In this video, I share a few tips on how to brainstorm a great personal statement topic. We’ll talk about what makes a great topic in the first place, as well as how to figure out whether your college essay topic is likely to work or not. Oh, and I talk a bit about you should ignore the Common App prompts when just starting out.
I really like Thai food. Speaking of which, I just started an amazing documentary series on national parks. Speaking of which, the Pacific Ocean is beautiful in winter. Which makes me wonder how confused you feel right now.
You’re probably pretty confused. And if you thought we wrote the above seriously, you’d maybe not trust us a whole lot (as writers) heading forward.
Those two things (avoiding confusion, building trust) are great qualities to develop in your writing.
How?
By building better transitions.
In this post, we’ll cover:
What good transitions look like
Why good transitions are important
Why building trust with your reader is important
Two ways to earn your reader’s trust
A quick diagnostic tool to determine if your transitions really are the issue
When’s the best time to start over/brainstorm new ideas
In this video, I’ll break down five Common App essay tips that should help you tell a unique story even if you haven’t faced any challenges. I’ll also show a few great Common App essay examples and explain why I think they work so well.
I once asked a professor how long she wanted a homework essay to be after I noticed the guidelines didn’t specify.
Her response: “As long as it needs to be.”
That didn’t feel very helpful at the time.
But in hindsight, I get what she meant. The point of an essay isn’t to simply meet word count. In fact, as I’ll clarify later, it’s one of the last things you should worry about.
That said, for most of your college essays, word count is something you’ll have to take into account (eventually).
And it’s understandable that how long your college essays(s) should be could feel confusing at times, since different applications and supplemental essays take pretty different approaches, and sometimes word count is a hard rule, whereas at other times it’s more of a guideline.
This is one of my favorite brainstorming exercises. It’s called the “21 Details” exercise.
It’s super quick and will help you generate plenty of ideas for your personal statement or supplemental essay topics. All you need is something to write on and 12 minutes.
his series of short exercises, I’ll help you try to find your personal statement topic. In fact, by the end of this video, you should be able to have 7 great personal statement topic ideas that demonstrate your skills, qualities, values, and interests.
Grab your favorite drink, throw on your headphones, and let’s do this.
I frequently have students tell me that they’ve faced some challenges they think might make for a good college essay, but they aren’t sure how to gauge the strength of their topic, and they aren’t sure how to write a college essay about the challenges they’ve faced.
And those questions and confusion are understandable: While high school has probably helped prepare you to write academic essays, it’s less likely that you’ve spent much time doing the kind of personal and reflective writing you’ll want to do in a personal statement focused on challenges (which I’ll also sometimes refer to as a narrative essay).
Even the phrase “reflective writing” might seem a little new.
But no worries—I got you. In this post, I’ll walk you through:
One of the most daunting aspects of applying to college is the sheer number of essays you have (wait, get to!) write.
What do I mean? Say you’re applying to eight to ten schools. Each has anywhere from one to five (hi, MIT!) supplemental essays. Quick math tells us that’s between eight and fifty college essay prompts to respond to. And that’s after you write the personal statement for your Common App.
But guess what? ❗YOU TOTALLY DON’T HAVE TO WRITE 50 ESSAYS. In fact, you may end up writing fewer than ten.
Why?
I’ve developed a pretty simple step-by-step process to help you see which essay prompts can overlap. Follow my lead and it may not only save you dozens of hours or writing, it could improve the quality of those essays.
How?
The secret involves doing a little bit of research and creative brainstorming before deciding on your topic.
I think it can be refreshing and nice but I much prefer the feeling of coming in from the cold! I’ve been raking leaves in the garden this morning to get over what happened in Washington DC last night and now I’m moving onto my next essay. X Emily
26.5.19 I did my first exam! I didn’t say straight away because I was feeling a bit funny about it, but now I’m revising for my second and last ever exam of uni! Also who knows groovy chick?? My mum got me these amazing groovy chick socks. X Emily
It’s so important to keep study notes that might be useful in the future! Reblogging this because the notes I was making here, are the same notes I’m using for my current postgraduate essay.
16th January: scarves or sweaters? Oh that’s so hard! I think I prefer a really good scarf because you can look so cute in them, but they can get in the way! I like layers. This is the other angle of my kitchen. Sorry for posting so much in here and not my bedroom - I’ve found I’m more productive when my mum keeps me from being distracted.
Hey guys! As the beginning of the school year approaches, a lot of you are probably starting the college application proces. When I applied to colleges last year, I remember spending hours just looking for helpful resources and advice. So, I decided to make your life a little easier and create a masterpost of college app resources! Let me know if you have any resources you’d like to add to the list. I will also edit this post whenever I find new sources to add :) Good luck cuties, you can do it!
Collegevine - This website helped me SO MUCH when I was writing my supplemental essays! If you click on the link, it will take you to a page with a huge list of colleges. Here, you can click on a college and be taken to a page that breaks down each of their essay prompts. This is super helpful for understanding the prompt and writing an essay that is focused and answers the question!
