Council Corner

Spring Forward!

Santi Wong
National Scholar Award Recipient
Fordham University

The Practice of Storytelling was probably never a course title you would see on your high school class schedule, so consider this article a quick crash course in selling your story to your dream school.

The key to mastering the college application is to think of it as a sales pitch. You are a marketer and you are selling your story. In order to sell your story, you need to make sure it is unique among all other stories that they'll receive. Of course, it would be awesome to say that you published a New York Times Best Seller, or you were a Video DJ for MTV, or you released a new album that sold over 500,000 copies, but your story does not have to be a breakthrough. Senior year is your opportunity to emphasize the positives of your life in your college essay. Every one has some sort of highlight in their lives that they can share.

However, it isn't what you share that makes a difference. It is the way you share it that makes the difference in a college essay. In your college essay, you should convey the fact that you were an active student both inside and outside of the classroom and that you will still continue to play an integral part of a college community when admitted. Up until your college essay, you've allowed your resume, your transcript, and your teachers to define who you are. Now it is your time to tell everybody who you really are behind those grades, recommendation letters, and extracurricular activities. The college essay should be used to illuminate something that might seem insignificant to an eye of an admissions officer. A great way to illuminate a moment of your life is to be more reflective and expressive, but don't make things up. So when you're writing that college essay late at night after all your homework, think about the positive in your life and expand on it. Let your college essay be like a page that was ripped out of your autobiography--authentic and unique.