College admissions summer project: writing your application essay

July 6, 8:26 AMCollege Admissions ExaminerLauren Starkey

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Two months without the pressures of homework, papers, and tests—summer is the perfect time to get your personal essay ready for the applications you’ll be filling out this fall. Don’t have a definitive list of schools? Not a problem. Almost 400 of them use the Common Application, which has as its 6^th essay topic option, “Topic of your choice.” Other colleges are similarly vague; here’s Seton Hall University’s: describe “anything that defines you as your own person.”

Also called the Personal Essay, your application essay needs to reveal something about you. While that might seem obvious, many students instead use their 250 words (or 300, or 500) to write about the person who has most influenced them (rather than focusing on themselves in relation to that influence), or about a fictional character (again losing focus on themselves). No matter what you choose as your topic, and the subject is wide open, remember that the goal is to give admissions officers a glimpse of you. Without that glimpse, you’re simply a compilation of grades, test scores, recommendations, and activities.

I continue to use the advice I gave in my 2003 book, Goof Proof College Admissions Essays: consult the Common Application Teacher Recommendation Form to get a clear picture of the personal qualities schools are looking for.  The 15 qualities include: initiative and independence, creative original thought, maturity, and intellectual promise. As you think about your essay subject, keep this list in mind. What can you write about that highlights at least two of them? The food drive you organized for the local food pantry shows both concern for others and initiative, for example, while your after-school job is all about motivation and disciplined work habits.

This week, work on developing a few subjects, keeping these three factors in mind:

1. Anything goes: those essay topics on fictional characters, pieces of music, and the person who influenced you most are loaded with potential pitfalls. Almost every school you apply to affords you the flexibility to write what you want.

2. Common App Recommendation Form: use its list of personal qualities to guide your decision.

3. Don'ts: read my previous column on subjects to avoid.

Next week: Standing Out from the Crowd: using specific writing techniques to make your essay memorable