Many people think that they need a fancy internship or an international community service trip to make a competitive resume. We disagree! In fact, we love it when our students have jobs. And they don’t need to be prestigious-sounding jobs, either. Many, many, many students across this country work in order to help their families, save for college, or just accrue a little spending cash. And admissions counselors (who have jobs themselves) will not only understand, but they will respect the effort.
We like all jobs, from working at an ice cream shop to being a lifeguard at the local pool to starting your own clothing company. Jobs are not only a way to earn money, but they are also great for character development, responsibility, and organization. All things that will impress the people in charge of letting you into a school. Here is some advice about how to write an essay about your job.
Keep It Simple
Sometimes the best essays are just plain simple. You don’t’ need to be writing about philosophy or anything truly existential. We often advise our students to write about something as straightforward as their drive to school in the morning. One of our favorite essays was about a recipe our client loved to make. So, spend some time jotting down a few ideas about really simple activities that have to do with your job.
You should start off with a brainstorm. Write down some of the simple things related to your job. What’s your commute like? What’s the first thing you do when you get there? What’s your daily routine? Alternatively, think about something that happened that was out of the ordinary for you (though still commonplace in the context of life). Maybe you had a really interesting customer. Perhaps you learned a valuable lesson from a boss or worked on a project with a colleague. Take some time to just write it all down. There are no wrong answers. The point here is to get your creative juices flowing.
Show Who You Are
The other thing to keep in mind is that each part of the application is an opportunity to demonstrate something new to the admission committee. Too often, students will just regurgitate something about an extracurricular that’s already obvious on the resume. Each and every part of the application is valuable. If you want to standout from the competition, you really need to utilize every opportunity to let your personality shine and show the admissions folks why you’re qualified.
Your goal with any essay should be to demonstrate a personality trait, which is something they can’t glean from your resume or your GPA. Think about how you can apply this to work. We recommend doing this through a story. Think about the scenarios you brainstormed earlier. Now, identify which one of those might be a great vehicle for demonstrating a personality trait.
Choose 2-3 character traits. If you’re not sure, ask your friends. Are you creative? Maybe a kid came into your coffee shop crying with their parents and you whipped together a costume with the supplies in the back of supply closet to cheer them up. Also, employ humor whenever possible (maybe the costume made the kid cry even more).
If you don’t have a story, revert back to your list. Write about your routine at work. Write about what it takes to put down the three-year-old you nanny for a nap each day. Alternatively, focus on relationships that you form at work. There are plenty of interesting characters in every job. Maybe you can demonstrate your leadership abilities by talking about something you did one day with a colleague. Or perhaps you learned something from a superior and tell a story about that.
There are a million different ways to write a great college admissions essay. We advise our students to keep it simple, make sure their personality shines through, and tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s pertinent that you use the essay space to really let yourself stand out. Demonstrate what’s unique about you. And keep in mind that this can be done in a simple way.
Need help crafting a standout essay? Call us. We’re experts at helping students submit excellent supplements.