The Common App Essay
A few weeks ago, I shared information containing a number of college essay examples from students admitted to programs like Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley.
This week, I'm going to discuss one of the most important essays your child will ever have to write: the Common App Essay (aka, personal statement).
Before I get into the Common App Essay specifically, I want to discuss why you should care about your child's college essays in the first place.
College essays play a HUGE factor in admissions decisions, ranging between 10-30%, depending on the school.
With many schools having gone test-optional or deemphasizing tests, they are likely more heavily weighed than ever before.
Think about how hard your child has worked throughout high school, enrolling in tough courses, studying for AP/IB exams, taking and retaking the ACT or SAT, participating in extracurricular activities, and so on.
Yet, a few essays, written over the course of a few weeks to months, play as large a role as multi-year pursuits.
The nice thing about that is your child can set themselves apart from the competition by producing incredible work over a relatively short period.
The flip side is that your child's admissions odds can sink if they produce so-so essays, even if their stats and extracurriculars are great.
The reason the Common App Essay in particular is so important is because it's your child's core essay, the one that will be sent to most schools on your child's list.
Even if your child is applying to University of California (UC) schools or schools that require a different application (e.g., Coalition App), the Common App Essay can be modified to fit other application prompts.
Admissions committees want to learn what's not on your child's resume. They want to learn what makes your child tick, how they spend their time when they have no competing responsibilities, interesting aspects of their background, the ideas that are most important to them, things they passionately believe or fight for that few others care about to the same degree.
Unfortunately, too many students believe that they have to sound a certain way to impress admissions committees. They read other successful essays and attempt to dilute their own voice.
My goal for this message is to challenge two common misconceptions about the Common App Essay and, frankly, every other college essay your child will write.
Misconception 1: It's important to answer the essay prompt directly.
Common App offers seven prompts your child can choose from, including one that reads, "Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design."
This "wild card" prompt was added in recent years in response to students being unsure about which prompt to select. It was an effort by Common App to communicate on colleges' behalf that the selected prompt is not important. Rather, your child should communicate what is important to understand about them.
We routinely advise students to focus on writing their best personal essay and then decide which prompt to select.
If your child selects a prompt beforehand, they might feel constrained by it, rather than producing their most meaningful essay.
Misconception 2: It's important to select a unique topic.
For nearly two decades of helping students get into top colleges, we've read essays about pretty much every topic.
And for every topic, there are examples of great essays and not-so-great essays.
Yet, parents and students routinely worry about choosing a unique topic, as though selecting something that's never been written about will impress admissions committees.
A few years ago, the famous "Costco Essay" intensified applicants' desires to write about something no one else had ever written about. What people neglect to recognize is that the Costco Essay is written really well. A bad Costco Essay would have just been another bad essay; the fact that it was written about Costco would have made no difference.
Moreover, I routinely read essays with topics I've seen hundreds of times—the joy of practice, growing up in a multi-ethnic household—that provide such a unique perspective that they make me revisit an idea in an entirely fresh and personal way. These essays are just as powerful as the Costco Essay.
In other words, there is no such thing as a good or bad topic, only strong or poor execution.
Your child's Common App Essay can indeed make or break their admissions odds, so it's important that they get it right.
Talk soon,
Jessica
Costco Essay:
Managing to break free from my mother's grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother's eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon-sugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrial-sized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco.
Notorious for its oversized portions and dollar-fifty hot dog combo, Costco is the apex of consumerism. From the days spent being toted around in a shopping cart to when I was finally tall enough to reach lofty sample trays, Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life. As a veteran Costco shopper, I navigate the aisles of foodstuffs, thrusting the majority of my weight upon a generously filled shopping cart whose enormity juxtaposes my small frame. Over time, I've developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weight-loss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well-mannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity.
While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the 'all beef' goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirtythree ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia's workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52" plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson's controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory's dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits - qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likeable-and tender.
I adopted my exploratory skills, fine tuned by Costco, towards my intellectual endeavors. Just as I sampled buffalo-chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart-one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, cross-country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest.
My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the "what"; I want to hunt for the "whys" and dissect the "hows.” In essence, I subsist on discovery.
