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College Admissions: The Fabulous Essay Writing Workshop Part I
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By: Gen & Kelly Tanabe, authors of Get Into Any College: Secrets Of Harvard Students, Get Free Cash For College: Scholarship Secrets Of Harvard Students, and founders of SuperCollege.com where you'll find more tips, secrets, and strategies. Copyright 2000.
You know that college essays are extremely important. You have given yourself enough time to write the masterpiece that will get you into the college of your dreams. The only problem is that you’re sitting in front of a blank screen and don't know where to begin. Don’t worry-our Fabulous Essay Writing Workshop will get you on your way.
In part one of this two-part series, we take a look at the important first steps of selecting what to write about.
Brainstorm Topics
Is it better: a) to think of interesting topics regardless of the specific essay questions; or b) to read the questions and then think of only topics that directly address them. Answer: You need to do a little of both. (Trick question, huh?) The only rule for brainstorming is: Anything goes. Write down every idea that pops into your head, and do not eliminate anything. Even if some ideas lack the seed of a brilliant essay, they may lead you to think of others that do. Here are just a few questions to help you to get your list started:- What are your favorite activities and hobbies?
- Do you have any special talents or skills
- Who have been the most influential people in your life?
- What have you done during the past four summers?
- What was your best day/experience? Worst? Funniest?
- How have you changed in the past four years?
- What accomplishment are you proud of the most?
- What makes you special or unique?
- What is your strongest quality?
- What is a strong belief or philosophy that you hold?
Narrow The List Of Possible Topics.
Once you are pretty certain you have some potential winners on your list, you will need to start narrowing the field. The way to do this is to select topics that are important to you and which reflect your personality. If the topic or the way in which you plan to approach the topic does not seem original, put a big fat "X" through it. To help insure that your topic or approach is original, you may want to refer to the Essay-Writing Absolute Don'ts and Totally Dumb Topics in Chapter 5 of our book Get Into Any College: Secrets Of Harvard Students. Even if your idea seems good, if it is similar to any of the topics in our Don'ts list, you can count on 90% of other students to write on the same "original" topic or in the same way.
Ask yourself these questions about your list of ideas:- If your topic or subject is one that many applicants might write about (e.g., travel, parents, sports) do you have a unique approach that will insure that your essay will not sound like everyone else's?
- Does your idea have good supporting examples or stories? Your essay needs to have concrete details about things that you have done or experienced. Topics that allow you to elaborate on one or two of your activities or achievements are especially good.
- Can your idea be expressed within the limits of the essay? You should eliminate any topic that you know will require more than the given space to write. Topics that require 2,000 words to properly explain but that are summarized in 500 words often turn out sounding overly simplistic or are incredibly difficult to follow since many key points and explanations have to be omitted.
- Will your essay be interesting and creative? This is a very simple question but one that is hard to answer truthfully. Take a step back when answering this question and put yourself in the place of the admissions officer who has already read 300 or so essays and has just grabbed yours, which also happens to be the last before he or she can go home. Will your essay pique the interest of this tired admissions officer? Will the topic or your approach to the question make the admissions officer want to read past the introduction? Just because a topic is original does not always guarantee that it will be interesting. Use your best judgment by constantly asking if you would be interested in reading about your topic or experience.
- Will the topic show the real you? Is it truly meaningful to you? Does your topic involve some insight into who you are, how you think, or what your passions are?
- Can the topic be recycled? If you write an essay on the topic, can you use the essay in several different applications?
Hopefully after paring down your list you will still have at least 10 to 15 ideas left. Prioritize these ideas according to their significance to you. Writing about something that you truly feel for will naturally transfer onto paper and will convey your feelings and passions to the admissions officers.
Now that you have your short list of topics, go on to Part Two to learn how to spin those ideas into knockout essays.
Spelling and Neatness Counts! Remember to proofread your applications and essays!
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