I am
lucky. Maybe it’s because I am old, but in any case, I have been given the
opportunity to interview some of the finest students, scholars and educators around
the world and post their words here. Today you are lucky too. Janine Robinson
is not just an expert in her field; she’s also one of the best resources for I
know for students applying to colleges and universities. The author of three
books, Janine’s words here will convince you that her approach and her
knowledge could make what might be a stressed filled process turn into a
journey of self-discovery that will lead, not through any magic, but with a set
of useful steps, to a voice that tells a story clearly and well.
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Questions
Can
you give us little background on how you are where you are now? By this I mean
you are now the author of three wonderful books on admission essays, you work
with exceptionally talented students, and you are looked at as one of the
experts in the field. How did you get to this point?
It
started when I helped my own daughter (now 22) with her essay. I realized why
this assignment was so stressful: No one taught her how to write a personal
essay. (Not to mention the enormous pressure of the entire college admission
industry.)
I
also recognized that students could use the narrative writing skills I learned
as a professional journalist, reporter and editor to power their essays. So I
set out to find ways to teach them how to tell their real-life stories using
literary, story-telling writing techniques.
I
started with my Essay Hell blog, then wrote my guide books based on my
experience working with hundreds of students.
Can
you tell us a little bit about the genesis of your first book Escape Essay
Hell? You give a ten-step approach that I
think will help any student approach the process of writing an admission essay. How
did you come up with the 10 steps?
The
“ten steps” are really just a way to assure students that these essays are
doable if you take them one step at a time. The Essay Hell “formula” I walk
students through is the exact process I use when I work one-on-one with
students. I knew I could only work privately with so many students, and I
wanted to offer this approach to as many students as wanted my help.
Do
you find that some of the steps are more challenging for students than others?
Are there any which might be deemed more important than others?
I
believe the most important “step” is to figure out what it is you want to reveal
or say about yourself in the essay. In my book, I have students start by
zeroing in on a defining or “core” quality. Then they can go forward and look
for real-life examples they can share that illustrate their point.
This
approach helps them get started, which often is the hardest part. After that, I
find the biggest challenge is to take their rough draft to the next level. It’s
very difficult to know what to leave in, what to take out and what to change on
your own work (That’s why we have editors!) Self-editing is a skill that can be
learned but takes a lot of practice.
This
is why I wish high schools would include more personal and creative writing in
their Language Arts classes. Then students wouldn’t be so flummoxed (and
stressed out) by these all-important essays—and they could hone their writing
prowess at the same time.
One
of the things I particularly like is your emphasis on both showing and telling
in an essay. Philip Lopate, who I look to as one of the great contemporary
essayists, titles one of his books "To Show and To Tell". Why do you think so many
essay experts say show don’t tell? What are they missing?
Both
“Show, Don’t Tell” and “Show and Tell” are powerful writing techniques. But
it’s important to know the difference. In all good writing you need both
Showing and Telling. They are the two ways we communicate—by giving examples
(Showing) and by explaining what they mean (Telling.) Too much of either and
the writing deflates.
(Both
Lopate’s book and Writing Tools by
Roy Peter Clark teach how to leverage these potent techniques in writing.)
When
English Teachers talk about “Show, Don’t Tell,” they are usually just trying to
explain the power of the “showing” part of writing, and distinguish it from the
“telling” side. Most young writers feel more comfortable “telling” in their
writing, and need to learn why it’s important to bolster your points and
explanation with examples (details, specifics, etc.)
The
confusion is mainly rhetorical at this point. If possible, I think writing
teachers need to drop the “Show, Don’t Tell” maxim—and pound the “Show and Tell”
concept. It’s the most powerful writing tool I have ever learned.
The
other reason “Show and Tell” is so crucial for these college app essays is that
students need to engage their reader, but also reveal the quality of their
analytical/introspective/reflecting thinking. “Showing” with personal stories
and concrete details/examples is
ideal for “grabbing” readers and getting them to care about what you have to
say.
“Telling”
what they mean by exploring more abstract
concepts displays clear thinking, intellectual curiosity and the ability to
express meaning. Just like “Show and Tell,” you need both in effective writing:
concrete and abstract. They are really the same thing. And shifting back and
forth between the two give a natural spine or structure to an essay.
You
mention that all too often students try to impress admission officers with big
topics rather than focusing on the mundane. I agree that for many students this
advice is great. Could you talk a little about what you mean here?
Trying
to impress admissions officers usually backfires because you come across as
full of yourself and reading about your personal “wins” usually is boring. Do
you think they will want you at their school if they think you are not likable?
They will see all your accomplishments and accolades in other parts of your application anyway.
It’s
counter intuitive, but choosing topics that are everyday work much better at
showcasing who you are than writing about your life highlights (winning the big
game, climbing a mountain, etc.) Better to pick a mundane topic (riding the
public bus, singing karaoke, your missing front tooth, making kombucha, etc.)
and say something impressive about your experience with it.
The
mundane is concrete, specific and interesting; impressive typically is
grandiose, broad and intangible. As a reader, I know I relate better to topics
that are humble, authentic and gritty. Even if what you did was truly
impressive, I don’t want to read about how fast you ran to win the track meet,
that you worked with orphans in China or that you designed a computer that won
the science contest.
It’s
much more interesting to focus on something specific and everyday that happened
during these impressive—or unimpressive—moments. And “happened” usually means
something went sideways, or you encountered some type of problem along the way.
Let the impressive context (the big game, the mission trip, the science fair,
etc.) fall into the background of a specific moment, and go from there.
While
I have just said I agree with you about what you say about the effort to
impress often falling flat, I do think that some of the topics on Common Ap and
U Cal for example ask students to write about overcoming significant
challenges. In my experience the challenges that colleges often are hoping to
hear about have more to do with overcoming certain kinds of things like growing
up in a low income home or having to overcome racism or homophobia. Schools
want a diverse student body and there has been a lot of presses lately about
how many selective schools do not have many students from low income or
under-represented groups. Would you advise students in these categories to write
an essay on these big topics?
You,
Parke, introduced me to the work of Angela Lee Duckworth, and her conviction
that grit can be a more accurate predictor of success than IQs, test scores and
family wealth. I believe essays that show a student’s grit can be the most
effective, whether they are from a low-income or privileged background.
(It’s
most likely more important to convey grit, however, if you are from a
disadvantaged background, since this can help convince admissions counselors
they you have what it takes to not only get into college, but also stick it
out.)
The
key to showing grit in an essay is to find a compelling personal challenge
(problem) that you faced, and share how you handled it. That’s a winning
formula for almost any effective college app essay, in my opinion. It’s also
what makes a good story—a character dealing with conflict. And the reason
narrative-style essays are the way to go.
Also,
you can tackle the large issues—racism, homophobia, poverty, etc.—in an essay
by focusing on a specific, personal experience, incident or moment that relates
to those topics. Usually the real-life story has a mundane nature, but the
underlying lessons expose or reflect on the larger societal or philosophical
issue.
In
my essay collection Heavenly Essays,
one student started her essay by describing the time a woman mistook her for
the wait staff at a Mexican restaurant, assumedly because the student was
Hispanic. The student then went on to share how that made her feel (pissed
off!), how she thought about prejudice and the unfairness of racial disparities
and what she did to address them.
On
the other hand, topics like divorce and death and depression don’t seem to get
the same reaction from admission readers. Would you agree with this?
I
guess it’s what qualities the admissions officers are looking for in their
students. Although those can be loaded topics and challenging to write about, I
believe students should write about issues that have defined them. Again, the
trick is to drill down to some specific moment or lesson within the larger
issue to give the essay focus and impact.
A
student wrote about her parent’s divorce in one of the pieces in Heavenly Essays, but she started by
describing and focusing on the weekly drive between their homes, and what she
learned during those trips. Even though those commutes were about as mundane as
you can get, she had a lot of insightful things to say about them.
Goldilocks
question: Do you think colleges and universities use admission essays too much,
too little or just about right in their evaluations?
Apparently,
admissions officers often use these essays as the deciding factor when making
final selections among the equally shiny pool of applicants. From what I
understand, it’s a laborious process of elimination that often comes down to
650 words.
Only
schools know what they are looking for, and can evaluate if essays are helping
them hit their target students. My guess is that they end up with the student
body diversity or standards they seek and use these essays to reach it, but
that makeup may have little to do with what they thought the students were like
based on their essays.
Do you
think that students should be permitted to embed photos or video or music as a
part of the essay? (Common Ap has suggested they might permit this in the
future.)
I
love this idea. I think it’s absolutely crazy that students who write better (for
whatever reason) have a stronger chance of getting into a school than someone
who has other strengths, such as music, technology, science or art.
It
all depends on what colleges want to know about their potential students. If
they want to know how they think, what they value and their passions (and get a
sense of their personality and character), writing is a great forum to
demonstrate those qualities, but not the only one. It would be up to the
college to define and clearly explain what they want to learn about students,
and then give them options on ways to demonstrate it.
If
you had to estimate how much time a student takes from step 1 through step 10
in your essay strategy what would your estimate be?
It
all depends on how quickly the student can brainstorm a strong topic, formulate
a rough writing plan and pound out a rough draft. As we all know, there are
infinite places and ways to get stumped, slow down or quit for a bit.
Assuming
a student is motivated, she or he should be able to pound out a strong essay
(including several rounds of self-editing) anywhere from two to six hours. I
find most students do best to spread out the work among a couple days, but set
deadlines. It does not have to take days and weeks. It just depends on how they
work, their self-discipline and outside support. The biggest obstacle is
usually yourself: feeling overwhelmed, procrastinating and doubting you have
something interesting to write about.
Taking
it step by step is a great way to work through those typical mental writing
roadblocks.
Do
you ever have parents say that the topic their child has picked or the approach
is not right? If so what do you do?
Sure.
I see part of my role as helping parents as well as students understand what
makes a great essay. Showing them sample essays that “worked” often helps them
get it quickly.
A
lot of parents still believe essays must be impressive and sound like academic
papers they wrote in college. They don’t trust that a simple story about
parking cars for a summer or smiling too much can get their kids into Harvard
or Stanford. But they are wrong.
I
understand the concern of parents who feel so much anxiety about these essays
and fear they won’t guide their students correctly, and hurt their hard-earned
opportunity to attend a great college. I was there myself with my two kids.
But
if you have doubts, do your own research. Read up on college essays on the
Internet; hire a top-notch college counselor if you can’t figure it out. In the
end, you should trust your kid and your own instincts.
The
beauty is their student will land where they belong. I’m a big believer in
finding the right fit and trusting that each student has her or his own path.
College is like marriage—it’s not an end in itself, but just the start of the fun!
; )
How
do you respond to people who say that experts like you provide unfair
assistance to these students who have the economic means to afford help?
I’m
a guilty liberal so of course I wrestle with that question. What I do does
perpetuate an already unfair educational system—those with means have access to
the best of almost everything. They can go to private schools, afford tutors, and
network among their equally privileged friends, family and colleagues, hire
private college counselors, on and on.
I
try to justify my role with what I call my Robin Hood approach. I fill my blog
with all my best writing advice and tips, which anyone with Internet access can
use; I wrote three affordable guidebooks that include the exact information I
use with my private clients, and I offer them for free to anyone who works with
disadvantaged students. At the same
time, I charge a lot ($200 an hour!) for my private tutoring.
To
answer your question: Yes, I provide unfair assistance to rich kids. But I also
try to help those who aren’t rich.
In
your newly released book, Heavenly Essays you
provide readers with 50 examples of students who know how to tell a compelling
story. Could you talk about what you hope this book will accomplish for
readers?
I
believe this book will help students (and parents) understand that type of
topics that can make great essays (most have “mundane” topics), and also see
how narrative style essay work.
I
wrote a brief analysis after each essay to try to show readers what specific
narrative and literary writing techniques and devices were used, and why they
worked—including anecdotes, dialogue, voice, sensory details, etc.
It
was my attempt to Show students (and parents) what works instead of just
Telling them.
How
did you go about picking the essays?
I
basically asked former students if I could include their essays in my
collection. Of course, I tried to pick the ones I liked the best, and provide a
mix of topics, styles and backgrounds.
In
an attempt to get a broader variety of topics (most of my students are from
privileged backgrounds), I also held an essay contest on my blog to collect
essays, and 10 of these are featured in the book.
Do
you think that over the last several years that the topics students choose for
essays have shifted much?
I
only work with students on their essays, and have done this since 2008. So I am
no expert on what college admissions officers have been seeing or how much that
has changed. I know it’s easier now than when I started to convince students,
parents and college admissions counselors to go with personal topics. I don’t
know how else they wrote “personal essays” in the past.
I
only know that since I got involved with these essays my main mantra has been
to ditch the formal academic, “try to impress” essays for narrative style,
“slice-of-life” essays. And that seems to be growing more and more popular
among other essay “experts.” Which is great!
A recent
piece in the NY Times warns students that over sharing will result in a bad
outcomes for students. You advise students to stay away from certain topics.
What is your view on the over sharing phenomenon?
If
you really want to know my opinion, I wrote a post, “TMI In College App Essays?” Yes, I think a few students might need help knowing how far
to go when sharing their personal issues, but in general I think it’s better to
encourage them to get out all the nitty-gritty details, and then cut out
anything off-putting.
I
have to say almost anything must be better than a boring essay. When telling a
real-life story that may have graphic, unpleasant details, it’s best to stick
with the truth but try to tone down the melodramatic parts. When in doubt, ask
for someone else’s opinion.
Frankly,
I don’t think over-sharing is one of the most worrisome issues surrounding
college admissions or these essays.
You
advise students to avoid topics like trips to exotic places and things that seem
to demonstrate a certain amount of privilege. Do you think there is at least
among a certain percentage of admission essay readers a slight bias against
students who come from the high end of the economic spectrum? (I do believe
this as I have seen it in action.)
Yes,
I advice my students to watch out for exposing their privilege. No one wants to
read about your ski trips, riding lessons or trips to Fiji to surf. If nothing
else, it exposes that they are oblivious to their life advantages. Often, it’s
not their fault (not to point fingers but, ahem, parents?) so I just gently try
to help elevate their self-awareness and flag off-putting topics.
You
do not talk that much about audience in your books. Do you think there is a
fairly accurate way of defining who the audience is in terms of what kinds of
prose they value most?
I
don’t try too hard to get into the heads of college admissions officers. My
understanding is that they are on the younger side of me (20s-40s? on average),
and are well-educated, well-meaning humans.
With
all my writing, I use myself as my best gauge of what’s good or bad. If I find
something interesting or readable, I assume others will, too. It’s part of
learning to be your own editor, and trust your ear and sensibility.
That’s
why I believe narrative (story-telling) essays are so powerful. They find
connections on the most universal human level. And you want to read them.
What’s the point of sharing information, no matter how profound, if no one can
get past the first paragraph? (Especially when your audience has to read
hundreds of these at a time!)
Do
you ever find that some of the essays your students have written get raves from
some and thumb down from others? (I see this with some of the essays I post.)
I
have seen how some of your readers love essays you share and others dislike the
same ones. My opinion is that there are readers out there who think they are
supposed to like certain types of essays, and I think it’s wise to accept that
some of the college admissions officers still are that way. (They come from the
same ilk as those who still believe academic essays that use words like
“Nevertheless” and “Furthermore” and toss in SAT vocabulary words at every turn
are somehow “smarter” and better written.) I’m hoping they are more and more in
the minority. I ignore them.
Your
writing style both shows and tells. You have clear diction, don’t try to
impress us with big words or theoretical terms, but give us a lot to think
about and do. How would you describe your style?
That’s
so nice of you to say. Actually, I wish I “showed” more with my writing. The
truth is you have to go the extra step to show in writing, to dig out examples
of your points. Often with my blog posts I’m in a rush to just convey the
information, and move on.
So I
stick to plain language and try to write more like a talk. Writing the blog has
helped me find my own narrative “voice.” I highly encourage blogging for
students who want to develop their own.
Anything
else you want to add?
After
all that, nothing left to say. But seriously, thanks for giving me a platform
to talk (endlessly) about something I care deeply about: helping others realize
that they can learn to write!
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We
are our stories. This may seem like an exaggeration, but at least for those applying
to selective colleges and universities it is accurate. Numbers are important of
course. Without a strong set of tough courses and high grades and SATS that predict success in a competitive environment, an essay rarely will change a decision.
But
given the spike in applications in the last decade from around the world,
numbers are not enough. Admission readers look for a voice that will add to the
incoming class. They are certainly not looking for a voice that is standardized
in approach or topic. Instead, they look for a story, a narrative that
encapsulates a student’s experience or view of the world in a way that compels
a positive response.
Jeanine
not only knows this, she both shows and tells students how to create a personal
statement that will permit a reader to enter a world they have not visited
before. These worlds need not be exotic in any way; instead, they could focus
on parking cars or getting stuck in a tree. It sometimes surprises people to
know that an essay about being stuck in a tree could be looked at more favorably
than an essay about climbing Everest, but it’s true.
The tighter
the focus, the more detail can show us the world and still leave room to tell
us the importance of this slice of life. And the more a voice and the story behind
and in front of it create an accurate portrait of a senior in high school, the
more the essay has accomplished its goal. Jeanine’s books give students real
essays to use to inspire them to find the beauty (and sometimes the dark side) in the life lived. She eschews
big words and Pomo jargon and theories. She approaches her work and students with passion and clarity, which is just what
students should do too.
I
agree with Janine that schools don’t to enough to prepare students for writing a
personal essay. And I also agree that students who have the means to find a
great coach, editor or consultant are at an advantage. (I have addressed this issue of editors and ethics and help here.) At the same time, I
think many colleges try in many ways to reward those students who come from low
income background and under-represented groups. They do worry that the people
who are already stretched thin in terms of income and paying for the full cost
of a college are the ones who will not have the level of sophistication and approach
as some who have added help. Janine’s books, blog and efforts can help them. I
applaud her efforts to help those who cannot afford hourly fees and individual
feedback. Her work should be shared in schools and by colleges and universities
on their websites too.
Despite
what some in education think, some of those doing the most to help students in significant
ways are in the private sector rather than directly involved in education. I
know many in addition to Janine who are committed to helping as many as they
can at little or not cost. It’s about time more educators and administrators
admit that people like Janine work in the trenches with students and work for
many hours and that their insights and information can be useful to everyone
applying to colleges. I think the inclusion of IECA in the Common Ap feedback
groups demonstrates that at long last some groups are acknowledging that people like her have wisdom that few others have. I do hope that CA will think seriously about including options for
students to submit more than just words with their applications. It is starting
to happen with college graduates and it is the world we now live in.
She
and I have explored Angela Lee Duckworth’s research on grit. At this point last
year Angela was the rage among admission offices and counselors. In my interactions
with Angela I think she was worried that her research was being used for things
it was not designed to do. Now that she has a MacArthur Genius Grant I hope her work will
explore the issue of grit in ways that will help educators, students and
admission offices choose students. I will have more to say about her work and a
few others who also extoll grit in an upcoming post.
I
would like to thank Janine for her willingness to share her insights here. I
have learned a great deal from her books and this interview. Just this past
weekend, I was a guest lecturer on essay writing at a highly selective university,
and I mentioned Janine’s approach as a great way to actually enjoy the process
of writing an essay. I have to say that in my work with students, either
teaching or in some other way, most students, when given the chance to explore
their stories find that it isn’t as hard as they thought and it does lead to an
interest in writing that may not have been there before. I am virtually certain
that this has been true of many of Janine’s students. I hope it is true for
some of you who have just been inspired by her words here.
Janine Robinson |
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