Moving is a nearly universal experience, which is actually a really good thing when it comes to writing college essays. One of the biggest misconceptions about college essays is that if you don’t have something truly unique to say, you and your essay are going to fall into a pit of half-read applications from which no acceptances ever materialize. If you didn’t hear us say “misconception,” let us reinforce that this is a myth. The idea that a 100% unique never-done-before totally-novel essay is a winning essay is a total lie.
First off, humans have been writing for a while, and we’ve been writing about ourselves for that entire time. There is really no such thing as a completely unique experience, so trying to hunt one down to write about is a losing proposition. More importantly, human connection comes from shared experiences. Your college essay is meant to convey something about you that your transcripts can’t, but it’s also an opportunity to connect with the application readers human-to-human. To forge this connection, you need to find common ground. But you don’t know your application readers, or what their lives are like, so how do you find common ground? Through universal emotions, challenges, and experiences.
Which is how we circle back to the idea of moving — a nearly universal experience. Uprooting and replanting oneself inevitably comes with challenges and hurdles, but it gives opportunities for growth, development, triumph, and, most importantly, narrative. But to write a strong essay about moving, you can’t simply rely on writing about the fact you have moved a time or two. You need to write about an experience within or connected to moving. Said differently, you need to zoom in.
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Most Important: Identify the Story
The most important step in writing your essay about moving is to identify that story within the story. Start by brainstorming a long list of 5-10 experiences you had related to your move or many moves. You only have 650 words for this essay, so the smaller the story you can tell the better, as that will leave your room for detail and development. Each of these small stories should have a beginning, a middle, and an end (a narrative arc), but it doesn’t need to be a roller coaster ride.
If you have trouble making your list, here are some ideas:
The Lost Teddy: Something is nearly always lost in a move. Tell the story of the object parallel to the loss of it.
The Hiccup: Something going totally haywire and having to deal with it on the fly is basically guaranteed.
The New School: A first day of school offers moments of connection and opportunity alongside enormous challenges.
The Frequent Move: If you’ve moved often, what are patterns you’ve found, and what are the tricks you’ve come up with to make it easier?
Once you have your list of 5-10 ideas, try writing 150-word microstories for each one. As you go along, you’ll see which one’s work and which don’t. Some stories will start to flow, while others won’t come as easily. From that narrowed-down list of successful microstories, you can pick one that truly resonates and excites you to evolve into a 650-word college essay.
And if you have trouble, don’t let yourself get stuck. Go back to that list of successful microstories and try out another one. Writing a college essay is hard, but it shouldn’t be painful. Let yourself have fun with it. Let yourself play around a little. It’s a college essay, and that’s awesome.
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