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STAGE 1: Setting the Stage
Your first step to an amazing college essay is to set the stage. During STAGE 1, we will:
Review the tools you’ll need to complete the college essay writing process
Learn what factors make for a great college essay and review some real life samples
Identify your personal qualities and the experiences that have helped to shape your character
What makes for a great college admissions essay?
Unlike the academic essays you’re probably used to writing, the college admissions essay doesn’t come with a strict set of rules to follow. No thesis statement required! The college essay is PERSONAL; the goal is to show the admissions committee who you are. Many topics and writing styles can lead to a successful final draft.
Although the college essay allows for a lot of freedom and creativity, there are a number of factors that all great essays have in common. A great essay:
Creates uncommon connections
A great essay avoids generic or predictable storylines. For example, if you were to write about the sports injury that taught you to work hard and come back stronger, readers wouldn’t be too surprised. It’s a predictable plot that’s been told in movies, books, and thousands of college essays before you.
A more interesting and unique story might be one where you share how your sports injury transformed you into a leader. This story provides an uncommon connection (sitting on the sidelines → leadership) that readers probably won’t expect.
Offers perspective
A great college essay reveals your personal qualities, or character, THROUGH your story. Readers learn how you’ve developed this quality over time and how it has impacted you.
Focuses on reflection rather than recounting
A great essay is concerned less with what happened and more on how you processed the event. Sure, it’s fun to tell a story, but what’s the point of that story? The essay should clearly answer this question by reflecting on how you’ve changed and grown.
Showcases your personality and unique voice
A great essay captures your voice. Avoid littering your sentences with ‘big’ SAT words or adopting a tone that makes you sound like a robot or dictionary. Admissions committees know applicants are high school students, and they want your essay to sound like a teenager wrote it.
Includes meaningful details and vivid, precise language
A great essay SHOWS rather than tells. For example, instead of telling your reader “I was so nervous,” show them your anxiety with a more descriptive phrase: “The sweat started to drip down my face as my stomach churned.” These details make for a much more exciting essay that helps your readers feel as though they are in the moment with you.
FIRST: Technical Details
Let’s go through all of the materials you’ll need to make sure the essay process goes smoothly.
1. The STAGE home page: If you haven’t already, take a moment to review the STAGE home page. You can also book your meetings in advance, to make sure you get sessions in your preferred time slots!
2. Your STAGE Essay Materials Google Drive folder: You should have received an email from our admin team (admin@dccollegecounseling.com) during onboarding with access to your Google Drive folder. In the folder, you’ll see a “STAGE Essay Program Materials” subfolder. This is where you will do much of your work with us, so make sure you have it set up and know how to access it. If you have questions, feel free to shoot the admin team an email and they’ll be happy to help.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you became a client a long time ago, this folder was sent to you a long time ago. You can also find it by going to http://drive.google.com and logging in with the email address our team uses to communicate with you.
After you are logged in, refresh and navigate to the “Recent” link on the left-hand side of the page. You may need to scroll down, but ultimately you will see a folder with your name on it, i.e. “John Smith.”
3. The submission form: Any time you are done with a STAGE assignment and want our team to take a look, you will submit your work using this form. We love Google folders and Docs, but there’s one problem: when you complete an assignment in a Google Doc, we have no way of knowing! As long as you select the right options on the form, it will automatically alert us that you’ve finished your work and it’s ready for us to review.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
It is essential that you select the right options on the form, as shown here. If you select the wrong options, your work will not be routed properly.
If you have questions, feel free to shoot the admin team an email and they’ll be happy to help.
SECOND: SAMPLE ESsay Assignment
Read the three sample college essays:
Then use this form to answer a few quick questions about your favorite essay. (Note: you won’t be able to submit the form until you complete the character inventory below).
THIRD: Character Inventory
What story should I tell? You’re probably asking yourself this question now that you’ve learned what makes for a strong essay. And for many students, this is where the anxiety sets in. You feel pressured to tell an extraordinary story that sets you apart from the rest. But as you start searching through your memories, the doubts take over. I’m so boring! Nothing interesting has ever happened to me. An admissions committee won’t think this story is exciting.
Let’s face it. The majority of teenagers haven’t been to the Olympics or climbed Mt. Fuji, and that’s okay! What makes a story extraordinary is the way in which you give meaning to a particular experience, no matter how big or small. Often the most memorable college essays are those that focus on smaller moments (just like you saw in the sample essays).
So how do you create meaning? How do you find those smaller moments that become the subject of your essay? Start with your character! This is your chance to think about your positive characteristics - like your initiative or creativity - and to reflect on how these qualities have been in the ‘spotlight’ of your life. For example, most teenagers would probably describe themselves as determined. But what has transformed you into a determined individual? Did you learn not to give up when you were cut from the soccer team freshman year? Did you develop this attitude when you spent six months building your own computer? And what impact has your determination had on your life?
Most of us probably don’t realize what experiences have formed our character. After all, we don’t typically sit around thinking about these things. That’s exactly why you’re completing the character inventory in this stage. You might just discover that in the quietest, most seemingly ordinary moments, your character takes the spotlight.
INSTRUCTIONS: In your Google Drive folder, navigate to the “STAGE Essay Program Materials” subfolder. Open the Character Inventory worksheet and complete the questions. When you are finished, copy and paste the Google Doc link from the worksheet into the same form where you answered the sample essay questions. Be sure to click ‘SUBMIT’ at the bottom of the form when you have completed both assignments.
FOURTH: SUBMISSION
Once you’ve finished STAGE 1, you can use the buttons below to book your first session (if you haven’t scheduled it already), and to submit your assignment. Please submit your assignment at least 48 hours before your scheduled session.
THE STAGE PROGRAM
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