College Admission Essays: Exploring the Subject of the Essay - Yourself

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Typical Applicant trudges one more time to his desk and stares at the blank page still awaiting the first words of an essay. “I’m only 18,” he thinks. “Nothing has happened to me yet. I’ve got nothing to write about!” With a wail, he jumps out of the chair and shakes his fist at the universe. “If only I were abducted by aliens,” he screams. “Then I’d have a great essay!”

Typical Applicant may be 18 or 21 or 73. Regardless of age, he’s on the wrong path if he thinks that only a dramatic, life-altering experience provides fodder for an admission essay. In fact, everyone’s life is packed with potential essay material, just waiting to be unearthed. In this chapter I show you how to dig into the subject of your essay — yourself. I also explain why you’re the subject of all college admission essays, even if you think you’re writing about something completely different.

Mining Your Life

Miners move tons of earth looking for a few precious bits of ore. Their task is dirty, dangerous, and tiring. Fortunately for you, “mining your life” for essay topics carries none of the risks of chopping real minerals out of the earth. You won’t get dirty, though you may tire (mentally, at least) after a long trek down memory lane. Plus, mining your life is actually a lot of fun; you get to poke around inside your own head, dredging up all the best moments from your past. True, you may pull up something sad, but if it’s inside you, on some level you’re dealing with it anyway

Writing an essay is a valuable experience even apart from the admissions context. If you’re applying to a new school, you’re at a transition point — a good time to take stock of where you’ve been and where you want to go in life. See the present moment as a pivot between your past and future and give both time periods close attention.

When you “mine your life” for material, you’re in search of stories. You’re not seeking a bunch of general statements like “I am a very strong person. When I face a challenge, I don’t give up.” General statements are boring. They also give the committee very little information. But stories — everyone loves stories! Tell a story and you’ll capture your readers, making them experience your reality for a few moments.

Of course, when you write an admission essay, you present more than the story itself. You must add a few sentences that interpret the story for the reader, explaining why the story matters. The interpretation also presents the theme of the story. In the next section of this chapter, “Collecting the Stories of Your Life,” I explain how to uncover the stories you need. In a later section of this chapter, “Identifying Themes in Your Autobiography,” I show you how to define the themes of your stories.

Many applications for law, business, or medical schools ask you why you’ve chosen that particular career. “Mining your life” to answer this question involves thinking about people in the profession you’ve met, images of the profession on television or in films, or experiences (an illness or a court case, perhaps) that made you appreciate these jobs. See the appendix for additional questions that prod your memory and help you define why you chose your career path.