STUDENT-CENTERED SOLUTIONS FOR COLLEGE PLANNING

Guest blog by Jon Reider, Director of College Counseling, San Francisco University High School, San Francisco, CA
(Reider writes in response to discussion about the suggested essay word count on the Common Application.)

Probably the most famous speech in American history, “The Gettysburg Address,” is 187 words. Would that make a good college application essay? Would you encourage Lincoln to pad it out with more examples? Historical accounts of the speech frequently remark that the preceding speaker, Edward Everett Hale, one of the great orators of the time, spoke for two hours. But nobody remembers what he said. Virgil wrote in iambic pentameter, surely a constraining challenge. Shakespeare adhered to the 14-line sonnet form. Throwing strikes is hard, I am told. Structure and discipline can just as easily produce great writing or great pitching as inhibit it. No, you don’t have to remind me that the typical high school senior is not Shakespeare or Sandy Koufax.

Good writing is succinct. Yes, Faulkner, Henry James, Dickens, Cervantes, and Fielding wrote wonderful, long books. How many of you have Henry James lined up to read this summer? Every writer is constrained by length. Every journalist has a limit on their copy. Almost every college supplement has a word limit. Some colleges want an answer of just 25, 50, 200, or 250 words. How do they decide on that boundary? Basically, they don’t want to read too much. Not necessary and not enough time. Kids manage. Brief writing is hard. Mark Twain said, “If I had more time, I would write a shorter story.”

Why is the desired standard length 500 words? Who decided that? I don’t know, but I suspect it had to do with an estimate of how many words, in normal size type, would fit on a single page, back in the days when essays were typed onto an actual piece of paper and read by someone who wanted to read just a full page and nothing more.

Now, in the electronic age, there is no such thing as an actual page, and 500 words seems arbitrary, and to some, it seems, insufficient to be fully expressive. Any number is arbitrary. There is no reason a classic sonnet HAS to be 14 lines. It just is.

I remember reading those essays, each one mind-numbingly similar to the one before. 500 words is enough to make your point and for the reader to decide if you have something to say. The University of California allows only 1000 for two essays, and I can’t remember anyone complaining that they couldn’t work within that limit. The UCAS (British application process) essay and counselor’s letter are strictly limited in length. It’s actually a relief to have a space limitation for that letter.

500 words will take some work for many kids. That might be a good thing. Not to be overly utopian, but it might be the best thing for student writing since the evolution of the opposable thumb. Students will have to choose their words carefully, delete (almost) every use of the passive voice and the words ‘very’, ‘basic’, and ‘the fact that’. Every student and adult should read Chapter Two, “Elementary Principles of Composition,” of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, especially the section titled, “Omit Needless Words.”

The complaints about even an implied or suggested limit, which is all the Common App is doing, ignore that the essay process should encourage good writing, and good writing is, by definition, brief.

Having talked with a fair number of rising high school seniors over the last six weeks, I am coming to the conclusion that these can be the “dog days” of the college application process. This is especially true for those who have identified target schools and are beginning to grapple with their essay assignments!

If this sounds like you, the good news is you recognize the need to be thinking and acting upon your college applications in a timely manner. That recognition, however, doesn’t lessen the anxious avoidance you experience—or the nights of fitful sleep—or the extended periods of time you spend staring at an unresponsive keyboard! The words and the critical messages they convey will not materialize out of thin air. You can’t will a good essay to completion!

The following suggestions are offered, then, to help you work through the creative blues to points of clarity, if not inspiration, as you get started in the essay writing process.

1. Resist the temptation to buy the “best college essays” book. It will only contribute to the “paralysis by analysis” you are experiencing. The essays you will find in those books are not only well-written, but they also fit the context of someone else’s life story. Instead, focus on your own storyline.
2. Identify key themes and/or messages you want to convey. Are there two or three things you want to make sure the readers of your application know about you? In answering this question, go beyond the obvious. Don’t restate information that can be found elsewhere in your application. This is your opportunity to provide insight and interpretation. Coming to grips with the objective of your message will help you find the most effective form for presenting it.
3. Reflect on your most memorable life experiences. How have they shaped you? I know a group of students who just returned from a two-week tour of Europe. They came home with great pictures and wonderful stories. Two years from now when they begin writing their college applications, they should reflect less on where they went and what they saw—and more on how some aspect of the experience changed them.
4. Find the story within the story. Quite often, metaphors are effective in framing key messages in college application essays. If you have identified themes or messages to be conveyed in your application, think about vignettes or moments of revelation or clarity that speak to the bigger picture of your developing perspective. What were you feeling at the time? How did you react? What has been the impact of that experience on how you see yourself in the world?
5. Reveal—don’t tell. You should be getting the impression that it is best not to recite the facts of your life. Instead, take the reader between the lines to understand you, as a thinking person, better. This is your opportunity to reveal the depth and breath of your life experiences that can be found within you.
6. Keep a pen/pencil and paper beside your bed. You may wrack your brain all day trying to come up with clever ideas but invariably the best stuff emerges in those hazy, subconscious moments just before you drift off to sleep! If you can, push back the sleep long enough to jot down your new inspirations.
7. Read-a lot! Quite often, essay writers are consumed with a myopia that limits their ability to understand their place in the world in which they live. Break out of the “box” by reading news stories and editorials. Better yet, read books that make you think. Biographies can be great sources, too! I have found increasing inspiration from the life stories of people who have risen from relative obscurity to make significant contributions as thinkers and doers. Contact me if you would like some book ideas: Peter@TheAdmissionGame.com
8. Take advantage of the time you are giving yourself. Resist the temptation to write a college essay in a single draft. Good writing—and editing—is a process. Manage it well to your advantage!

Finally, be honest about your effort. One of the most effective collaborators on my early writing projects was my dad. He would look over an essay and hand it back to me with the simple observation, “You’re not going to hand it in that way, are you?”

While he was happy to go over things I had written with me, he wouldn’t do the thinking or writing for me. He knew that I knew I could do a better job and he was willing to help me if I was truly interested in helping myself! Help yourself, then, and don’t settle for “good enough.” Rather, invest the extra time and effort it takes to produce great results.