As I race around this month, meeting with students to help them craft their Common App essays and supplements, I have noticed that students seem to struggle with the same issue. Many feel they have to have a dramatic story or momentous experience to write about in order to write a good essay. Some of the new Common App prompts seem to provide the perfect framework in which to share a significant experience, but what is a student to do if he or she hasn't had that defining moment yet? What if the moment of realization that that student is no longer a child hasn't happened yet? What if there is no story central to his or her identity that is worthy of note?
The default prompt for kids without a compelling story to tell seems to be writing about a place where the writer is content. If a student chooses this prompt, he or she should remember that the place need not be geographical, e.g. a ski mountain or Tel Aviv, and an even better more personal and moving essay can be developed if a physical place isn't the place of contentedness. It can be an emotional "place", chilling with the family dog after a rough day, or spending time with an elderly relative, hearing stories about the old days, doing chores for them or sharing a meal.
Students should think outside the box when crafting the essay. It's the only opportunity an admissions officer will have to really get to know the applicant beyond the data elsewhere on the application. Seize the opportunity to do so. Be authentic and the essay will make sense.
Of course the most important consideration when preparing an essay for submission is to have someone else read it! Whether it is a paid essay expert, a trusted teacher or counselor, or even a parent or friend with an eye for grammar and usage, have someone read it through and mark it up with a red pen. It is hard to spot mistakes in your own work and there is no more awful feeling than realizing there is a huge typo in the middle of your essay AFTER you have pressed the submit button!
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