As students begin to work on their college essays for January application deadlines many are wondering what they should write about. HVP has received some tips from Kevin McMullin, Founder of Collegewise, about how teens can craft a great college essay despite the pandemic limitations.
The
normal process of applying to college has been upended by the pandemic, but one
thing that remains constant is the need to write college essays. Beyond lists
of achievements and activities on a college application, the essays allow
admissions officers to get to know a student and view further into the type of
person they are and want to become by pursing a higher education degree. Most
students tend to focus their college essays on the volunteer work they’re doing,
the sports or clubs they’re participating in or a recent experience that has impacted
them in some way. With the Covid pandemic limiting people’s activities for
almost two years now, student can be left wondering what route to take with
their essay and how to stand out in a sea of applicants.
Does Covid belong in college essays?
The
answer is both yes and no, because like everything when it comes to applying to
college the answer must be based on personal experience. COVID-19 affected
everyone in the world, and, at the same time, no one experienced
it in precisely the same way. Students can write about COVID in their
personal statement, but they need to be sure to follow the rules of a good
college essay: make sure that the essay is detailed enough that the student’s
unique experience is really clear, and that it’s written in the student’s own
voice?
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Don’t try
to impress the admissions officer—just tell the truth.
Being
impressive is a good thing. But when you try too hard, you write the same
stories as thousands of other students. If you really want to stand out, tell
the truth. Do you love your 1992 Dodge Dart more than life itself? Did you
become an expert bread baker during quarantine? Those things are interesting.
Share them. The colleges want to know.
Make ordinary
stories unordinary.
You don’t
need to have scaled Everest or invented plutonium to tell a story nobody else
could tell. Your experience staying at home taking care of your siblings,
taking a new online class or picking up a new hobby are not the same as other
students’ experiences. So, tell the
parts of the story that are uniquely yours. Inject as much detail as you
possibly can. And keep asking yourself, “Could someone else applying to college
tell the same story?” If so, do one of two things—add more detail, or pick a
different story.
Sound
like you.
You’re not
writing an essay for your English class. The college essay is an informal piece
of writing. It should sound like you. If you would never say, “Hence, my
winning of elections has become quite an inveterate occurrence,” please don’t
write it in your essay. No quotes from famous people. No words you can’t
define, spell or pronounce. I’m not suggesting you should compose something
that reads like a text message. But colleges want to get to know you better.
Let them hear your voice through your writing.
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