There are students who go through the grueling months of SAT preparation, take full loads of AP classes, and pull together summers of impressive extracurricular activities. However, when it comes to the actual task of writing college application essays, these seeming stars fade away, avoiding writing their essays until the last possible moment. This is very unwise. Procrastination can have a deadly impact on one’s candidacy. If you’re a borderline candidate (and who isn’t at Stanford, Harvard, or Princeton?) your essays can be the ultimate deciding factor. They’re one of the few things you can actually control, but only if you’re willing to devote the necessary time and effort to perfect them and breathe life into them.
If you’re bitten by the urge to procrastinate on your essays, do one thing first: tell yourself that whatever you write will not be perfect. Perfectionism kills drive. The creative process is messy, littered with miscues and it rarely produces a perfect product. Understand this and you will save yourself weeks of avoidance. Next, turn off any hint of self-criticism. All ideas have merit. Some common, almost boring, ideas can lead you down paths that might produce tremendous essays that will reveal all your complexities and character in a simple and straightforward manner. It’s when things look almost ridiculously pedestrian that the perfect topic might raise its head. Welcome such a possibility by not worrying about what sounds good, or whether you’re using perfect grammar and spelling, just get the process moving with an open mind and a busy pen or keyboard.
One minor observation worth noting, if you’re wondering whether to compose on paper or computer, and you’re wondering which might be more conducive to generating good ideas, try paper. According to fairly extensive research, nothing ignites the neurons like handwriting. Moving your hand to form letters stimulates the brain like few other activities. Yet, I digress.
A lot of students are convinced they are not creative, or that they have nothing interesting to say. This is nonsense. Believe that you are creative and you will surprise yourself. What you need to do is consider some provoking questions that will stimulate your senses and get a topic of great pitch and moment down on paper. Here are some questions that you might consider to get your brain into gear and get words on paper (or screen):
What are your favorite activities or hobbies?
What are your talents or skills?
What accomplishments are you proudest of?
What is an interesting conversation you have had?
When and how have you shown leadership?
What makes you unique?
What is a strong belief that you hold? (Religion is best avoided.)
Anything that enthralls you should be seriously considered. Don't rule anything out. Now is not the time to censor your thoughts. It’s time to relish in their myriad of directions, and pluck each path as if it were a note waiting to turn into an overture of great magnitude. It’s good to give the brainstorming process a bit of time. Much of what appears golden in the early hours turns to dross under the glare of inspection. That’s fine. That is the process.
Next, you might want to evaluate each idea on the merits of its originality. There is nothing new under the sun. Keep thinking and trying to come up with something that might mold itself into an enticing story that will render you a palpable character that an admissions officer cannot do without. (Always keep your eye on the ultimate goal.) What you’re after is an essay that only you can write. The key to all this is to write about something that is truly meaningful to you.
College essays take time and take work; it is not a pretty or predictable process. Much of life isn’t pretty or predictable. Pick up the pen, or place your fingers on the keyboard and start telling the world who you are. At the very least, it will be therapeutic, even if Harvard or Stanford fails to recognize your inherent genius.