What to write about for college application essay
CRUSH the Common Application Essay! 8 Tips.
hey guys it's Brooklyn super tutor TV
are you applying to college soon and
maybe you've got the summer ahead of you
and you're thinking goodness what am I
going to write my college essay about if
that's you this video is totally for you
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this eight tips for common FSA some of
us might repeat with some of the things
that are in some of my other essay
videos here and there because I wanted
this to be comprehensive but hopefully
I'll get a little bit of a different
spin on things so that you still feel
like this is valuable information I
think this is a great list for you to
take and use when you're trying to
brainstorm okay tip number one avoid
cliches Cheeseman stories
when you're trying to brainstorm what
kind of topics are going to work well
for common application essay one of the
biggest mistakes that I see students
particularly those who come from an
international background and
particularly I work with a lot of
students from China in fact on their
essays and these students one of the
biggest things that I see from them is
that they write in this very predictable
style and they have a story that's a
success story and they aren't vulnerable
at all and the classic one is that I got
in a paper which I know I talked about
in college essays that suck that's not a
very interesting story it doesn't mean
you can't write about achievement but if
you do write about it that shouldn't be
the arc of the story you've got to find
an interesting angle or something to say
or an interesting perspective maybe you
can talk about achievement and racism at
the same time maybe you can talk about
achievement and bullying maybe you can
put your finger on the pulse of a debate
that's going on in the world around us
and intersect that with whatever you
achieved and create something much more
interesting in any case avoid that
cliche we're super predictable story and
I think you're gonna be in a better
place let's talk about tip number two
preview our human being so one of the
biggest things that you're trying to
achieve with your college essay is to
show schools' who you are as a human
being that means your emotions you have
friends you have feelings you have
thoughts right you have all these things
colleges are not looking for academic
automatons that get everything perfect
and that never make mistakes they're
looking for people and so I really want
whatever you write about to have a mark
of your individual voice I want to like
you and I want to think by the time I
finished reading your essay man I'd like
to have lunch with you at the dining
hall if you come to my University cuz
you seem like a cool person so that's
tip number two prove you are a human
being
prove that you have a soul prove that
you have emotions and values and all
that kind of good stuff and make sure
that that emanates they're not just
looking for scholars they're looking for
people so remember that tip number three
don't repeat anything when it comes to
essay topics
if you've ever been to a Stanford
admissions panel this is the number one
thing they say before I started coaching
people in college admissions for a short
time after I graduated from Stanford I
was a volunteer at like college fairs
and one of the things that they told us
in our training session over and over
and over again was don't repeat tell
kids don't repeat on their essays so
this is one of the cardinal rules
especially if you're applying to a top
college but try not to repeat the same
topics over and over again if you have
multiple athletes you're working on if
you're going to write about how you're
the best baseball player ever in your
common application essay that's probably
not the best topic for your supplemental
essays make sure you don't repeat
yourself and your essays are going to be
stronger because you're going to be able
to show different facets of who you are
tip number four tell a story and get
specific one of the most powerful tools
that we have when we're writing college
essays is story story story narrative is
a powerful thing that's why we love
television that's why we love movies
because we love how stories open us up
and help us connect with people who come
from a different background one of the
things that's important is that you are
relatable even though you might
represent diversity in some way you want
the person reading your essay to feel a
connection with you and stories are a
great way to do that so make sure in
your college essay that in some way you
invoke the power of story or narrative
the other thing that I'll say is as you
tell your story make sure your story is
specific when I say tell a story I don't
mean say last week I had an issue with
someone at school and it made me very
frustrated and I don't know why I was
frustrated but I thought about it some
and I reflected on it and then I figured
it out and now I feel much better I
don't know anything about you from that
story right that's so vague you don't
want to write something so distance
because you're so afraid of sharing
personal details and it's uncomfortable
and I know you don't like it and I agree
it's not always comfortable a lot of you
don't like to share personal details but
at the same time if you're not specific
you're not going to be memorable and you
want to be the story that that
admissions officer remembers you want to
be the person who keeps them awake at
night and they think gosh that person
has to come to our University tip number
five find a balance between reflection
interpretation and narrative
in addition to story you also have to
reflect on the story you can't just tell
a story and not interpret that story you
have to have a perspective you have to
show that you have a point of view and
you learn something from it you have to
show that you've got a little bit of
maturity and that you figured some
things out about yourself from this
story and you've got to find a balance
in that kind of analytical self
reflective information and the story
information just make sure you've got
both pieces and you use them in a way
that's balanced tip number six read some
examples one of the biggest things that
I like to do with my students as we go
through this process of college
admissions essays is have them read
examples there's lots of different
places that you can read examples online
and we'll put some links to examples in
the blog post that goes with this
particular video so in terms of reading
examples I find that if you can see what
other students wrote that can give you
some insights into how to crack this or
how to make something powerful and you
can kind of see what essays works so you
can wrap your brain around this whole
process I know it's really hard to write
college Isis because it's a task you've
never had to do before so read some
examples and you're going to be in a
much better position to figure out how
to put your best foot forward and show
your voice in your essay tip number
seven is craft a great opening line it's
the first thing people read you always
want to have a hook so that's a good tip
make sure that you have a hook or
something interesting at the beginning
of your essay you want that to grab
people you want it to be interesting
sometimes giving your essay to other
people to read is a great way to try to
get feedback on what's most interesting
in your essay and then sometimes I'll
just move it right up to the top
oftentimes too when I'm working with
students I'll read into their essay on
their first draft and I'll end up
cutting like the first paragraph we just
ditch it completely because there's a
really interesting line down here and
boom that's my open so that's often
something that I do with students I make
them throw away like the first half of
their paragraph and we find that
interesting little nugget and that's our
opening so make sure you have a good
opening line and my tip number eight is
be yourself and what do you mean might
be yourself and I know this is like
cheesy sounding but the idea is don't
try too hard and don't try to write what
you think colleges want to hear that can
be a serious misstep because it's really
easy to sniff out in sincerity and if
you sound insincere in your essays it's
hard for me to root for you it's hard
for me to think that when I have so many
qualified candidates you're the person
who I want to
when you sound insincere you want
yourself and all of the awesomeness that
you are to shine and you want to unlock
that super awesome version of yourself
on the page so remember this isn't just
about what they want to hear it's about
who you are and what you have to offer
if you can be creative if you can have a
voice if you can sound like an
interesting person and you can stay true
to who you are and what you are
passionate about that's going to come
off more genuine and more persuasive
than you trying to pretend to be someone
who you're not so that's about it for
today I hope you guys like these tips if
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check those out as well I hope you guys
like this I will see you next time ciao
for now
