story matters more than ever. It can be hard to think well about future, about goals, when getting through the day sometimes takes all we have-- or as my friend and mentor Margaret Klawunn put it, while we're "fluctuating between boredom and terror." Colleges are trying to keep up with the new landscape, adjusting their admission requirements to accommodate student realities, the boring, the terrible and the indelibly altered. Your story, when you find it, is neither boring, or terrifying. It's perfect, and your job is to unearth it.  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Destiny, Essays, State of Mind, Stories, Uncategorized, Writing Tips Tagged With: admissions criteria, college admissions essays, finding a topic, finding your story

The college essay that got me into Brown

June 27, 2017 by Sara Nolan

I wanted Brown badly I wanted to go to Brown University because all my favorite people from high school went there, many of them writers; I wanted to go to Brown because I knew there students had autonomy over course selection and I was used to picking for myself.  I wanted to go to Brown because...it felt like a natural fit. And because I drank the elitist cool-aid, sorta. I didn't exactly approach the process with an open mind, more like a targeted mind that was open to me getting what I wanted most... "I can see myself there!" I said.  And so said everyone else.  Sometimes, everyone else's predictions for you feel annoying.  But it's most annoying-- and probably also most accurate-- to imagine that all of that conviction could be irrelevant.  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Destiny, Parents, Stories, Uncategorized, Writing Tips Tagged With: Brown University, college essay, finding a topic, meaning, my story, writing process

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