Only after you have thoroughly brainstormed about yourself and your motivations, and written your application arc, is it finally time to pick a topic for your essay. We will tell you time and again at Better College Apps that your essay is about YOU–but you can’t ignore what the application is actually asking too. With the prompt in mind, think of a story, lesson, experience, interaction with an influential person in your life, accomplishment, skill, or interest that fits both with your arc and your previous brainstorming sessions.
When you sit down to draft your essay, pick an environment and method that is conducive to creative productivity for you individually. This could be at your desk, in a coffee shop, listening to music, outside at a park–any number of places–but it probably isn’t in front of the TV or other distraction. Try to give yourself plenty of time–it’ll be hard to give your essay an opportunity to unfold if you only have fifteen minutes. Also don’t under any circumstances start writing an essay directly into your application. You can jot your first draft in a notebook or on your computer (I highly recommend Google docs for autosave), but the application portal itself will put subconscious pressure on you and discourage creativity or editing or complete re-writing. Remember, it’s completely okay if your first idea for a story doesn’t turn into a stellar essay. Don’t feel bad about starting over. It’s part of the process. And it’s totally not worth it to force a topic that isn’t working.
Format
If you are confident with your essay topic, but you have no idea how to format or approach the actual writing, here are some suggestions of essay styles you could use:
- A personal narrative with a cold open. I will focus most on this style because it is the most coachable and approachable. It makes it easy to get personal and express yourself.
- A mundane topic with revealing descriptions and wit. It is commonly advised that students consider this type of essay; however, I caution you to execute this well if you choose it. A poorly executed essay on a mundane topic is really boring and doesn’t actually say anything about the applicant. Mundane topics are risky and have high variance, because the topic or story doesn’t carry the weight for the writer. This essay can really shine only if you have great writing skills and compelling personality to showcase. I tend to steer students toward narrative writing, especially for longer prompts (500+ words), because I think that approach is easier and is a lower hurdle to clear.
- A story told from someone else’s perspective.
- Creative approaches such as a newspaper article, press release, wanted poster, advertisement, etc. Be very careful with this one too, because it will have to be well executed to make for an outstanding essay. If you don’t hit a home run, you’re probably striking out. Consider your application arc if you take this approach and be sure it fits well.
- A dialogue driven narrative without a true “narrator.”
Getting Started with the Narrative Format
If have chosen the narrative format, and you’re struggling with how to start your essay or how to introduce yourself well, go look at how characters unfold in great movies and books. Usually they are introduced without much background or context. The situations, dialogue, and other clues fill in the details as the story progresses.
For example, Rick in Casablanca is shrouded in mystery for most of the movie. Nearly every one of his scenes shows something new about his past, his ethics, his motivations. The viewer is hanging on every detail, driven by curiosity and the character’s charm and charisma. This same phenomenon holds with a lot of classic characters in works by authors from Dickens, Dumas, and Shakespeare to Alfred Hitchcock and JK Rowling.
Granted, your essay isn’t very long, but this format can still pack a punch in a short space. Go look at some short stories like The Most Dangerous Game, The Bluest Eye, or Mateo Falcone. Really any great short story does this too.
Here’s how you can make this work for your essays:
Go small. Don’t give a sweeping aerial view of your whole life or even your whole personality. Zoom in on specific events, vignettes, or conversations that were significant, pivotal, or foundational for you.
Use a cold open without much setup. Introductory sentences are a hallmark of the AP English 5 Paragraph EssayTM. They are also unnecessary, commonplace, and lame. Do not ever spit back part of the prompt in your first sentence. Don’t explain the story you’re about to tell or even establish the setting. Just jump right in. The context and other details will be filled in later as you go, and the reader will be hanging on each one because he/she needs them.
Sneak the “showcasing details” into the story rather than writing them directly. This is what “show, don’t tell” really means. With a low word count you’ll have to be fairly judicious with how you do this though. If you’re creative with problem solving, show that with the problem you solved in your story, don’t just say “I’m a creative problem solver.” Instead of saying that you’re compassionate toward others, show an example of a time you were compassionate, then elaborate on why, and what it means to you.
At some point, depart from your story to give some commentary. This doesn’t have to be much, but something that drives home the points you’re trying to make. If it’s a really short essay, like a 200 word supplement, you’re probably done with it after you finish this. Note that if you tell a really great story, you don’t need this at all. (Fun side note: Upton Sinclair probably had the worst case ever of this backfiring on him. In The Jungle, he tried to jump out of the story at the end with his main point, “So we should all be Communists,” but what he got instead was “We must reform the meat packing industry.” This backfiring probably won’t happen to you, but it helps illustrate how this device works.) Take the attribute or character trait about yourself that you’re showcasing in your story and go one step further by explaining why you did, said, or thought those things. Unpack what it means to you, how you’ve grown or changed in that area, or what/how you hope to build on those attributes further.
