The Common Application Essay questions presents you a great opportunity to convey elements of your character that are not obvious through your transcript, resume and test scores.  College admission committees really mean it when they say that they want to get to know you.  They seek to understand not only writing skills, but something about your character.  This is the goal of every prompt.

In my essay coaching practice, I find that students often respond to the prompt with a great topic, but they sell themselves short by not taking the time to plumb for deeper meaning –they don’t get to the subject of the essay, or the subtext.

Here’s an example:

I’m working with a student right now –lets call him Caleb–who came to me with the idea of writing about how he learned to drive a manual transmission (a.k.a. “stick shift”) car. He laid out all of the details of learning how to drive, along with the harrowing details of his first time driving in actual traffic and how he overcame that set of fears. A lovely anecdote.

So I pushed Caleb a bit to move from the topic to the subject. I wanted to help him to use the story to indicate a few things about his character: What did the experience convey about him as a human being? So I probed him a bit: Why do you think it’s important to do something that’s relatively obsolete? If you see driving stick as more basic than other ways of driving, what does that say about you? What kind of experience –in this case of driving– do you get by doing this thing? What does that say about what you value? And so forth.

Now Caleb is using the topic of his story -learning to drive stick shift- to express a deeper subject: his appreciation for the basics, for being deeply connected to his endeavors (you really need to give the car, the road and the traffic your deep attention when you drive stick shift), for being in the moment. He thought about other elements of his life that are similar to this “back to basics” mentality and they are weaving through as well. Now the subject of his essay is about appreciating the doing the “basics” of an activity in a mindful way. See the difference?

So when you put fingers to keys for your essay (and please draft in stages), be sure to scrutinize your piece and understand the subject of your essay, beyond the topic.

Happy writing!

have guided hundreds of college applicants in crafting winning essays. 92% of my students have enjoyed admission to their top schools. Contact me if you would like to optimize your summer and enjoy a lower-stress Senior year. My bookings are limited.

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have guided hundreds of college applicants in crafting winning essays. 92% of my students have enjoyed admission to their top schools. Contact me if you would like to optimize your summer and enjoy a lower-stress Senior year. My bookings are limited.

For more tips on College Essays, visit my websit