Writing Great College Essays: Part I

This is the season that strikes dread in the heart of all aspiring college students and their parents: it's time for college applications. If you've got a high school senior in your midst, you probably know the anguish, the dread and the torment of writing the application essay. Especially these days, when many schools are foregoing the interview and admissions just seem to get more and more competitive, the essay is one place where students feel like they stil have time to make a difference.

They're not entirely wrong. The fact is, a student's transcript is what it is; volunteer work can't be manufactured the last two weeks of December; and test scores are pretty much done and dusted. What that does leave many students is one last opportunity to break through, capture an admission officer's attention, give a little color to an application and make a sparkling personality shine through.

The first—and probably most important—step is to choose a topic. In addition to being a critical step, it's also probably the most difficult. Kids tend to default to subjects that to them seem interesting, but in fact may land them in the land of cliché. First of all, here are this year's Common Application topics:

1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
6. Topic of your choice.

Which is right? The one that will yield something interesting. Sit down with your high school senior and help them get started. Here are some tips:

Avoid the obvious.

Here are the topics that almost never make good college admissions essays: breaking up with my boyfriend/girlfriend; why being popular/unpopular made high school difficult; lessons learned in the school cafeteria/English class/on the football field.

Unless your student is a great writer with a really original take, steer clear of topics that sound like John Hughes movies. Surprise the reader!

Don't make excuses.

The essay is the place to shine, not explain why grades were not great or SAT scores don't really reflect who you are.

Think small. Really small.

There's a great quote: "Life is made up of years that mean nothing and moments that mean everything." Help you child zero in on a moment and dive in. Keep winnowing down. The summer at camp? Too big. The first week at camp? Still too much. When I first got to camp? We're getting closer. Introducing myself to my first friend at camp? Now it's getting interesting.

One of my favorite stories of a great college essay was a student's description of his grandfather's hands. Get your child to focus on one thing – a moment, a person, a part of a person!  The more narrow the focus, the more likely it is to get interesting.

Answer the question!

Unless your child picks the wide open "topic of your choice," make sure that the subject of the essay will address the topic. Meandering, off-topic essays do not sit well with admissions committees.

We'll have more tips ahead to help you help your high school student write something that will show his or her best side to the admissions committee.

Good luck!