Admission Essays, MIT, and Great Advice for Anyone

Here is another writer with advice on how to approach an admission essay. Enjoy.

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One feature of a successful college admissions essay -- and essays in general, I think, is that the question you're answering isn't immediately obvious. You don't come out and say, "The most important person in my life is..." or "The most memorable challenge I overcame was..."

When you're starting to write an essay, you don't need to know the question you're answering, either. You just need to tell a good story. You can find the question later. [1]

A good essay is a good story (or train of thought). A good college admissions essay is a good story that shows something about you. So instead of asking, "What should I write my college essay about," think about "What are the good stories in my life?"

MIT campus

Generating Ideas

The easiest way to generate essay ideas is to keep a journal or blog. Write in it regularly, and write about personal things -- what are you thinking, feeling? Journals are helpful because:

• Most people have good stories, but forget about them.
• Stories are often a combination of smaller events and details that lead to one main theme. You may not recognize you have a story, but then find one as you flip through your notebook and see patterns in your life -- someone you interacted with regularly, who changed you slowly; all those things that happened every Sunday when you tutored; your evolving tastes in music as you matured, etc.
• Fact checking and details -- it makes fact checking easier. Since you wrote it down before, you don't need to look up "What year did this happen?" It also gives you details at hand that you might have forgotten, which helps you create a richer story.
• It helps you stay in touch with yourself, so you know "Who am I"? This might sound silly until you start writing.
• Writing regularly helps you become a better writer.

If you're close to the application deadline and don't have time to start a journal, you can:

• Think about the significant people in your life. What are your fondest or most striking memories with them? What relationships have shaped you?
• Go through old assignments, belongings, or photo albums.
• We are largely shaped by things we do repeatedly. Make a list of things you do on a regular basis -- eating, cooking, taking transportation, practicing soccer, watching "Friends" etc. and think about how these habits, or the experiences surrounding these habits, have shaped you.
• Look through college applications, and books of college application essays, for essay prompts.

It also helps to read a lot, especially essays that fall under memoir and "creative nonfiction." You'll start to see how people use personal details to construct arguments and stories, and this will help you to piece together stories from disparate details of your own life.

Examples

A) It can be daunting to look at professional writers in The New Yorker, so here's an example of an essay written by a freshman for an introductory writing course at MIT.

The Workbench, by Curtis Clemens (mit.edu) [2]

It wasn't written to be one, but it would make a great college admissions essay because:

• It highlights positive qualities of the author -- self-sufficiency, being hands-on -- without being boastful. There is a line where he does say "We were so proud of our work." But when he says that, it makes you smile, because you feel he deserved it.
• Details like "The resulting tank really felt like a little corner of the ocean, and staring at it long enough, one would always find something new in its dark corners: urchins, shrimp, coral polyps, and even some fish sprouted forth from the live rock." not only paint us a picture, but reveal that the author is observant and appreciates these things.
• The details make the story unique and honest.
• The story makes the reader feel. The writing carries a consistent tone of nostalgia and quiet pride.

B) I collect good stories on Quora [3], and some of these would make great college admissions essays.

One of the best candidates here is Drew Young Shin's answer to Heroism: What is the most heroic thing you have ever done?. Here's a story that tells you way more than facts about Drew -- e.g. "I attended to X patients, went to Y medical school and graduated with Z honors -- ever could. This is what a college admissions essay is for.

On the other hand, while I thought Karen Gutierrez's answer to What's the most awesome thing you've ever done? was a delightful story, it wouldn't make a very good college admissions essay because it doesn't tell us enough about Karen. (It does tell us a little -- that she had an eye for stories and had the guts to pitch an unpopular idea -- but the breakthrough relies on serendipity.)

C) There are numerous books of successful college admissions essays. You can look at these for an idea of the quality that you are shooting for, though realize that these are the cream of the crop.

Litmus Tests
Ask the following questions about your essay:

• Does it tell the admissions officer something that the facts of my application couldn't? A description of how you won the state science competition or spelling bee isn't useful if that stat is already on your application, and your story doesn't really offer any new insights into your character.
• Even if my essay is not about me (e.g. "describe an influential person"), does it show how I think, what my values are?
• Do I sound like I'm bragging? This is a turnoff. You may not be a good judge of this, so give you essay to other people to read.

Diane Arbus photo

A Note on Schools
College admissions folks may contest this, but I think schools do have a bias in what they're looking for. I can specifically speak to MIT, because I've read a few successful college admissions essays from here.

I noticed that while many of the MIT essays weren't incredibly well-written, they did highlight that the students were: self-starters, entrepreneurial, intellectually curious. They wrote about doing things, some of them highlighted their nerdiness.

Being a tech school, this makes sense for MIT. I think it's fair to say you would want to think about what kind of people a school is looking for, though it's not a requirement. A truly good essay can stand on its own wherever it's submitted.

Caravaggio

[1] I'm assuming you're talking about the "write about anything" open-ended essay, which the Common App allows. However, if you're limited to a certain topic, you can find ways to use a single good story of yours to answer a variety of questions, with just a bit of editing. You are allowed to creatively interpret how to answer some question prompts, and you can answer obliquely. This strategy can save you if you're short on time.

[2] This whole magazine is dedicated to writing produced by students in introductory writing courses at MIT. I edited the 2009 and 2010 editions, and this one is my favorite piece out of both years.

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I want to thank Jess Lin for permission to repost this on my blog. Jess's advice is among the most cogent and helpful I have read in all my years in education. 

It is not all that much of a surprise  to me that such great advice comes from a student at MIT. After all, the students there were just named the smartest students in the US (in a less than scientific poll, but still it does mean something). 

MIT is lucky to enroll such great students. But I will say I have met great students from many colleges and universities. I hope more will come forward with advice here or or quora.com or other places in which people can find words that take the stress away from a process that is really just about telling stories.. It is not rocket science even if this particular entry comes from an MIT student . The links below will let you hear more from this fine scholar

 https://www.quora.com/Jess-Lin-3
- https://twitter.com/jssln