The Academic Approach®

This fall college-bound high school seniors will most likely find themselves somewhat distraught over that most daunting of all the various components that constitute the application package—the personal essay. However, students need to recognize that the personal essay presents an opportunity to speak in the present about themselves, each applicant in his or her own voice. This is an opportunity to be seized. The essay can be the most powerful component of a completed application precisely because here, for the first and last time in the file, the very person who stands knocking at the door asking to be let in speaks directly to those who will answer the door. An admissions committee can be moved to admit a student on the basis of a personal essay that makes clear that the person speaking is precisely the sort of student the school wants to see arrive on its campus next fall.

Essentially, each student’s four-year journey is collated into an application file that contains the student’s transcript, test scores, list of co-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, any supplementary materials that the student might submit, and the required essays. Obviously, each component of the student’s file represents water that has already passed under the bridge–the courses, tests, activities, and letters have all been, for the most part, completed—each component, that is, except for the essay. Because the writing of personal essays is only rarely taught in school, most students are not prepared for what, in most cases, may be the most important piece of prose they will ever compose.

It is important to bear in mind that, when reading personal essays, admissions committees endeavor not just to assess the topic but also to discern the writer’s voice. Accordingly, it is essential that students work to find both a worthy topic and voice that honestly and engagingly convey who they are. Achieving unison between ones topic and voice is perhaps the most difficult aspect of the writer’s craft. The best way to approach the college essay is to budget ample time for reflection, drafting, revising, re-reading, and revising again. Though it would be both unwise and unethical for parents, counselors and/or consultants to be too involved in the personal essay writing process, all parties can help by encouraging students to set aside enough time to thoughtfully approach this piece of writing.

Most students have never been confronted by the sorts of questions that colleges ask of them on this part of the application. I think we would all agree that there is no quick and easy response to the personal-essay questions posed a few years ago by Bates College: “How would you describe yourself as a human being? What quality do you like best in yourself and what do you like least? What quality would you most like to see flourish and which would you like to see wither?” Such questions, which are the rule and not the exception, catch most writers off guard. Most of us do not reflect upon or examine ourselves in this manner—certainly not in writing. Similarly, most high school seniors would not be able to respond to this recent Common Application prompt without ample time for reflection, drafting, and revisions: “Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.”

As these two examples of fairly typical personal essay prompts ought to suggest, not only are topic and voice necessarily and inextricably intertwined but they also need to be carefully conceived and crafted. Understand that the personal essay is not the time for the cavalier dashing off of a piece of prose—the effective piece is not a blithe facebook ‘look-at-me’ narrative. Rather, the successful personal essay writer comes to recognize through the process that there lies buried in the laborious and dreaded process of completing college applications one of contemporary American life’s rare adjurations to self-examination conveyed through a carefully crafted prose.