- The word counts are freaking infinitesimal. You better use some giant descriptive words or you can sound so boring so quickly!
- There are 90298470389724508340875 kadrillion ways to approach every prompt. I've grown to love the good old "hook" technique, but I use the first time I heard of/fell in love with said college. It's all cute and storylike. So, pure me.
- Talking about campus visits is ridiculously tempting. I literally visited 3 schools, and applied to 2 of them. AND IN BOTH SUPPLEMENTS I WROTE ABOUT VISITING. It's really hard not to. Really really hard.
- You have to do actual real fucking goddamn RESEARCH. This is not an AP Gov paper. You are not allowed to pull sources from logic or memorized court cases. Oh no. You have to troll the college web site until 3:22 am (what time is it again?), looking for some evidence of some program that interests you. Because they ask that. Oh yes, they ask that. Fuck you, Engle v. Vitale. (I just picked that one because I'm really passionately against school prayer because I am a raging Vermonter cow-tipping quasi-atheist liberal. Hilary 2016. EDIT: Bernie 2016! Vermont, indeed!)
- Some schools give you options. "The fun prompt or the not-fun prompt?" No, just kidding. But beware: the fun prompts can be a trap. Brandeis, for example, asks "why do you want to go to Brandeis?", "if you could uninvent one invention, what would it be?" and "tell us about a law you feel is unjust and why it should be broken." (I'm paraphrasing.) I wrote the boring one, because I do love Brandeis and it was easy. I will admit that I was tempted to write about why Kinder Eggs should be legal in the US. But alas. My common app essay is weird enough.
- Do not write your essay in a junior class with a teacher who thinks everything you do is perfect!!!!! I made this mistake. And so I trashed my generic ass essay A WEEK BEFORE THE DEADLINE.
- On having other people read it over: honestly, I suck at taking criticism of my writing. I just want to be a weirdo goodball nuthead and write exactly what I feel and what goes through my brain (oh, like how I talk) (oh, like what I am doing right now). So when people pick my essays apart it feels like they are vultures picking away at my intestines or something. I have no trouble being criticized if it's a performance. I guess because I know whether it sucks already. With writing I legit have no idea. Moral of the story, be careful who you ask for help. Make sure they know what they're doing and will let you down gently.
- YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE EVERYONE'S ADVICE. IT IS YOUR ESSAY AND YOUR LIFE.
- I never thought I would say this, but Google Docs is my savior. I hadn't used it except on group projects since about the 7th grade, but it has been a godsend for sending works in progress back and forth from school to home as well as peer editing.
- If you have to do a video personal statement, have that shit fucking MEMORIZED. I made this mistake and we did like 40945784 takes before one was even semi-acceptable. All I had was a vague outline of what I would talk about and there were so so so many awkward pauses. Please. For me. Write it out.
- On using the same essay for two different schools: I won't lie, I started out doing this a lot. And I won't say don't. But. But. Make sure it actually answers the prompt. And make sure what you're copy/pasting is a fucking gold mine of truth and insight. If you're putting in half the work, it had better be good.
- Be unique! I quoted Legally Blonde in my common app essay. It sucks a little, but it is so me. I suck a little too. Okay, I suck a lot. But anyway, don't be generic. It must suck to me a college admissions officer reading the same failure/success essay over and over. Personally, I think if a college doesn't want unique, it doesn't want me. :)
Hope you learned something amidst my 3 am sassiness. Sorry I swear so much. It's even worse in real life, I...swear...
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