How to Write an OUTSTANDING Personal Statement for College: A Crash Course
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 5. 07. 2024
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đLINKS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO đ
Values Exercise: www.collegeessayguy.com/cwiab...
Objects Exercise: www.collegeessayguy.com/cwiab...
Feelings & Needs Exercise: www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/...
âïžWHO AM I? âïž
Iâm Ethan (College Essay Guy) and my goal is to bring more ease, joy, purpose, and access to the college admission process. I wrote two Amazon bestsellers on college essays and each year my team and I reach more than 1MM students and counselors via www.collegeessayguy.com.
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0:00 Introduction
0:35 STRUCTURING THE STATEMENT
0:46 THREE BRAINSTORMING EXERCISES
0:55 A SIMPLE WAY TO DETERMINE A GOOD TOPIC
1:01 TWO TYPES OF ESSAY STRUCTURING
1:07 THREE DIFFERENT ENDING TECHNIQUES
1:11 A BUNCH OF USEFUL RESOURCES
3:34 The Values Exercise
3:43 IDENTIFY YOUR CORE VALUES AND FIND COMMON THEMES
6:57 USE YOUR OBJECTS AND 21 DETAILS TO FIND THEMES AND TOPICS
7:14 HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR TOPIC STANDS OUT?
7:35 MONTAGE STRUCTURE (NOT WRITING ABOUT A CHALLENCE)
7:41 DON'T FEEL OBLIGATED TO WRITE ABOUT A CHALLENGE!
10:53 ASK YOURSELF WHERE DO I FIT ON THIS GRAPH?
12:37 YOU CAN STILL WRITE A GREAT PERSONAL STATEMENT!
13:01 THE BEST ESSAYS TAKE MORE THAN 5 DRAFTS
13:31 THERE ARE 7 DIFFERENT TYPES OF MONTAGE ESSAY
13:48 SKILL / SUPERPOWER
14:04 ESSENCE OBJECTS
14:18 CAREER PATH
14:37 THE IDENTITIES PATH
15:00 THE HOME PATH
15:26 UNCOMMON EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY
15:54 SAVE THOSE ACTIVITIES FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS
16:40 NARRATIVE STRUCTURE ESSAY NEEDS 3 ELEMENTS
16:44 THE CHALLENGE YOU'VE FACED AND ITS IMPACTS ON YOUR LIFE
16:57 WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT IT?
17:02 WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED
17:11 WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
17:38 DO I HAVE ENOUGH TO SAY ABOUT WHAT I DID ABOUT IT AND WHAT I'VE LEARNED?
18:32 BOOKENDING OR THE CALLBACK
20:07 THE "WHY US" SETUP
20:19 WRITE YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT AS AN ORIGIN STORY
21:57 END WITH YOUR VALUES
Before your essay sounds good, it has to sound honest. Authenticity should always be your starting point. Over the years, I've helped hundreds of students write their personal statements and I can tell you that the most successful essays are always written by the heart before the hand. Why? Because at the end of the day, the value of any personal statement lies in connection. It's more than just showing the reader who you are; it's about using your essence to reflect theirs. Think of any film or song that resonates with you. This is precisely the bond that you want to create with your reader.
The irony of the college essay is that you have to start writing for yourself, not for the school. This is the only way you'll ever touch upon your truth. Of course, you will need to tailor it into a mature and professionally sounding piece while following certain rules; however, do not make the mistake of starting with a "radio edit." This is why I strongly suggest journaling your first draft. In other words, forget the fact that you are writing an admissions essay and simply speak your heart and mind for as long as you want on paper. This strategy is particularly helpful for students who are struggling to find a meaningful topic. Most importantly, don't be discouraged by a lack of direction; I promise that you will strike gold so long as you keep digging. In my five years of work, I have not encountered a single student who did not have something unique and interesting to write about, regardless of how lost and hopeless they seemed at the start.
Yes, you should avoid sob stories and cliches; however, this ultimately doesn't boil down to the topic but the context in which you use it. There is not a single generic topic that is off limits so long as you talk about it in a non-generic way. In other words, it's not just what you say but how you say it. The number of themes available to you are ultimately limited; however, the methods of framing and packaging it are endless.
Lastly, do not be dogmatic (or lazy) with your approach. Oftentimes, when I'm working with a student, we touch upon a side-theme in the final draft that paints the essay in a much more impactful and more authentic light. When this occurs, I always encourage students to restructure the entire piece to fit that theme, working on the essay three-dimensionally. You may find this happens more than once. Be happy if it does, because the more gems you discover that outshine your previous ones, the more polished your essay will be.
Hope this helps! Happy writing everyone.
Thanks for chiming in!
Hello Allen James,
how can I get in contact with you?
I am currently on my first draft for a personal statement, and I need your help.
Iâm seeing a light now
@Allen James
How can i contact with you??
@@Collegeessayguy And thanks for deleting my comments whenever I try to reply to people asking me for my contact info.
this man is a legend
LOL thank you!
@@Collegeessayguy heâs just speaking truth
Personal statement essay
Brainstorming:
1. Essense objects - which represents you. Which contains some memories, feelings etc. (Think about it 10 min). Write down the object and what it represents to you or what value it connects to you
2. Values exercise (Find top 10 values). Once you picked your top 10 values, pick from them top 5 values. Subsequently, select top 3 values from the rest. So, this your values list can help you see what part of me is coming through in my supplemental essay versus what part of me coming through in my personal statement essay.
3. 21 details exercise. Just come up with 21 random facts about yourself.
After doing all 3 steps, take boutâ 10 minutes and look at your values and see where they manifest themselves in your essence objects but also in your 21 details because it could be that you start to see some different themes emerging.
Picking right Topic:
1. Narrative Structure (Writing about a challenge)
1. Is your challenge compelling?
2. Does it offer great insight?
2. Montage Structure (Not writin about a challenge)
1. Is your topic elastic ? (Is it stretch enough to talk about lots of different sides of you?)
2. Is it common or uncommon ?
3. Where Do it fit on this graph? (Elastic and common uncommon graph
Structuring:
1. Montage : Jumping through space and time, with a common thematic thread.
- There are 7 different types of montage essay !
1. I love / I know. This means choosing something that you either love or know a lot about and connecting it to many different sides of you.
2. Skill / Superpower. Something that you really good at. (For instance, listening, being good at bringing people together and write all these different ways that youâre able to bring people)
3. Essence Objects (Stuffs in my room essay). It involves taking all these different objects taking about how each one reveals some different side of you, and doing a paragraph on each one of the objects.
4. Career path. Career path involves deciding what is the career that I want to go into and naming it at the end of the essay and giving basically serious moments and experiences examples that give a sense of what are the values youâve developed that have led you to be interested In that career.
5. Identities path. That involves naming lots of identities you claim. For instance, I identify classic music lover, I identify basketball player. You can talk in each paragraph about some different sides of you.
6. The home path. So you can talk about a place that connects to many different sides of you. «Home» here is place where you like at home. Like when Iâm on the soccer field thatâs a home for me, or when I am on stage performing thatâs a home for me. So, you could do a paragraph for each those different homes.
7. Uncommon Extracurricular activities.
2. Narrative. Narrative structure essay needs 3 elements.
1. The challenge youâve faced and its impacts on your life. Challenges -> Effects.
2. What did you do about it? How did you work through this challenges?
3. What youâve learned?
Some quick tips for Narrative essay writing
1. The feelings and needs exercise www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/...
2. Do I have enough to say about what I did about it and what I have learned ?
3. Am I forcing this challenge ?
Ending :
1. Bookending or the callback. Doing re-reference something that you said at the beginning (like a joke).
2. The «Why us» setup. Write your personal statement essay as an origin story for how you became interested in particular activity. Then, in your «Why us» you could go into detail on how youâre going to explore that career use the resources at a particular institution.
3. End with your values. Save the explicit mention of your values for the ending. Itâll will surprising but inevitable.
Thanks!
thanks, very useful!
not all heroes wear capes
You are my role model. Helping people without even asking anything in return.
Wow! Thanks so much. :)
Ethan you never cease to amaze! Congrats on your new channel. I'll be sharing often.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for all the wonderful advice! I'm applying this year and couldn't be more excited!
You got this.
Best video Iâve watched so far about the personal statement
Thank you for this I followed all the steps and the words just flowed out of me as I received a spark of inspiration.. eternally grateful.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. :)
So grateful for your videos, expertise and opening up yourself to us so we have real examples to help spark thought.
Thanks for being here. :)
Thank you for such an amazing session !!! Nicely put and well organized !!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Lol my therapist had me do this value thing and it is SO IMPORTANT. Donât skip through it. I also think itâs good to re do the exercise every 6 months or so especially if you are going through a lot of growth or are young.
Love that! Thanks for sharing.
Excellent advice!!! As always, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
OMG thank you so much! I've just found 5 topics to work on for my essay!
Wonderful! You got this. :)
What an insightful video! Thank you so much for all the info! I took notes on everything you said :)
You're so welcome!
Great video! I will write a few essays and hopefully share in the end, especially if they help me get accepted somewhere. Thanks for the help!
Awesome! Best of luck.
I AM VERY HAPPY I FOUND YOUR BLOG AND CHANNEL. LHAMDULLILAH. I subscribed for both your website and youtube channel :)
Awesome, thank you!
You are so sweet! Thank you so much for making this videos!
You are so welcome!
Hi! Coming from the 8/4 webinar! I just subscribed!!! My mom made me join and Iâm glad I did đ€
Thanks Mom! :)
i can actually feel confident in writing my essay now
ur literally the best
Awesome! Happy to help.
I don't how much I can thank you for this video, but you really did help me out with so many questions that I had about my personal essay. I hope with this I will be able to write a fantastic one to get me into Duke.
Wishing you the best!
You have some amazing insight, thanks for sharing! I just made a video about dental + medical school personal statements, it's interesting to see the parallels between the different types of personal statements!
Thanks for chiming in! :)
Very Good video! I'm from Guatemala, and as an International student, this is amazing for me!
Happy to hear that! Thanks for being here.
I think "discipline" should be on the values list
Noted. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. Tomorrow. Time s up. Nice approach
You're welcome. :) Thanks for watching.
YESSSS *THE* COLLEGE ESSAY GUY
:)
This is the best guide i've seen so far, Thanks for that. Can you post links with examples on the montage essay? Appreciate it.
Awesome! More examples here: www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/personal-statement-examples
Great job!
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
You're welcome!
Omg thank you so much for this! Quick question though⊠what would you write when you have no idea what career youâre going for? Relating to: 14:19
Hi there. Thanks for asking. We wouldn't recommend choosing the career path for your personal statement unless you're really sure what career you'll have after college. The career path is one of many options, so we suggest finding a path that will be natural/easy to brainstorm content for.
It's OK if you don't know your future career. Choose another path and start brainstorming!
Helllo, I love your videos and I just wanted to say this this one in particular helped me write the personal statement that helped get me into my dream college!!!! Thank you so muchđ€đ«¶đœ!
That's awesome! Congrats to you! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for this videosđđ
Thanks for watching!
this vide is so awesome man thanks
Glad you liked it!
I wrote my Common App essay as a montage on how three parts of my marching band uniform represented my values and I got into my dream school (the University of Notre Dame) so thank you so much!
I have a quick question: How could I adapt your advice here into a personal statement for a scholarship? I'm applying to scholarships that just want a personal statement and have no prompt on what the personal statement should be about. How should I go about that?
You might wanna check this out czcams.com/video/5ZUgT5cgTg0/video.html
Thank you so much
You're so welcome!
Hi Ethan. I already asked you a question yesterday, but Ive just finished watching this video and now I really need to ask something else, again, (Sorry!) As someone who took some time off after school, should I write about that in my personal statement? Or just in the specific section of the Common App? I faced challenges and I did some useful things during that time, like working with children and learning web design. However, I want to write about how drawing mandalas is meaningful for me, you know, with the Montage structure. I have read that it is better to explain why I didnt started college right after school. Can you please clarify that? I am a bit confused. Thank you!
Hi there! I don't think it's necessary to address your gap year in your personal statement. There will be other places in your applications where you can mention it (like the Additional Information section or school-specific supplemental essays section). Hope this helps!
Hello Ethan, this is a nice video. But I have a question about the goal essay. How could you structure a goal essay?
This blog post of mine may help: www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/college-essay-format
Good luck!
Thanks Ethan
You're so welcome. :)
I'm applying this year, and I'm thinking of writing a montage about my love for the tech and cyber spaces. How watching anime on my laptop fueled my interest in them. Not sure if that would fit into the elasticity-common montage graph.
That topic could work! A good question to ask yourself is: "Does this topic demonstrate the skills, qualities, values, and interests I offer the school as an incoming student?"
If yes, then start outlining and writing your first drafts. If no, go back to brainstorming!
Have you made a video discussing how to approach each prompt in a personal statement?
We don't really encourage students to focus on a specific prompt when writing their personal statement since there is an option to write an essay on a topic of your choice. At this time, we don't have prompt-specific resources for personal statement writing. We do have tons of blog posts and resources here: www.collegeessayguy.com/college-admissions-blog#A
There are so many things I wanna share in my essay, but I can't think of a way to share them all at the same time in an effective manner. To give a quick view, I wanna share : -
1) My move from abroad to the US when I was young. This was a very big, momentous event in my life, and it opened up for me a whole new culture and society to me.
2 ) My natural disposition towards wisdom, self - internalization, and center - mindedness. Think of buddha under a tree, meditating.
3 ) My love for learning. After 10th, I started to look at studies as not just homework and projects, but new windows into the unlimited world of knowledge.
4 ) My religion. I am a very religious person, so I would want to add that in there as well.
I have thought of doing the home path in the montage essay from 15:00 in the video. I could talk about one part in one "home", or one place where I spend my time, and another part in another home. But I feel that in describing each part's essence, I would lose the continuity of the home rhythm, and some parts might not have a designated place where I would exercise that particular part, like 2 ), for example. In addition, a lot of my Essence objects are very compelling, & I would love to put them on the essay as well.
What are your thoughts Ethan? I know I typed a lot above, but I would appreciate some help. Should I stick with my idea, or do you have any other method that can incorporate these stuff better into the flow of the montage?
Thanks a ton
Also, to add to the above question, what kind of opening should I use if I go for the "house" structure? What should I start with?
Hi there! Thanks for writing in. It sounds like you have done some good brainstorming on what you want to include in your essay. That's awesome, and you're off to a great start. I think some good next steps for you are outlining and creating a word budget. I talk about outlining in this video: czcams.com/video/FWw3C18lLmQ/video.html
And don't worry about an opening quite yet. Work on writing your first 1-3+ drafts and getting all the content you want in your essay. You may find that after drafting and revising, an inevitable opening presents itself based on what you've written. Hope this helps!
â@@Collegeessayguy Thank you! That is some great advice. I think now the only thing that's putting me at edge is time, but I can overcome that. I actually went ahead with the house theme, and it turned out that that topic was all over the place, and when I asked someone to read over it, they said it felt like reading random snippets of my life. So some tweaking is needed over there. And yes, I will definitely check out your outline video, to help organize and find a theme in my essay.
Again, thanks so much for such a quick reply. I appreciate the help.
Ethan probably does not realize what a positive impact he has made on so many people's lives.
Thanks so much!
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Hey Ethan, I was wondering if writing the common app essay on yoga would be nice or not ?
It could work as a topic...it just depends how you relate it back to the skills, qualities, values, and interests that make you a great prospective student. Try outlining it to get an idea of what content will be in your essay.
Also, do you think it is advisable to combine different "paths" for a montage essay? For instance, I want to talk about what I love and about my career aspirations.
Yep, that could work!
Can you write about a challenge you are currently experiencing, for example I wanted to write about how I struggle to balance school and family and am scared that I will regret my childhood
Writing about a challenge you haven't overcome yet can be tough. When writing an essay about a challenge, (I call this a narrative essay,) two key components you want to include are 1. what you did about it and 2. what you learned.
The Feelings & Needs Exercise should help you hash out your topic a little more. Here is the link: drive.google.com/file/d/15wvaPhSKfHFAMHNLdkrGGYLsHxrGAUXA/view?usp=sharing
Hope this helps!
Planning on writing about how high school and how each of the different experiences i had making friends, joining clubs and extracurriculars and how the classes i struggled and excelled in, all ties back to me. What do you think? Can the montage method work?
Im applying this year and im excited but so scared too!!! Thanks for all you do!!!!
While montage could work, from my experience, this is a fairly common topic and it might be tough to stand out. Are there other topics that might give you a chance to share your core values, interests, experiences? Check this video for some inspiration: czcams.com/video/Dz9aqJWIlOE/video.html&ab_channel=CollegeEssayGuy
Hey, can we write a combining of montage and narrative? If yes, then how?
It's possible! For more help, I discussed Advanced Personal Statement Techniques in this webinar: czcams.com/video/4RTZUFs7nuk/video.html
So helpful keep making these videos. #freebook
More to come! :)
Ping pong player! That's so cool.
My CZcams home page is college application videos...and ping pong. :)
Thanks a lot for the information given. I was just wondering what if I do not have any experience in the field or program I am choosing? Can I still say I am passionate about it and have academic achievements?
Yep, that's fine!
@@Collegeessayguy thanks
Hi, I'm in the middle of writing my college essay and I feel I'm short of things I want to mention and not make it into a self-pity kind of an essay as I wanted to talk about mental health in it. Could you please help me with it?
If you're writing about a challenge you faced and want to generate some more meaningful content about that experience, I suggest doing the Feelings & Needs exercise. You can find the video for it on my channel or on my blog here: www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/feelings-needs-exercise
Also this blog post! www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/overcoming-challenges-essay
rly helpful =)
I'm glad!
Could I explain bad freshmen second quarter grades due to an illness ? I want to go to an ivy or a prestigious schools but i ended up with 12 aâs 1 b and 2 câs (but one of the câs were an AP class which was converted to a b)
Sounds like you could briefly explain this in the Additional Information section. Good luck!
@@Collegeessayguy thank you!
coming from webinar LETS GOOO
Thanks for joining. :)
so if I heard that talking about the same topic in two essays is not good, like if I talk about environmental science in my why us essay, can I still make my personal statement about that?
Up to you! A little repetition is OK throughout your application, but be careful about coming across as one-note.
best content!
Thanks for watching. :)
Can teachers be like him?
:)
ayo nice vid
Thank you!
are they values that we have or values that we like??
Values that you possess or that show up in your actions.
Iâm trying to write an essay where I list my 5 siblings and how they represent different parts/values/characteristics of myself. Do you think thatâs a good topic?
That topic could work! A good question to ask yourself is: "Does this topic demonstrate the skills, qualities, values, and interests I offer the school as an incoming student?"
If yes, then start outlining and writing your first drafts. If no, go back to brainstorming!
Can you check my essay, not college one but a summer program?
Hi there! Thanks for writing in. We have an essay review platform where you can submit essays for review by our CEG team. There are paid and free options available. review.collegeessayguy.com/
If you're looking for 1-on-1 help with your college application and essays, please submit a request form at this link and John from our team will be in touch with you soon. www.collegeessayguy.com/college-essay-coaching
Hope this helps! We believe in you.
Is it overly common for my topic to be about the books I've read and how they have shaped me?
That topic could work! A good question to ask yourself is: "Does this topic demonstrate the skills, qualities, values, and interests I offer the school as an incoming student?"
If yes, then start outlining and writing your first drafts. If no, go back to brainstorming!
Hi where is that video where you read an essay where the guy was like âIâm Chineseâs. Iâm Mexican. Iâm gay.â I love that one and I wanted to show someone but I canât find it in your video.
Hi! I can't remember if I ever read that essay in a video, but I do have a blog post with the full essay here: www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/coming-out-college-essay#E
@@Collegeessayguy thank you! I was accepted into UC Berkeley thanks to you!!! And other schools but Cal was my top!
May I meet you in person, may be through email, am really stranded where to start đą
Hey there! Ethan is swamped this time of year, so we'd encourage you to reach out to our support team via email at help@collegeessayguy.com. They'll be able to provide you with some resources and point you in the right direction.
@@Collegeessayguy Okay nice thanks
all the college application process has done is made me realize there is nothing special about me
great video tho
Thanks for being here. Maybe what's special about you is that you're not (feeling) special. :)
are you british or american i'm really bad at telling accents sorry đđ
American!