Nothing cool ever happens to me

Listen up, seniors. It’s essay time!

Oh, come now, it’s not that bad. But the new school year is here, and you will get very busy very fast. So it’s important to get started on your essays as soon as possible. You don’t have to have a final draft done by, say, September 17 at 5:00 p.m. although you do need to start thinking about topics that you’ll want to write about.

Start by looking at the essay topics on the Common Application. Even if you’re applying to colleges that do not use the Common App, many colleges use similar questions.

The first question on the Common App asks you to evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken or ethical dilemma you have faced, and its impact on you. Can you think of anything? If not, it’s okay – there are five other questions on the Common App, and you only need to answer one of them.

We’ve worked with students who have said, “Nothing cool ever happens to me.” That can’t possibly be true – you can turn any event or experience into a great essay. Maybe you’ve never traveled to France, but you’ve been a babysitter? Or maybe you didn’t win a state championship in softball, but you played kickball in gym class? Any of these would make for a great topic.

You need to let admissions officers know why and how babysitting or kickball was important to you. Did you teach a child a lesson in sharing, or save his life when he choked on a toy, or feel responsible and accountable? (Or all of the above?) And in gym class, did you make friends with students you’d otherwise never talk to? What did you learn from them? Or did you get picked last for your team, and how did that make you feel?

You can write about pretty much anything and make the topic interesting – admissions officers want to know more about you, to see your style of writing and expression of thought, to find out if you are someone whom they would want on their campus for the next four years.

Don’t dread the essay; embrace it.