#findyourstyle #standout
The great American photographer Gregory Heisler (known, among other things, for his controversial double-exposure snapshot of a “two-faced” President George H.W. Bush … gotta love political innuendo) once said:
“To me, style is like your fingerprint. Nobody else has it.”
True words. There are about 8.3 billion souls on planet Earth (boy is it getting crowded) and – as you probably remember from science class – no two bear exactly the same fingerprints.
Your college application essays should work just like that. But how do you know if they are identifiably, unmistakably yours?
Here’s a quick test – ask yourself: Could another student have written what I wrote?
Imagine an applicant named Bob wrote this:
“Joining Model UN taught me the importance of seeing problems from different angles. Through debating complex global affairs, I learned to listen to others and became a more confident speaker.”
Watch out! Massive yawn incoming!
‘Cause when an admission officer reads that, they won’t be like: “Woah, that’s so interesting! Never heard that before. What a darn fresh perspective!”
They’ll be more like: “Um … yeah, that’s just restating what they said on the brochure about the benefits of joining Model UN. Pretty much what every kid gains. I think I’ll go have some vanilla ice cream now to curb my elevated heart rate.”
Literally hundreds of thousands of students could have said ditto what Bob did. And that’s the problem – it doesn’t differentiate poor Robert.
So let’s get differentiated. Think back to a super specific moment from Model UN, and dig deeper – what about that experience made it totally yours?
Rewrite loading:
“Representing Belgium at Model UN, I argued that every country has the sovereign right to determine to what extent it wishes to help refugees. Then a peer from the Democratic Republic of Congo pushed back: Considering Belgium’s colonial role in shaping the political and economic instability Central Africans are now fleeing, did the country’s moral responsibility really end at the Mediterranean? I’d prepared stats on asylum applications and housing capacity but didn’t have an answer to this historical context.
After the committee session, I waved down my fellow delegate, Jean, and asked if he wanted to continue our conversation over coffee. He broke into a grin. By the end of our café break, I had more questions than rebuttals — about everything from King Leopold’s Congo Free State to the vast mineral wealth beneath Congolese soil to the wars that displaced Jean’s family. I also had a new language I wanted to study: Lingala.”
Okay, much improved! No more cookie-cutter “lessons learned.” We can actually see, in action, the student’s drive to understand different ways of looking at complex issues and how it led him or her to a new friendship and academic interest. Those details are their fingerprints.
And yours should be all over your college essay, too (metaphorically, of course – please don’t smear your palms across your computer screen and call it a day).
Here’s to finding your unique “style” and embedding it in the story only you can tell.
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