In the spirit of “application advice month,” my colleagues and I are tackling the application checklist to help you put together an app that we’ll love. My task is to examine the first item on the checklist: the Common Application. I decided to focus mostly on that dreaded essay. Here we go!
The Common Application Essay is terrifying for many reasons. First of all, it’s the longest thing you’re asked to write in this process. Supplements are capped at a manageable 250 words while the Common App allows a daunting 650. It’s also the most substantial piece of writing that all of the colleges to which you’re applying will receive. This makes you feel the need to sound as ubiquitously appealing as possible, right? The broad, unapproachable questions they pose don’t help either – these prompts practically beg you to capture your whole being in this one limited space. All of these challenges often result in generic essay topics that even you hate, and formal writing to match the formal language on the Common Application Website (my use of capitalization is no accident). Often, as an admissions officer, it’s not until I get to your supplement that I see how clever and silly and fascinating you are, simply because the pressure is off – supplement has a lower case s, after all. But please don’t worry: this essay is not the summation of your entire being, there is a painless way to approach it, and it is not as scary as it first appears.
Since I am on the reading end of your application, I hope, in this post, to remove some of the Common Application pressure by telling you exactly what it is I’m looking for when I read this dreaded Essay with a capital E.
First of all – and this one’s pretty obvious - I want to see that you can write. At Tufts, you will most likely take an English course in your first semester as part of your first year writing requirement. That class is meant to prepare you for college-level writing, and I need to know if you’re ready for it. So yes, I want to see varied sentence structure and a story that progresses in a way that makes sense. I like correct grammar and spelling. Those things are important.
But just as important as all of that is the voice I hear as I read. If I’m being honest, I could not care less what this essay is about. I hope this doesn’t sound insensitive, but my answer to, “What should I write my college application essay about?” is literally “I don’t care.” I don’t care. You could write about that time a bird pooped on your head for all I care, as long as this essay has two things: a specific message and a clear voice.
Yes, your message must be specific. That’s why I cringe at words like perseverant, optimistic, and hard-working. Here’s an exercise for you: name your one friend who is perseverant, optimistic, and hard-working. Did you just think of all of your friends? If you didn’t, think about obtaining new friends. Your Common Application Essay should be something that your best friend smiles at as they read. “This is so you,” they should say. So instead of using adjectives that hopefully describe all your wonderful friends, tell me how the tips of your fingers tingle when you walk past the machine shop, or how you taught yourself DNA sequences by assigning each nucleotide a musical note, or that your school janitor leaves the keys to the gym with you so you can practice your free throw after midnight. These stories imply that you are passionate and determined and other wonderful adjectives that you haven’t even used in your essay. You must trust me as the reader to see those adjectives on my own. That is my job.
And yes, your voice should be clear. This one is tricky, but I promise it’s manageable. First think of how you’d describe yourself. Are you gregarious, contemplative, hilarious, reserved, sassy, skeptical? None of the above? Whatever adjectives you choose, don’t use them in your essay. That’s right, avoid them completely. At the same time, infuse the topic of your essay with these adjectives. Talk about the empty gymnasium after midnight in a quiet, beautiful way and I hear the words thoughtful and tranquil without ever actually hearing them. Write in funny asides and odd detail about the machine shop and I know you’re funky and wonderfully ridiculous without you having to tell me. This should be easier than it sounds – if you already are these things, all you have to do is write in the voice with which you normally speak, right?
Hopefully now your task is clear: with a well-written piece that has a specific message and a clear voice, you have absolutely nailed the common application essay, which you’ll notice is no longer capitalized because you are a rock star and it is just an essay.