Hello blog! Welcome back to my little corner all about Wellesley :D. Today I’m going to be sharing some advice about what the majority of students consider to be the most intimidating part of college applications: the essays. When I was applying to colleges, all of the essays stressed me out so much. I started writing my personal essay in June and didn’t finish until October. I would stress myself out over every word, and I didn’t realize how much time I wasted doing that. In true writing tutor fashion (and as someone who has been through this process), I’m going to give you some tips and advice that will help you in the college essay writing process! Of course, please take everything in this blog with a grain of salt since I’m just one person.
1) Crappy first draft
The hardest part of writing is starting. Writing is so hard to start for me because I expect everything that I pump out to be polished. Newsflash: every first draft of writing is bad! Stop placing the expectation on yourself to create something perfect the first time you sit down to write. Once you pick a topic for your personal essay, you need to sit down and write down everything that comes to mind. This will help get the juices flowing because the most important part is that you get something out on paper. Having a foundation to work with will make writing less intimidating because you already have something down.
2) Figure out what’s important to you in a college experience
This piece of advice is more geared towards the supplemental essay. The approach I took was looking at my application and checking to see if I had a good balance of how I would perform academically and how I would contribute and engage with the community. I know my transcript and letters of recommendation spoke to how well I performed academically. I took my supplemental essays as an opportunity to talk about how I am as a community member. For me, I centered my Wellesley supplemental essay around a club that would allow me to explore and embrace my cultural heritage as a Chicana and my interest in experimental learning through research at Wellesley. This balance made sense to me since I provided a way of how I would contribute to the community through research, as well as how I would engage with the community through a club. While everything in my supplemental essay that I expressed interest in didn’t come to fruition, seeing those opportunities at Wellesley excited me so much that I could visualize myself being passionate about both of those at the time.Â
3) It doesn’t have to be your magnum opus
Your college essays don’t have to be the best thing you have ever written in your entire life. The people reading your applications know that you’re 17-18 years old and that you will most likely not submit the next great American novel as your personal essay. Write passionately, and authentically, and you’ll end up where you belong. 🤗