How to Begin Brainstorming For Your Admissions Essays: Start With Narrative

Typewriter.jpg

Humans gravitate towards narrative. We can’t help it—being attuned to changes and working out a theory of what caused them is a pretty good evolutionary trick. But you can use this predilection to your advantage when applying to college or graduate programs—in a sea of expository personal statements, the one with elements of plot will stand out. James Montoya, former Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Stanford, when asked for advice on the personal statement, said, “1. Answer the question...2. Tell a story, 3. Tell a story only you can tell.”

1.  Focus on change

What do I mean by narrative? I generally mean any description of internal changes—often changes driven by a challenge you faced. I also mean selectively using a few of the elements of narrative prose: scene-setting, dialogue, and depictions of action and internal reaction. Your personal statement should, if possible, tell the story of a change you went through, employing some of these elements. The change need not be complete; it could still be largely aspirational. On that note, don’t shy away from describing a challenge just because you don’t think you succeeded in facing it. Introspection about your internal development in response to external events is what counts. If you can say why and how you would approach the same challenge differently if you faced it again, you might have a great essay on your hands.

2. Mix in other elements

One general structure that works well is to open and close with narrative. In between, you can analyze the tension you set up via the narrative, talk about why that tension or problem is important or interesting to you, or analogize to similar problems in other fields. The best college admissions essay I wrote was about a particular race against my best friend. This essay started and ended with the race and in between I described our friendship, my competitiveness, what I loved about running, etc. You can do the same, selectively employing narrative while also demonstrating your ability to analyze arguments and make connections between seemingly disparate topics.

3. Write the essay that moves you

This is more general advice, but write the essay you are most excited to write, especially when you have a choice of prompts as you do on the Common Application. Do a structured brainstorm to find strong possible topics; match those topics to the prompts, and choose the prompt that best allows you to answer the topic you’re most drawn to. If you can use narrative techniques in your answer, so much the better. Looking at the Common Application’s questions for 2017-2018, a few obvious questions on which you can employ narrative stick out:

  • The “challenge, setback, or failure” question
  • The “questioned or challenged a belief or idea” question
  • The “period of personal growth” question
  • The “problem you’ve solved or would like to solve” question

In fact, the only common application question where narrative is almost entirely out of place is the “idea or topic that makes you lose all track of time” question. Here’s one question where detailing just how the spaghetti slipped off your raised fork as, unheedingly, you unlocked the mysteries of quantum mechanics is probably not the right strategy. If you really know your stuff on a particular discipline (and, crucially, you can describe it in a way that makes sense to a smart reader who nevertheless is unfamiliar with the topic), then I would probably ditch narrative in favor of spending more time with the ideas themselves. In most other situations, however, focusing on an internal change and the external forces that caused it is a good way to show your self-awareness, while writing an essay that is memorable.

Are you interested in connecting with a coach for support drafting, editing, and submitting your admissions essays?

Sign Me Up!

Want to read more on the subject?  Visit other articles from our blog below!

Have You Finished Your College Application Essay? (Part One)

Have You Finished Your College Application Essay? (Part Two)

How to Address Weak Areas of your College Application

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems

Related Content