Personal statement agony over here

[Anonymous]

He's working on a school app that's not the Common App, and the college requires 4 statements. All his ideas would work for 3 out of 4 essays, but then he comes up short for the personal statement, because he's used his best stories for the others. What kind of sadistic person demands 4 essays anyway? How much material can he re-use, if the perspective and life lesson is different? How to make it different enough?

Blaargh. There is nothing worse than asking a 17 year old to psychoanalyze and philosophize over his life experience.

[Anonymous]

Maybe this isn’t the school for him.

[Anonymous]

Is he also going to be applying to schools that need a generic personal statement?

The College Essay Guy's approach has been helpful for my kids: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/personal-statement

[Anonymous]

MIT app had more.

Your kid will be okay. Get him to think outside the box a little. My nephew got into Dartmouth after defining himself as “the guy who will always pick up up at the airport”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
He's working on a school app that's not the Common App, and the college requires 4 statements. All his ideas would work for 3 out of 4 essays, but then he comes up short for the personal statement, because he's used his best stories for the others. What kind of sadistic person demands 4 essays anyway? How much material can he re-use, if the perspective and life lesson is different? How to make it different enough?

Blaargh. There is nothing worse than asking a 17 year old to psychoanalyze and philosophize over his life experience.

For the same application? He can’t reuse anything!! Geez…

[Anonymous]

Tell your son to go out for a run and think of a personal statement. Of who he is and what he’s about.
And stay out of it, parent! You griping about HIS essay for HIS college application is making it harder for him. If he wants to attend this school, he writes the fourth essay (using nothing from the first three!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell your son to go out for a run and think of a personal statement. Of who he is and what he’s about.
And stay out of it, parent! You griping about HIS essay for HIS college application is making it harder for him. If he wants to attend this school, he writes the fourth essay (using nothing from the first three!).

When you have a difficult problem at work, do you not brainstorm/discuss with your colleagues? There's no reason that he can't get help from his parents to figure out a *4th* essay topic, which would be difficult for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I'll play assuming that this isn't a free ad for the service referenced above.

Just write the 4th essay about why a college application's requirement of more than 3 essays is inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t reuse any material or concepts, the whole point of 4 is to show diversity in writing skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell your son to go out for a run and think of a personal statement. Of who he is and what he’s about.
And stay out of it, parent! You griping about HIS essay for HIS college application is making it harder for him. If he wants to attend this school, he writes the fourth essay (using nothing from the first three!).

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, I'll play assuming that this isn't a free ad for the service referenced above.

Just write the 4th essay about why a college application's requirement of more than 3 essays is inappropriate.

Yeah, I'm not the College Essay Guy, just a DC-area parent who likes his approach. He has a ton of free resources online. Heck, here's a video, for free!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhtfrSO8GWo

[Anonymous]

He isn't ready for college.

[Anonymous]

Maybe start with the personal statement first - then answer the others. He needs to figure out the best way to describe himself with the stories he has. Perhaps he will find he can reference some other story to illuminate a personal characteristic or use substitute a different story for the other 3 essays. Or just touch briefly on the same story in one essay but elaborate in the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe start with the personal statement first - then answer the others. He needs to figure out the best way to describe himself with the stories he has. Perhaps he will find he can reference some other story to illuminate a personal characteristic or use substitute a different story for the other 3 essays. Or just touch briefly on the same story in one essay but elaborate in the other.

OP here.

Thanks. I agree this is what he needs to do. He's VERY ready for the academic side of college, but the whole social/networking/talking oneself up part - most emphatically not! If only colleges just admitted on grades...

[Anonymous]

Have him write that he's shared so much about who he is, here's who he would like to be as a student and as an alumnus