Writing College Admission Essays While Having a Life

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When I was writing my own admission essays (not quite during the rock-and-chisel stage of human communication, but nearly), my friends and I each applied to two or three colleges, maximum. Now, most of my students apply to eight or nine universities or even more. They also take more difficult courses and cram more activities into their days than my generation did. So the task has become harder and the time to complete it more limited. Efficiency is definitely the name of the game. If you want to come up with a great admission essay and still fit in sleep, schoolwork, and trips to the mall/nightclub/nature preserve (pick one), this article is for you.

Taking advantage of spare time

Some words to live by as you apply to college or grad school: Every minute counts. I mean this statement literally. If you take advantage of five minutes here and ten minutes there, you’ll find that a great deal of the work of writing an admission essay evaporates. Of course, you need a block of uninterrupted time at some point, but not as much as you would if you hadn’t grabbed every second. Here are a few ways to squeeze essay-writing into your day:

• Family gatherings: Sit next to the relative who knows you the best and talks the most. (If those qualities are in two separate people, sit between them or divide your time.) Explain that you’re writing about key aspects of your personality and experience. Ask for suggestions. Pretty soon you’ll have some topics lined up.
• Boring classes: As a teacher, I’m supposed to advocate that you spend every minute of every class paying maximum attention to every bit of the material you’re studying. But as a human being, I understand that you’re human too, and you’re going to fade at least once during the Holy Roman Empire or the Pythagorean Theorem. So space out with a purpose, gathering essay ideas or details. Keep an “essay sheet” of paper on your desk at all times. As soon as you have an idea, take note of it. Just don’t get caught. And don’t daydream in my class, every moment of which is unforgettable and unmissable.
• Trips: On the bus to a soccer meet? Stare out the window and daydream. (No, not about that. We’re talking essay, here, not romance.) Spend a few minutes imagining that the admissions committee can time-travel to one moment in your life. Which moment should it be? Before you leave the bus, jot down your thoughts. Later, those thoughts may form the basis of an essay. Use this method only on public transportation or in a car with another driver. Don’t daydream if you’re the driver. No essay is worth a collision!

By now you get the idea. During the topic-search period, jot down ideas whenever they occur to you. As you write the rough draft, use spare minutes to record great details or phrases. When you have one complete draft, keep a printout in your backpack. Glance at it whenever you can, fixing grammar errors, correcting spelling, and so on.

Adapting one essay to several questions

Crossword Institute of Scolding asks you to “name the most important influence on your life.” The University of Smashed Melons requires a personal statement “on a topic of your choice.” Agonia College says, “Use this space to tell us about the best summer of your life.” All these questions are different, but the answers may not be. An essay you write for one may do the trick for all three. For example, suppose you write an essay for the Crossword Institute about your summer as a mascot for a minor-league baseball team. Your essay talks about the freedom you discovered the minute you covered your head with a giant plastic baseball. The anonymity, you explained, allowed you to discover your inner child and made you realize that mascots are “almost spiritual in that they draw people out of everyday reality.” Okay, I’m being slightly ridiculous, but you get the idea. You’ve got an essay that reflects on an unusual July and August. Assuming it’s a good essay, why not send it to Smashed Melons and Agonia as well? All three questions allow the same answer.

Essays written to answer more specific questions may also do double duty at times. Suppose Hopscotch College of Chalk and Design asks for an essay about the meaning of art. The core of your essay about your summer as a baseball-headed mascot discusses self-expression. You add a new opening paragraph explaining that the meaning of art, in your view, is self-expression. Bingo. The mascot essay does the job.

The example I gave in the previous paragraph is valid only if you really believe that the meaning of art is self-expression. If you think that the meaning of art is smearing gooey finger paints, you’ll have to write something different. Don’t lie just to save time.

One particular question should never be adapted for more than one application: the “Why us?” essay, as in “Why do you want to attend the College of Sign Painting?” If you answer the question honestly (as you should), you’ll include details about the College of Sign Painting that are not relevant to another institution. And if your essay is so general that it applies to several schools, it isn’t good enough for any of them.

One more warning: Computer word processing has given rise to the very worst mistake, the closest you can get to an automatic rejection. No matter what, don’t copy and paste an answer from one application into another, leaving the name of the first institution. Writing “I want to attend the College of Sign Painting” when you’re applying to Posterboard University is a giant no-no.

Deciding whether the optional essay is really optional

Usually, the optional essay isn’t optional. Unless you’re a shoe-in for admission (your grandparents donated a new media center) or unless the deadline is five minutes away, you should take the time to write a good, additional essay whenever the application allows you to do so. The more they get to know you, the more they’ll love you, right? And the essay is the prime spot to introduce yourself in all your complex glory.

One rather large pitfall sits in front of the optional essay: repetition. If you’ve already written about the time you saved the world, don’t write another essay telling the same story in slightly different words. Your audience is too busy to deal with duplicates. You can, however, write about two different aspects of the same experience. Essay number one may deal with the actual world-saving and essay number two with the media attention that followed your feat.

The common application

Approximately 230 colleges have agreed to accept the same application form, photocopied as often as you like. The common application, affectionately known as “the common app” asks you to write a personal statement of 250 to 500 words on a topic of your own choice or on one of the following topics:

• a significant experience, achievement, or risk you’ve taken or an ethical dilemma you’ve faced
• an issue of personal, local, national, or international concern
• a person who has influenced you
• a character in fiction or a historical figure or a creative work
• a topic of your choice

The common app also includes a short-answer question on the extracurricular activity that you found most meaningful. The common app may save you tons of time, although some colleges require extra essays in a “supplemental” application.