Admissions office take on application essays

[Anonymous]

This letter was published in the NYT by a Smith College VP of Enrollment. Apparently it is in response to a letter from a student who thought he needed to write about adversity/trauma in order to get into college. I like her advice and hope that people take it to heart. Both my kids wrote their essays on how a piece of literature/media and their engagement with it led to a better understanding of their own lives. They both were accepted everywhere they applied (although careful targeting of schools made a bigger difference in that statistic. ) Thought I'd share this for all those juniors getting ready to plan their essays.

To the Editor:

Re “I Didn’t Want to ‘Sell My Pain’” (Opinion guest essay, May 10):

I appreciated Elijah Megginson’s article, and I agree wholeheartedly that we do a disservice to college applicants when we signal that overcoming adversity is the only way to distinguish oneself in the college admission process.

Resilience is an important characteristic for future college students. But even more important factors for colleges to consider are how applicants approach learning, what they see as the purpose of their education, how they investigate their intellectual interests, and how they react when their assumptions are challenged.

Too many students worry that if they have not faced major adversity in their young lives, they don’t have a college essay topic. Is this really the message we want to send to our future scholars and leaders?

I’m coming to the end of a nearly 40-year career in college admission, the last 21 years at Smith College, a nationally selective women’s college that is known for a socioeconomically diverse student body. I have read thousands of essays. Those that I remember best are not the essays that reflect the greatest hardship or the most pain, but those that show the ability to make meaning from everyday situations, demonstrate a sense of humor, reflect a commitment to the community and, most of all, demonstrate the joy the student finds in learning.

Audrey Smith
Northampton, Mass.

[Anonymous]

Can we make this also apply in reality shows and Olympic profiles?

[Anonymous]

Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

[Anonymous]

And you are the arbiter of this discussion because...??

I agree with this admissions professional. A good writer can make anything interesting/compelling.

[Anonymous]

First, high schoolers aren’t good writers (with limited exceptions). Second, it’s significantly harder to craft a compelling narrative without a conflict. It’s not impossible but it’s not easy.

Finally, you have to remember that most college admissions officers significantly overestimate their ability to set aside their personal biases when evaluating essays. An emotional essay that shows determination and character (note that’s not the same a sob story) will carry more weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

Just what an admissions officer wants: 5,000 essays on the "hardship" of not making the lacrosse team.

You have this exactly backwards. The best essay most high schoolers (who have not dealt with true hardships in life) can write are reflections on mundane things.

Pick up one of those collections of "best" college essays, and what will strike you is how the topics are really quite ordinary. Two I still remember from a collection I read many years ago are (1) a girl who wrote about her father's death--but she didn't write about the experience of losing him per se, she wrote a narrative about the year anniversary of his death and how she put on her father's old coat to go wear to the cemetery and how it felt to dig her hands deep into the pockets of it and (2) a boy who wrote on the topic of "the best advice he'd ever received," which for him was when he was a young kid standing in the middle of the street and a car pulled up and the driver yelled, "move your ass!" and how that advice--to get moving--was really the best. These are the types of essays that are memorable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we make this also apply in reality shows and Olympic profiles?

Thank you for the chuckle today!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

Just what an admissions officer wants: 5,000 essays on the "hardship" of not making the lacrosse team.

You have this exactly backwards. The best essay most high schoolers (who have not dealt with true hardships in life) can write are reflections on mundane things.

Pick up one of those collections of "best" college essays, and what will strike you is how the topics are really quite ordinary. Two I still remember from a collection I read many years ago are (1) a girl who wrote about her father's death--but she didn't write about the experience of losing him per se, she wrote a narrative about the year anniversary of his death and how she put on her father's old coat to go wear to the cemetery and how it felt to dig her hands deep into the pockets of it and (2) a boy who wrote on the topic of "the best advice he'd ever received," which for him was when he was a young kid standing in the middle of the street and a car pulled up and the driver yelled, "move your ass!" and how that advice--to get moving--was really the best. These are the types of essays that are memorable.

Half of your examples still involve the aftermath of true trauma. The second one is a better example of telling an interesting story out of something mundane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

Exactly. Tell the story of how you evolved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

Exactly. Tell the story of how you evolved.

Exactly, it’s not about the hardship itself. The hardship is just the scaffolding on which the students hangs the narrative about their character.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

Just what an admissions officer wants: 5,000 essays on the "hardship" of not making the lacrosse team.

You have this exactly backwards. The best essay most high schoolers (who have not dealt with true hardships in life) can write are reflections on mundane things.

Pick up one of those collections of "best" college essays, and what will strike you is how the topics are really quite ordinary. Two I still remember from a collection I read many years ago are (1) a girl who wrote about her father's death--but she didn't write about the experience of losing him per se, she wrote a narrative about the year anniversary of his death and how she put on her father's old coat to go wear to the cemetery and how it felt to dig her hands deep into the pockets of it and (2) a boy who wrote on the topic of "the best advice he'd ever received," which for him was when he was a young kid standing in the middle of the street and a car pulled up and the driver yelled, "move your ass!" and how that advice--to get moving--was really the best. These are the types of essays that are memorable.

Half of your examples still involve the aftermath of true trauma. The second one is a better example of telling an interesting story out of something mundane.

But the essay wasn't about losing her father. It was about what wearing the coat meant to her. It could also have been about wearing the coat of a grandparent, a much more common loss experienced by a teen that isn't necessarily a "hardship." Actually, it could have been about wearing the coat of a living parent or an older sibling. Although that would have evoked a different feel, it could be just as thoughtful and interesting to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Compelling narratives, in literature, film/tv, and in college essays, need a hardship to overcome. That’s not to say that the hardship needs to be a tragedy but “the everyday” is generally somewhat mundane.

Exactly. Tell the story of how you evolved.

This is really incredibly boring to read about in most cases. The "evolution" of the majority of American college applicants is not that interesting (and thank god for that).

[Anonymous]

Talked to ivycoach.com Bryan. He charges 90000 dollars for 3 college applications. Majority of their kids supposedly get into ivy and most selective college. So much about college admission. This whole essay shi** need to stop. Who knows who writes whose essay. College admission to most selective colleges is a game. Whoever plays well wins. Half are probably really deserving, remaining half belong to resourceful and rich families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talked to ivycoach.com Bryan. He charges 90000 dollars for 3 college applications. Majority of their kids supposedly get into ivy and most selective college. So much about college admission. This whole essay shi** need to stop. Who knows who writes whose essay. College admission to most selective colleges is a game. Whoever plays well wins. Half are probably really deserving, remaining half belong to resourceful and rich families.

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, high schoolers aren’t good writers (with limited exceptions). Second, it’s significantly harder to craft a compelling narrative without a conflict. It’s not impossible but it’s not easy.

Finally, you have to remember that most college admissions officers significantly overestimate their ability to set aside their personal biases when evaluating essays. An emotional essay that shows determination and character (note that’s not the same a sob story) will carry more weight.

Conflict doesn't have to be tragic.