Crafting a College Essay

A crash course by: Bonnie Rochman

FIRST THINGS FIRST: RELAX

ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL ESSAY

• Successful essays explore how an event/person/thing influenced the writer.

• Successful essays emphasize “small moments.” Narrow your focus.

• A successful essay shows change: • It starts at Point A and leads to a change

in thinking/attitude/outlook by Point B.

• That change is your theme.

THE COMMON APPLICATION, aka:

“COMMON APP”

http://www.commonapp.org/whats-appening/application-updates/common-application-announces-2017-2018-essay-

prompts

700 Colleges

7 Essay Prompts (Choose 1!)

650 words

Common App Essay Prompts

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. Lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time you faced a challenge/setback/failure. How did it affect you? What did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? 4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. 5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7. 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.

University of Washington

• https://admit.washington.edu/apply/freshman/writing-section

• A. Personal statement: 600 words

• B. Short response: 300 words

Describe the world you come from and how you will add to the diversity of the UW

• C. Activities and Achievements: 50 words per each of 5 activities

UW Prompts:

• Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

• Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.

• Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?

• What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What’s the best part? What advice would you give younger siblings or friends (assuming they would listen to you)?

• Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

CHOOSING A TOPIC

TO START: TAKE OUT A PIECE OF PAPER AND START FREE-ASSOCIATING: EXPERIENCES, PEOPLE, PLACES, CHARACTER TRAITS YOU WANT TO CONVEY.

WHAT DO PEOPLE CHOOSE TO WRITE ABOUT?

In a recent Common App application cycle:

• 49% wrote about their background, identity, interest or talent

• 22% wrote about an accomplishment

• 17% wrote about a lesson or failure

• 10% wrote about a problem solved

• 4% wrote about an idea/belief that was challenged

BRITTANY + COSTCO

The Costco essay that bestowed acceptance letters from 5 Ivy Leagues and

Stanford

ALMOST ANYTHING GOES (CAST A WIDE NET):

One UW prompt asks for an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

• A meeting with an influential person

• A news story that spurred you to action

• A family event

• A weakness or challenge

• Something that might be insignificant to someone else that had particular meaning for you

YOU’VE SETTLED ON A TOPIC. NOW WHAT?

A- Fine-tune your theme:

Overcoming adversity?

Hard work?

Respect for difference ?

Confronting fear?

Mistakes made or avoided?

Persistence?

B - Create an outline. C - Brainstorm anecdotes to begin your essay. D - Create a writing schedule to keep yourself on track.

THE ONE-WEEK ESSAY:

• Day 1: Brainstorm topics.

• Day 2: Identify the themes of your favorite topics. Choose your top three ideas.

• Day 3: Map out each idea. Which feels the most engaging, the most substantial? Which allows your uniqueness to shine?

• Day 4: Brainstorm anecdotal leads – ways to start your essay by showing, not telling. Write your opening paragraph.

• Day 5: Write the body paragraphs.

• Day 6: Write the concluding paragraph. This, and the opening paragraph, are often the trickiest.

• Day 7: Revise, revise, revise.

AN OBSERVATION

If they say an essay is optional,

DO IT ANYWAY.

A TIP

Don’t be trite. (“I didn’t realize how fortunate I was until I spent the summer at an orphanage in Guatemala.” Yawn.)

Steer clear of clichés.

A REALLY IMPORTANT TIP:

Start working on your essay over the summer.

ABOUT ME: College Essay Coach

• Mom.

• Nonfiction author.

• Journalist who writes for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Time and others.

• collegeessay911@gmail.com

• College Essay Doctor on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/collegeessay911/

MY SERVICES:

One-on-one coaching:

$125/hour

COLLEGE ESSAY BOOT CAMP

August 8 – 10: 10 am-1 pm or 5-8 pm

August 14 – 16: 10 am-1 pm or 5-8 pm

$450 (=$50/hour)

Small, supportive group workshop session where we’ll:

• Brainstorm and select a unique topic

• Learn to weave in anecdotes and other storytelling techniques that journalists use

• Create an outline

• Produce a first draft – and potentially subsequent drafts, depending on how quickly students work.