How to Write College Essays That Actually Stand Out

Webinar Transcription

2026-05-06-How to Write College Essays That Actually Stand Out

Anna: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. Good evening, or afternoon, or morning, whatever time it is from wherever in the world you’re joining us, we are so happy you’re here for our webinar, “How to Write College Essays that Actually Stand Out.” My name is Anna Vande Velde, and I’ll be your moderator today. I’m a senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor, and have been with the company for almost five years.

Anna: In addition to working with students one-on-one, I’m a co-captain of our essay review team, where I’m lucky to work with your presenter tonight, Chi. To orient everyone with webinar timing, we’re gonna start off with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q&A. On the sidebar, you can download our slides, and you can start submitting questions in the Q&A tab at any point.

Anna: Please note that really [00:01:00] specific questions, like, “This very specific thing happened to me, um, how should I write about it?” might not be the most appropriate questions for our format. Those tend to require a dialogue, a back and forth. Towards the end of the webinar, I’ll share an opportunity to meet with us one-on-one to ask that sort of question.

Anna: So for tonight, to the best of your ability when you put a question in the Q&A, try and think of questions you have that you think might also be helpful to other students, and we’ll get to as many of them as we can after the presentation. This is being recorded, and it will be emailed to everyone who registered, and also available on our website.

Anna: I think that’s all the housekeeping for now. It is my sincere pleasure to welcome our presenter tonight, Chi Chan. Chi, could you please share a bit about your background?

Chi: Yeah. Welcome everybody. Um, I know it is certainly a busy time of the year with AP exams and [00:02:00] other, right, end-of-year shenanigans going on, so thanks for making the time to join us.

Chi: Um, so as Anna mentioned, I’ll be your presenter tonight. My name is Chi. I’ve also been with CollegeAdvisor as a senior advisor for a little into my fifth year now. Um, as you can see on screen, right, um, I went to my undergrad and my master’s programs primarily within the Mid-Atlantic region at UVA and Penn.

Chi: Before joining CollegeAdvisor, I also evaluated applications as an admissions reader for a number of cycles at Yale University and Yale-NUS College, and so definitely thinking a lot and about the ins and outs of what makes for a strong application, including the essays themselves. So excited to share more about that tonight.

Anna: And you’re the perfect presenter to have here for this tonight, Chi. We’re, we’re really grateful for your time. Before I hand it over to you, I thought it might be helpful for us to get a sense of who’s joining us. So I’m gonna open this poll. Please go ahead and let us know what grade you are in. If you’re here as a [00:03:00] support person, feel free to select other.

Anna: And while we wait for your results, Chi, I’m wondering if I can put you on the spot- … and ask if you remember what you wrote your personal statement about.

Chi: Yeah, it’s a great question. Um, and it’s so funny because it was many, many moons ago, right? But, um, we’ll talk about one of the questions, or rather all of the prompts, right?

Chi: But I wrote mine based on my own identity as the first person in my family to attend college, actually. And so it was a lot about my story of kind of learning this process, which sometimes can feel very overwhelming and complicated, the emotions that went through it, and, you know, essentially how I was excited for my next chapter, right?

Chi: Like facing that unknown, experiencing what’s gonna be next, the sacrifices that in part my, you know, parents also, uh, ma- made for opportunity that I had. And so, um, very quick summary of, right, like, you know, what the essay was about. But we’ll be talking more about how to think about and brainstorm ideas such as those tonight, too.[00:04:00]

Anna: Great. Thanks so much for sharing. Looks like our results are in. We have over 60% are in 11th grade. That makes sense. Um, I think a lot of 11th graders are either writing their essays right now or thinking, brainstorming their essays. We have about 15% in ninth and 10th grade. Uh, over 20% said other, so parents, guardians, educators.

Anna: And we have a few seniors joining us. Um, so maybe they’ll be taking a gap year and applying in the future, or they just want to, to listen about how to write, uh, good college essays. We’re glad you’re all here. I’m gonna close the poll, and then Shi, I’ll hand it over to you for your presentation

Chi: Fantastic.

Chi: So welcome everybody. Um, we’re gonna really deep dive the ins and outs, the front to the end about the application essays themselves. Let’s start by talking about where they fit within the overall application. So as I mentioned before, I’ve had [00:05:00] experience reading college applications, um, generally, right?

Chi: And so when it comes to, from the admissions officer’s perspective, the timeline of how they’re evaluating your application, the essays themselves are typically going to be between the midpoint to, you know, not rocket science, but let’s say, right, this 75% mark of when they’re going through your application.

Chi: Always gonna start with that resume, or, I’m sorry, not resume, your transcript, your academic profile, right? So you can kinda think of it as an academic resume almost. They’re gonna look at your activities, the different clubs and extracurriculars that you’ve been a part of, and then they’re going to be evaluating what’s known as your personal statement, as well as any supplemental essays that a particular application might have.

Chi: Now, again, we’re gonna be deep diving into these, but just know the difference between the supplemental essays and the personal statement is that they’re two separate types of writing styles as well within the college application that sometimes, right, for the latter might be optional, but [00:06:00] typically the personal statement is going to be an essay that you’re submitting to most, if not all of your schools.

Chi: So let’s talk a little bit about beyond where they fit within the application, right? The opportunity that you have in being able to write about yourself. And so essentially, application essays, as I mentioned, right, it’s not necessarily going to be about a particular, like, let’s say, topic or, you know, akin to what you’re writing in school, but think of it as your chance to share about your personality, your voice, or your identity.

Chi: So as you can see here, um, really this personal statement is that chance to give yourself or put yourself on a platform, right? Where it’s not necessarily talking about, you know, what you want to study or the accolades that you have, but a general story about yourself. So this is a very high level approach of un- or an understanding of what these are like.

Chi: And, and if it’s helpful, right- The difference between that and your supplemental essays is that your supplemental essays are going to be more specific or geared prompts [00:07:00] that will be asking you about, let’s say, like, you know, a particular leadership activity or an experience that you’ve had. So just something to kind of keep in mind as I’m going to be differentiating them throughout this webinar.

Chi: Um, and then as I mentioned before, too, the length and the quantity of prompts between these essays will also vary by the actual institution, right? And so the Common App or the Coalition App, those are going to be two of the most common website platforms that, you know, for you, if you’re a junior slash rising senior, right, you’re going to be well acquainted with this upcoming fall.

Chi: The UC or the University of California application, as well as the ApplyTexas application, right? Those are more state-specific to, you know, the respective states, but those are also oftentimes platforms that many applicants will, right, like, you know, typically use during their time as well. But just know that when it comes to essays, it’s a little bit varied depending on where you’re going to be applying as well as the types of writing that you’re going to be doing.

Chi: And so, uh, [00:08:00] thinking about how it differs from the specific writing that you might be familiar with, you know, doing in your high school classes, think of this type of style as a little bit of like a nonfiction story or biography, right? So if you- if you’ve read a biography on a particular person or, you know, if you’re reading really a, a very narrative form, as you can see here, this type of essay is going to be much more reflective and personal, right?

Chi: And then so I think of it as using a lot of first-person language saying, you know, “Here’s my story. Here’s what I did. Here’s how I felt.” That’s going to be much more reflective of the type of writing that’s going to be expected here. It’s not necessarily, you know, trying to be persuasive, right, convincing your readers or informative, uh, you know, trying to articulate a complex topic.

Chi: These types of essays are going to be so much more talking about yourself rather than talking about an idea or a topic, right? And I know that’s a little bit different from oftentimes what we’re used to writing in high [00:09:00] school. So something to just kind of keep in mind as we’re moving forward here. Um, and, and one piece that I always coach my own students, um, that work with us here at CollegeAdvisor as well, is that this writing isn’t necessarily going to be following a rubric, right?

Chi: So I know that might be a little bit anxiety-provoking for some, where, you know, structure and guidance can be really helpful. I’m gonna do my best to still articulate, right, how we can get as close as possible to a working, let’s say, skeleton or outline to building these essays. But just know that when I say it’s not following a rubric, it just means that admissions officers aren’t guiding themselves necessarily on like a checklist of certain policies, right, or like things that they’re looking for, um, you know, in a particular essay.

Chi: So we’ll get started by talking about what the actual Common App essay prompts are, right? And it’s kind of funny because, you know, these essay prompts actually haven’t really changed since the COVID pandemic started many years ago at this point. And so you might have even [00:10:00] already seen this at some point, right?

Chi: If you have an older sibling who was applying to college, if you’ve just kind of explored this in like the past couple of years, like it really is the same essay questions that have existed, right, for a long time now. How this works is that, as you can see here, you can choose, uh, or rather there are seven prompts that are, right, like, you know, gonna be selected.

Chi: You eventually choose one out of the seven that you will, will be writing your essay with, right? So this is just a quick glance at what the questions themselves are. However, one thing that I wanna give a recommendation to is that when it comes to this style of writing, right, if you remember, it’s reflective, it’s personal.

Chi: Beyond just thinking about the essay prompts themselves, right, if you’re wondering about what should I actually be focusing on or like, you know, what’s the actual important part of the question that I wanna answer, because some of these, as you can see, are very open-ended or they have multiple sentences and multiple questions in mind.

Chi: This is really where, as you’re getting [00:11:00] started, right, on the Common App essay, which again, the personal statement and the Common App essay, two sides of the same coin, you’re gonna be writing this essay essentially for most of your applications, right? Hopefully starting this summer, if not already. What you see in green text here is really gonna be the core focus, right, of what you should be emphasizing within your essay response.

Chi: And then, and I, I want to acknowledge, um, you know, I know that the text color here is, is green, so it might not be the most friendly, right, um, for sensitivity. But the, the point of, right, like, you know, where it’s highlighted is that the last part of each of these prompts is typically what admissions officers are looking most at, right?

Chi: So con- to give you, uh, an emphasis here, if we’re looking at prompt number two, right, where it’s asking you a little bit about like, you know, what was a challenge or a setback that you experienced, a lot of students that I notice typically when they write their first draft or when they’re getting started, they’ll, they’ll be [00:12:00] spending most of their essay space just only speaking about the failure or like, you know, the experience itself, but not actually thinking about, you know, what did they learn from the experience, right?

Chi: Um, you know, how did it affect them? And so as you can see here, again, last part of the prompt really is what the emphasis should be focusing on, right? Just in terms of as you’re approaching or thinking about the, the prompt that you wanna use. Now if you notice, there’s also a number seven prompt on here where it’s very open-ended, right?

Chi: Kinda just asking you about like, you know, having y- a topic of your own choice. So if you’re thinking about potentially writing an essay where you can share, right, like, you know, a direction of, of your own- This is kind of what I would say as a, uh, maybe a good criteria, right, for considering prompt number seven.

Chi: So the first thing is, is that as you’re gonna be eventually brainstorming and writing out your essay, the vision might change over time, right? So when you eventually think about, okay, like here’s my final draft of my Common App essay/my [00:13:00] personal statement, is it actually responding to multiple prompts or maybe, you know, doesn’t fit directly into another prompt?

Chi: That’s okay, right? Like, you know, you can choose prompt number seven, where you can really engage the reader with the story that you’re just trying to share, right? One thing to kind of keep in mind with prompt number seven, the open-ended one, is that, you know, it’s not necessarily a, an ability to deviate from like a traditional essay, right?

Chi: Like, I don’t think you should necessarily ever be writing creative writing or a poem. I will say I’ve seen those before when evaluating applications, and creative writing is a skilled art. It’s not necessarily the best fit when you’re trying to put yourself out there, right, in an admissions process.

Chi: So these admissions officers, they’re gonna be really reading your essay very, very quickly, right? Typically, the evaluation itself, they’ll probably be reading it start to finish in about two to three minutes, right? And so you wanna be clear, you wanna be concise. Try not to, again, like, you know, deviate too much from what an essay or [00:14:00] what a strong, right, you know, prose would look like.

Chi: Um, and as I mentioned before, like, you know, if you’re thinking about choosing this particular open-ended prompt, right, because your essay is responding to multiple questions technically or maybe it’s not responding to a particular one, it’s okay, right? Like, you know, admissions officers, when they’re seeing your essay, again, it’s not a rubric, right?

Chi: They’re not weighing how much you’re actually answering the prompt directly, but rather what is the story that you’re sharing, right? Where you can still engage them with sharing that message or making sure that they’re taking away something that they’re learning about you in the process as well. So not a direct rubric.

Chi: It’s a little bit flexible in that sense. Um, and so just know that at the end of the day, the prompt that you choose, you wanna have it fit the idea or the vision that you have in mind, but it’s okay if it ends up, right, like, you know, being a little bit more creative in that sense, uh, by virtue of the topic that you’re writing about.

Chi: So focusing on still here, [00:15:00] right? Like, you know, the personal statement itself, how to structure it, and what’s important to focus on. I always like to break it down into three different components, right? So the first piece is the background. Uh, a- and really this should not be the bulk of your essay. I think oftentimes what I see in, you know, again, early drafts is that the whole essay is just the story and the experience.

Chi: But, but really the background or again, think of it as the example that you’re bringing in here, right? Use this as your space to kinda just talk about like, you know, what is the setting. Like in simplest terms, what is the setting of the essay that you’re just explaining? What is exactly the example or the experience that, you know, you wanna write about?

Chi: But then make sure that you’re focusing the bulk of your like, you know, writing on the latter parts, right? The growth and the future. So again, all about reflection. Two questions that are always helpful when it comes to, you know, brainstorming your essay, no matter what topic it is, is: What did you learn from this experience, [00:16:00] or what did you learn from the story that you’re sharing, right?

Chi: And what changed about yourself as a result? So sometimes, you know, you might be writing an essay that speaks to an experience you had, let’s say for example, right, maybe you competed in a DECA competition, right? And throughout the competition you engaged with a lot of really inspiring or, you know, other competitive people.

Chi: What matters most in terms of this essay is making sure that the perspective or the narrative isn’t about someone else, but it’s about yourself, right? So again, kinda thinking about maybe it’s after that competition, what changed about your own vantage or perspective, right, that you really wanna share more about?

Chi: And r- really it, it’s that opportunity to, again, right, like, you know, s- show how did you maybe let’s say like evolved the way you think, um, how, you know, ideas or, right, like, you know, your approach to something changed over time. It’s not necessarily, right, like, you know, needs to be positive or like, you know, one direction in terms of [00:17:00] like the conclusion, quote unquote, that you’re drawing.

Chi: But what’s gonna be most important is so long as you’re talking about yourself, right? That’s what the admissions officers are looking for. So again, speaking to your growth and speaking to your future, these two parts you should be really be wanting to focus the bulk of your essay around those pieces, right?

Chi: So again, thinking about now not just the growth that you’ve had, right? So you can almost just think of this as past, present, future. The background, of course, is something that happened previously. The growth is sort of that reflection, that process that you’re thinking about where you are today, and then your future, of course, right?

Chi: Like, you know, how do you see yourself continuing to like, you know, demonstrate this growth or, right, like, you know, evolve the way that you believe in, you know, moving forward. And sometimes that might just be explaining, you know, what that might look like, right, once you enter college because that’s gonna be your next step.

Chi: So transitioning now, again, talking away from just the personal statement, right? Which again, is that sort of Common App/Coalition App, like, you know, essay [00:18:00] topic. We’re gonna speak a little bit to supplemental essays, right? And so what a supplemental essay is by definition is essentially as you’re applying to different universities, some of them might ask for, well, you know, supplemental or additional writing.

Chi: And so think of it as school-specific or supplemental, again, interchangeable terms. Couple things that I think can be helpful here or hopefully, right, are helpful tools. So each of these three bullet points corresponds to a very common supplemental essay prompt that you’ll likely find. So the first one is the dreaded why us essay, right?

Chi: Let’s say you’re interested in applying to Yale University. They do have a question that in some respects, right, asks, you know, “Why are you interested in Yale?” Or, “Why are you interested in,” let’s say, like, you know, “University of Maryland? Why are you interested in University of Washington?” Right? So whatever that looks like, the way to really approach this question is I, I find that oftentimes, like, you know, like my own students sometimes too when I coach them through this, it’s important not to necessarily think [00:19:00] about what the school itself is providing, right?

Chi: So i- it’s a little bit counterintuitive, but rather when you brainstorm why you’re interested in a particular university, right, oftentimes we think about, okay, you know, they have this really great class. They have a wide diversity of clubs maybe. So, so when you’re gonna be evaluating, right, like, you know, why a particular college is a good fit for you, I always recommend starting your essay by referencing not the example of what the college has, again, that specific club or that specific class, but start by mentioning the actual quality itself, right?

Chi: And what I mean by that is if you’re looking to do research, right, when you get into college, or if you’re looking for a smaller, tight-knit type of college, right, where you can find community, mention that first and then tie in that particular example from the school itself. Admissions officers already know what their school is really strong at, right?

Chi: Or admissions officers already know what their [00:20:00] school provides. So you don’t have to worry about mentioning or spending space talking about, you know- Let’s say Georgia Tech has the AI club, right? They know that. Talk about how you’re excited, right, to conduct research. Talk about how you want to start your own initiative, then reference that in as like, you know, your next step to mention, right, like, you know, why it’s a good fit for you and not necessarily why you’re a good fit for Georgia Tech because truly admissions officers want to hear your voice, right?

Chi: Not necessarily about themselves. Um, the other two topics as you can see here, academic major. Um, and so using that similar logic, right, you know, it — when you think about, oh, why do I want to study, let’s say, psychology, right, at the University of Kansas, it’s not necessarily about just only what the university offers at Kansas, right?

Chi: But rather what are the things that, you know, really intrigue you about like, you know, psychology. Why is it that, right, like, you know, you wanna focus it here, [00:21:00] then tie in those examples into the essay itself. So always start with you. Make it about your personal voice, right? So that that way it’s not solely just talking about the college.

Chi: Again, I know it’s a little counterintuitive, but I do wanna spend some time mentioning that because that’s how you can help make sure your supplemental essay stands out because then you’re writing with confidence, you’re writing about yourself, and the admissions officers will be able to tell that, right, like, you know, from your essay.

Chi: Um, and then the third piece that I wanna mention here is a very common prompt, especially with the past few cycles, uh, app- admissions cycles, is an identity question, right? And so when I say identity, sometimes universities might frame that as a, you know, how do you see yourself fitting in within our community at insert school, right?

Chi: Other times it might be what is a part of your identity that, you know, you feel like is really important or what is a community that you feel like really impacted you, right? So it’s going to be one that very [00:22:00] likely you’ll be able to at least, right, have a strong idea or a strong example for. The example itself or the essay that you write, it doesn’t have to necessarily be the most unique.

Chi: And so what I mean by that is I think oftentimes when we’re brainstorming, we want to try to stand out by being unique. You can do that authentically, right, by sharing more about the reflection than the example itself. Again, if you’re following along with sort of everything that we’re, you know, mentioning for tonight’s webinar, right?

Chi: Admissions officers are looking for what happened next. So why was it important to you? How did you grow, right? That is your voice. That is really what stands out and what is unique to you, and no one else can take that away, right? They’re not going to be looking for just what’s the most like, you know, quirky or, right, like, you know, unique example.

Chi: That’s just the setup for the essay itself that you’re gonna be writing. So something to kinda keep in mind there as we’re looking at this, so. Continuing to think [00:23:00] about, right, like, you know, just again, overall writing, how can you make it strong? How can you make it unique? So like I talked about before, um, and just now as well, right?

Chi: So i- in referencing the Common App essay or the personal statement, really, you know, connect it back to your own perspective, and not necessarily about others. It’s all gonna be about your own voice, right? I know that sounds simple, but it’s gonna get a lot more complicated as you begin writing and brainstorming.

Chi: Practice, that’s really my best suggestion. This is definitely a process where you wanna invest a lot of time into, right? And in getting… building those muscles, getting stronger at reflecting upon your own experiences. Use emotion and don’t be afraid about writing about your, quite literally, right, your own feelings in the process.

Chi: So as you’re thinking about, you know, again, that accomplishment or the idea that, you know, really stuck to you, like, try your best to remember how you felt in those moments, right? Because when [00:24:00] it comes to fictional or, or rather narrative writing, you wanna be detailed with your imagery. If you’re just writing it like an informative essay, the admissions officers aren’t gonna get to know any context or any detail about what’s happening, right?

Chi: About what was going through your mind. And so something to kinda just keep in mind as you’re, you know, thinking about your own experiences as well. Um, and not to repeat what I just mentioned, right, but, you know, authenticity represents, right, like, you know, just your own reflections, and it’s not necessarily about the topic itself.

Chi: So just always remember at the end of the day a good rule of thumb is thinking about it from the lens of, right, like, you know, what does my voice look like? What have been meaningful experiences to me? And not necessarily what is something that, you know, one of my classmates hasn’t done or, you know, what’s an essay topic that my classmates haven’t written yet, right?

Chi: Because I know that exists. Trust me, it’s not about like, you know, just writing a topic that someone else hasn’t written about before. [00:25:00] So how to begin the writing process itself, right? Um, what I always encourage my own students to do, and what I encourage you to do as well, right, is start by brainstorming not necessarily just solely the examples, but the values that are important to you.

Chi: And so what I mean by values, right, is what do you want your admissions officers to get to learn about you in terms of traits, right? So do you want them to kind of finish reading your essay by saying, “Wow, they’re a really curious person,” or, you know, “They were really resilient,” right? Maybe it’s, you know, they’re a little bit quirky, and that’s okay, right?

Chi: If that’s your personality, be authentic and put it on paper, right? Like remember that question, what would I like my AO to remember me by? As you’re brainstorming, start by, you know, again, listing out what are those core values that you believe are important to you. Then think about examples, right, that like, you know, fit into the line of what those values are that represent who you are.

Chi: Think about your experiences then, right? As like, you know, [00:26:00] based on the lessons that you’ve learned. And so sometimes, you know, what we might say, okay, this story feels really, really random, right? Or it might be like, you know, we have a memory that comes to mind that feels very insignificant, but, you know, you actually like were able to learn something really important from them.

Chi: I think those are the types of examples that sometimes can make for a really good essay, right? Like, when it comes to an experience that you had where you kinda just did it for fun, but you didn’t really like learn or reflect a lot from it, those are great to have as memories, but for the sake of the essay writing process, what’s gonna be key is connecting it to like, you know, why that experience really was formative or impactful to you, right?

Chi: And so that’s always gonna be another key point where as you’re thinking about, right, like, again, if you’re looking at it from the, the lens of here are the essay questions, here are examples that maybe fit, like, you know, into each of those essay questions. Always focus on the last part of the prompt, right?

Chi: What [00:27:00] was an experience that fits into what they’re asking about when it comes to how you’ve grown or, like, you know, why it was something that was really, um, you know, formative for you. So thinking about a good timeline for writing. Um, again, I know it’s busy, right? Kind of thinking about the balance between studying for your exams, you know, being here, right?

Chi: Which we’re very appreciative of. What I would say is now until really the end of June, this is that prime time to do some brainstorming, right? So even if it’s just creating like, you know, just, uh, a notes, right? Like, you know, new notes on your phone or like, you know, some brief outlines. You don’t have to put the pressure on yourself for cr- you know, cranking out full drafts every single time, right, you think about a new example.

Chi: But really just start brainstorming, reflect on what matters to you, reflect on the experiences or maybe ideas that you would like to write about. And this is a timeline that I’m working with my own students on, right? Like, you know, once they finish their AP exams, we’re gonna be, you [00:28:00] know, getting started, right, on the same ideas of thinking about their meaningful values.

Chi: When you get into, right, like, you know, that July period or even June if you feel great about some of the ideas that come to mind, at least once a week, right? Like, you know, take time to brainst- to, you know, continue brainstorming or, but especially to draft and revise. Like, you know, this is that opportunity where I mentioned it before- It’s not a, you know, draft once, revise once, finalize type of writing, right?

Chi: There is so much that goes into seeing your own writing process evolve over time as well. I really encourage you that if you find an idea that you like, stick with it and keep revising it, right? Like, you know, sometimes I feel like we can be our own harshest critic. This is a good time to follow that advice, right?

Chi: Like, you know, don’t be afraid to have someone help, like, you know, read- reread it or, like, you know, give their perspective. But what’s really gonna be key is not abandoning it- abandoning it, right, after only one time, [00:29:00] you know, revising it. And then by the time August rolls around, like, you know, this is when a lot of those application platforms themselves will be opening.

Chi: And so the Common App opens on August 1st, right, for, you know, rising seniors to submit their applications. This is that time to, you know, now finalize, continue revising, right? To make sure that before school starts, you don’t feel too pressured in terms of, right, like, you know, just thinking about those ideas or, or getting it ready to go.

Chi: I can promise you, when I was applying to college, this was not a timeline that I knew or had in mind. So think of this as the ideal, right? It’s not necessarily something to feel pressured about, but rather if you can really get some time this summer to start sitting down and brainstorming, it’ll set you up really well for success, especially if you’re, you know, again, a rising senior, right?

Chi: Gonna be getting started on, you know, next year’s schedule. So as we’re soon to be wrapping up the last couple of slides here, we’ll talk a little bit about big picture, right? Like, you know, just trends that I’ve [00:30:00] noticed, um, common mistakes that I’ve seen in essays that I’ve, you know, r- reviewed, not just when I used to read applications, but also, right, like, you know, helping support essays from, you know, current college advisor students as well.

Chi: It’s so important to find that balance between, if you remember, right, the story and the growth, the past and the present. Make sure that your essay isn’t just solely about the experience or the example that you’re writing about, but rather most of that space should be dedicated to how you are able to change or grow from that experience, right?

Chi: So always keep that in mind. And then the second thing that I think is always really important is, again, especially for y’all that are gonna be starting your senior year, maybe in class you’ve already also done some peer editing for draft essays, right? You are not writing what you think others want to hear.

Chi: Admissions officers don’t have a rubric. They’re not looking for a particular essay. It’s okay if half the class that, uh, you know, i- is writing a college essay in class. It’s okay if half the [00:31:00] class is writing on the same, like, you know, experience. What matters most is that you are sharing your own perspective of what happened from that experience, right?

Chi: Um, think of it as like, you know, be authentic with your language. Um, I always say, right, try to avoid like, you know, jargon or complex sentences. You know, it, it’s not about what looks the fanciest, right? You wanna make sure that it’s also digestible for an admissions officer because, again, they’re going to be reading this essay in two to three minutes, right?

Chi: Make sure that they don’t have to go back to reread something because it’s also possible that they might not have time to go back and reread something, and that might impact, right, like, you know, the evaluation or the perception that they have, you know, within your writing skill. One last thing to, you know, also mention is in thinking about topics themselves, I also always stress this to my students, like, it’s really important to write on topics that you’re most comfortable with, right?

Chi: Now, you know, because this is naturally a process where you have to [00:32:00] think about yourself, sometimes that comes with challenges that we’ve experienced in our own lives, right? And, you know, I like to think that I’m no exception to that, but certainly we all have had different exposures or experiences.

Chi: Please don’t feel obligated to have to, you know, write on a topic that you’re, you may not be fully, right, like, you know, comfortable with sharing out to what’s effectively strangers, right, learning more about yourself. So that being said too, if it is a topic that you’re comfortable with, right, make sure that it’s not necessarily traumatized or like, you know, exaggerated in that sense because, you know, you’re going to want to show that sense of emotional reflection.

Chi: But when you’re exaggerating, right, like, you know, it can also come off pretty easily in terms of like the tone of the writing itself. So, you know, make sure that you’re showing your empathy, right? Make sure that you’re showing like, you know, that emotional reflection, um, you know, in, in here as well. One piece that I wanted to [00:33:00] also, like, you know, make note of, um, especially because, right, like, you know, we live in a world where AI and a lot of other, right, like, you know, just sort of model- models help support, like, you know, our own work.

Chi: Um, I, I bring this up because there are admissions offices, right, that are using technology as a supplemental tool. Virginia Tech comes to mind, where they’re using it, right, not as a substitute, but rather as an additional, right, like, you know, factor in evaluating student applications. It will never be the sole evaluator of your writing, nor your whole application, right?

Chi: I just wanna make that very, very clear. As someone who looks a lot into, right, the admission space and what’s been changing and what’s new, it will never be the only thing essentially that is you know, evaluating your application. Yes, it is true admissions offices are using AI in some respect. It is not a substitute for humans that [00:34:00] are excited to learn about you, and it is not a substitute for the actual process where you will still be treated, right, like, you know, for on your end, your story, and on the admissions end, right, like, you know, admissions officers doing their job.

Chi: That being said, um, you know, AOs can very much perceive when an essay is AI-generated. Um, so please, I, I say this with grace, right? But, um, you know, don’t generate on ChatGPT a full essay. Um, you know, you can use it to help organize thoughts. You can use, right, like, you know, these types of, again, AI models to maybe when you’re stuck, like, you know, have a conversation with it and see, oh, like, you know, what would be a good direction to go with if you’re stuck brainstorming.

Chi: Don’t ask it to generate a full essay for you, right? I can promise you it is very, very easy to tell, um, when it’s, you know, not a authentic piece of writing or when it’s not, right, like, you know, connecting to a specific experience or thought. So final [00:35:00] advice as we’re wrapping up here for tonight before our, you know, question and answer.

Chi: Um, honestly, sometimes this is a good process where… Or rather, a good advice to take away from this process is that it’s okay to be a little bit uncomfortable, right? And what I mean by that is, like, you know, these are not essays that are meant to be quickly written or rushed. Um, you know, when we’re talking about ourselves, it’s something that I, I bet not a lot of us have done- It certainly wasn’t something that I was, you know, doing very well or at all, right, when I was in high school.

Chi: So don’t be afraid to, you know, again, build new muscles, right? Is, is a metaphor that I always like to say. Like, this is a process where you’re learning something new. Trust that process, right? Because, uh, you’re getting out a stronger essay the more that you’re putting in the actual reflection, the actual, like, you know, revising that you’re doing to make this essay stronger.

Chi: And one last thing, um, is come this fall, when you do finish writing, [00:36:00] you’re finished with your writing, right? And what I mean by that is if you feel great about the final draft that you’ve created, right, feel free to, you know, get some sleep, come back to it the next day, reread it to make sure that you still feel great about it, and if you do, don’t touch it again.

Chi: Submit it, right? Don’t touch it again. Do not go back every week to edit one small word, edit one small sentence, change the language around. I promise you, like, it is not that deep. So the bulk of the work that you’re doing is revising and leading up to that process. The hardest part about writing is really just the brainstorming part.

Chi: The hardest part, if you’re doing it properly, is getting the first draft started. And so once you get closer to revising and that final version, when it’s done, trust me, don’t worry about it. Put that, you know, file that says, like, final, final, final, version 75 within your Google Drive or within your laptop and don’t have to worry about it.

Anna: Thank [00:37:00] you so much, Chi. This is the end of the presentation part of the webinar. We hope you found this information helpful, and remember that you can download the slides from the link in the Handouts tab, and that the recording will be emailed, uh, to all registrants and also available on our website.

Anna: Moving on to the live Q&A. As I get to each question, I will read it out loud and then publish it so everyone can both hear and see the question before Chi responds. As a heads-up, if your Q&A tab isn’t letting you submit questions, just double-check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page.

Anna: All right. Chi, if the prompts aren’t out yet, first of all, could you repeat when they come out? And since they’re not out yet, this student asks, how, how can they be thinking about the essays now?

Chi: Yeah, um, so just for clarification, right? I apologize if I didn’t mention it, um, [00:38:00] in the webinar itself. The prompts for the Common App at least, right, are already released for this upcoming cycle.

Chi: So if you’re thinking about, you know, getting prepared, right, on how to approach the writing process for, you know, what your next year’s applications will look like, you can definitely do that now, right? Um, although maybe after you finish your exams. Um, how to approach that itself, I would honestly say, like, again, thinking about that timeline slide, use this as an opportunity to start just reflecting on experiences that have been meaningful to you, right?

Chi: Again, that message of, “What do I want my admissions officers to remember me by?” Start with the values that, you know, you feel like are really important to you, and then think about experiences like, you know, again, examples, things that you’ve done, things that maybe challenged you, that fit into those values that you can get started and, and using as an outline.

Chi: Um, sometimes I think it’s al- also helpful if maybe, let’s say, out of those seven prompts, right, you just kind of pick three [00:39:00] on the fly that really stuck out to you most and use those three to begin your brainstorming, right? So that at least you have, like, a concrete step one you can start thinking about, right?

Chi: Like, you know, um, again, broad outlines or examples to there. Um, for supplemental essays, when they will be released, that is going to be much more variable depending on the university itself, right? Some schools, to be candid, they don’t even release them until closer to late July or, you know, August 1 when the Common App opens.

Chi: Other ones, they do make them public on their own university website. What I would suggest is that, you know, the, because the Common App, uh, or the Coalition App, again, those types of larger scale essays are much more important. Focus on those first. Come back to your supplemental essays later on in the summer.

Anna: Thank you, Chi. Uh, what do you think is the right blend of formality and informality that should be present in an essay?

Chi: Ooh, that’s a really great [00:40:00] question. I don’t know if you- we’ve had that before. Um, I, I do think that, right, like, you know, when it comes to formality, that’s gonna matter in making sure that it’s properly written prose, if that makes sense, right?

Chi: Say that five times fast. Like, you know, y- you wanna not necessarily have, like, quotations or write it as if it was, like, a conversation that you’re having with a friend, but rather think of, like, you know, the structure of your essay, right, as still being very proper, as having a s- strong flow. There’s, again, a message to be told, right?

Chi: Like, you know, throughout the whole course of your essay itself. Um, that balance between formal and informal, like, whe- where you can be a little bit more informal is again, like- When you’re talking in first person, I think oftentimes in like academic writing that’s considered very informal or, you know, as informal as it gets.

Chi: And so, yeah, like I, I don’t know if I answered that question re- really well, right? But like, you know, i- informal can take the form of, right, like you know, if there is, let’s say again, like you know, an experience where you want [00:41:00] to be more focused towards, let’s say, right, like you know, particular, um, I guess we’ll say like, you know, again, an example, uh, that, that you wanna write about.

Chi: Like, it doesn’t have to be y- you know, like something that’s super complicated. It can just be a conversation that you had with a friend again, right? But don’t make it so that the essay is just like a, you know, a quote of the whole conversation, if that makes sense.

Anna: Yeah, for sure. Do you think it’s okay to write an essay about your intended major?

Anna: And I’m gonna add to that question- Mm-hmm … should, should you? Like, does your essay need to be about your major?

Chi: It’s a great question. Um, so the way that I would encourage thinking about those lines, right, is, um, explicitly no, I don’t necessarily think you should be writing about your intended major. That being said, if there was an experience that you had, right, um, relating to what you wanna study that you feel like was deeply [00:42:00] impactful to either who you are or the way you think, you can very much write your personal statement about that, right?

Chi: So just to clarify, let’s say for example, right, if you’re interested in wanting to study nursing in college, I don’t think you should be writing your essay about wanting to be a nurse, right, and the steps that you’re gonna do to get your RN degree. But let’s say maybe when you were younger, right, or even right now, you know, you’ve had to become a caretaker for your family, right?

Chi: Or someone that you know. And in that process, right, it really taught you a lot of skills or it changed your perspective about, you know, what it means to have to balance your time. That kind of alludes to, right, like, you know, nursing as a career, but it’s not necessarily talking about, you know, again, like the, the career itself, right?

Chi: So going back to that logic of, you know, it’s not always about the experience or like the topic in mind, but what you took away from it, right, is what’s gonna be key. And so yeah, very much can focus on, right, like, you know, an academic leaning type of topic. Just make sure that it’s not about why you want to [00:43:00] pursue the topic, right, but rather what was an experience that, you know, maybe you were just happened to be studying or applying that topic, right, that you learned something about yourself from.

Anna: Sticking with this thread a little bit, uh, we have a few questions about what to not write about potentially. Mm-hmm. So do you think there are topics that are overused, that admissions officers are tired of reading? And anything that should be avoided, like religion, politics, things of that nature?

Chi: Yeah, it’s a great question.

Chi: Um, and, and it’s a common one, right? Like, what, what I will say, and, and I mean this i- in, in a bit of an earnest manner, right? We do sometimes see a lot of commonly referenced examples, right? So maybe let’s say… And, and again, as a disclaimer, I’m not saying that you should blacklist talking about this at all in, in your essays.

Chi: But, you know, I, I do think that, like, you know, sometimes there’s that myth of talking about, oh, you [00:44:00] know, a sports injury, right? And like, you know, kind of recovering from it. Um, a trend that I’ve noticed more recently is like, you know, for more STEM-focused majors, right, maybe, um, w- playing with Legos was an early inspiration for realizing that they loved hands-on activities, right?

Chi: Again, I’m not saying that you cannot, you know, write about that at all. But what differentiates a topic itself, right, and why it stands out is not necessarily, again, writing about the idea, it’s about why was it important to you, right? Maybe like, you know, you write about Legos because it’s not necessarily it’s how you realized you wanted to do engineering, but because, you know, your dad works for Lego and it was a really inspirational, right, like, you know, story that you wanted to follow.

Chi: Um, the sports injury thing, right? I had a student two cycles ago, actually, that I coached that wrote about a sports injury, and the essay was successful because it wasn’t talking about like, you know, just the recovery process, right? But rather they chose to interpret it as a question of, right, like, you know, seeing the world [00:45:00] differently and how inaccessible his local community was as a result of, right, like, you know, just having a fractured knee and needing to be on, right, like, you know, uh, crutches.

Chi: And so again, how it impacts your perspective, that’s really what matters more than necessarily just, you know, being afraid of an overused topic. Um, and in terms of, right, like, you know, I, I, I hate to use this umbrella term of, let’s say maybe more divisive, right, or controversial, but you know, and, and for politics, religion, right, like, you know, those types of fields, I definitely don’t think that, you know, it, it would necessarily warrant needing to avoid those.

Chi: Like, it’s not about whether, right, like, you know, you believe in a particular political party. It’s not about like, you know, again, a particular faith, right, that you believe in, but rather what does that identity mean to you, right? I’ve actually had a lot of students write about their faith indirectly, right?

Chi: Maybe it’s about the way that they practice, the part, uh, that it impacts their, you know, daily routine and the meaning that they get from it, right? So it’s all about, you [00:46:00] know, how does it relate to your identity/interest and, and what does it mean to you, um, at the end of the day?

Anna: Thank you so much. We have a question that I think I actually was prepared to answer tonight, so I’m gonna give you a little break, Chi.

Anna: The question is: do you offer a service where you could review my essay drafts and supplemental essays? Yes, we do. Um, so I’ll speak to that, but first I’d love to share some success stories we have from real students who worked with us that we’re really proud of. The first one is DJ. He grew up wanting to be a physician.

Anna: He was active in relevant extracurriculars, sought out challenging coursework, and as a scientist, writing narratively, as Chi has been describing you should do, was really challenging for DJ, so the, the college essay style just didn’t come naturally to him. He signed up to work with CollegeAdvisor and was accepted by five colleges, including Johns [00:47:00] Hopkins, where he received an institutional scholarship of around $61,000 per year.

Anna: Uh, if you look closely, you can see he’s wearing his Johns Hopkins T-shirt there, proudly representing. Another student, Abby, reached out because she was an aspiring first-generation college student, as Chi said he was. Uh, Abby’s parents immigrated to the, uh, US and had no experience with the US college application process.

Anna: She wasn’t receiving much support from her teachers or counselors at school and was feeling alone in the whole process. She was thinking ahead though and connected with CollegeAdvisor as a sophomore. She ended up applying early decision to Cornell, where she was accepted and received full financial aid.

Anna: These are just two examples out of the 10,000 clients CollegeAdvisor has guided through the application process. Our team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts [00:48:00] is ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process in one-on-one advising sessions and essay editing through our digital platform.

Anna: To learn more about how you can get started with CollegeAdvisor, scan the QR code to sign up for a free 60-minute strategy session with an admissions specialist on our team. During this meeting, you’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile, along with some recommendations from us on what we think you can do to stand out in your applications.

Anna: Uh, at the end, you’ll also learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, and much more. We are here for the whole process, and we also do offer essay editing packages specifically. Uh, so please scan that QR code, sign up.

Anna: It’s a free hour with us. Uh, you can ask your questions. We’ll give you, you know, some of our advice on what you can do, and we would [00:49:00] just love to get connected. So, um, I’ll leave that QR code on the screen as we go back to the Q&A for the rest of our time. Um, and we hope you are able to sign up and find a time that works for you to meet with us.

Anna: Alright, Chi. When you’re in the editing process of your essay, how many people do you advise students seek feedback from? We have the student who asked this question said, uh, she ended up receiving conflicting advice when she asked multiple people.

Chi: Yeah. Um, I, I think oftentimes, right, like, you know, when there’s people we trust, we really wanna crowdsource and gather a lot of feedback.

Chi: It, it’s tricky because what I would say is there’s a couple folks that I think would be helpful, right? First is potentially your English teacher. So if you have a great relationship with, right, let’s say like, you know, your English, be it, you know, Honors, AP Lang, et cetera, right? They could be a great resource if they have the time to like, you know, help [00:50:00] give you feedback, right, from your perspective as well.

Chi: Um, another one would be your school counselor. So k- again, these are kind of more targeted or specific, right? Like, you know, people that you can reach out to. Um, and then I would say, right, like, you know, maybe a, a third person would be just your best friend as someone who just, you know, might be an outside perspective on it, right?

Chi: The reason I say like, you know, a- having such a small number is because, to be candid, if you ask 15 different people their opinions, you’re gonna get 15 different answers, right? And sometimes they will be very conflicting in that sense. And so what I would say, right, like, you know, really just as you’re in the revision process or like, you know, thinking about which direction to move forward, if you already have an idea in mind and you just kind of want to get feedback, trust your judgment at the end of the day is what I will say, right?

Chi: Like, you know, use yourself as like the, the tie-breaking vote, if that makes sense, because it’s your essay at the end of the day, right? Um, now if you notice, I also excluded parents in terms of people that you [00:51:00] can consult for- Providing support. And the reason I say that is like, you know, if there’s any parents here, uh, in the webinar, right, like, you know, we love you, we see you.

Chi: This is a process where like, you know, for, for the student, right, like, you know, it’s, it’s your story. Like it’s helpful to kind of get their feedback on maybe like let’s say what are ideas that I’m missing, right? But if you’re already in the revisions process and it’s just something about, right, like, you know, the actual essay structure itself, right?

Chi: I do think that’s sometimes like, you know, they might, they might have helpful, right, but, um, like, you know, influential bias towards like, you know, maybe the story that you wanna share.

Anna: Thank you so much, Chi. Um, let’s see. Okay, we do get this question, I think, every webinar. How important is the essay when you look at the whole application?

Anna: Um, is it– how important is it relative to grades? Can it help you move the [00:52:00] needle? How important is the essay?

Chi: Yeah, very common question. Um, it is very important, right? Particularly if you’re applying to, you know, the types of really highly selective universities that are out there, like, you know, like the Ivy Pluses, you know, top ranked places, right?

Chi: But even more than that, like the way I would think about it, right, is, you know, um, admissions officers, the first thing that they see again, right, that I know it was the first slide that we talked about, but the first thing that they see is your academic profile. So, you know, i- in a way your grades and showing that you can handle the rigor of what college will be like, that gets your foot in the door, right?

Chi: When it comes to learning more about who you are, what you care about, what the type of person that you will be, that’s only ever going to be reflected in the essay or essays, right, if a school has supplementals. That, that’s the only opportunity really, right? In your application that’s gonna, you know, reflect that.

Chi: And so they are very important in that sense to show [00:53:00] the admissions officers, right, “Hey, you know, you’re incredibly talented and smart from your activities and, and, you know, uh, academics, but, you know, what are you like as a person?” Right? And so that is what I would say like, you know, yes, for sure. Um, if you’re looking at it from like a, again, more of a rocket science perspective, it’s not necessarily, oh, you know, they have thirty percent weight versus forty percent weight or something like that.

Chi: But truly when a university is saying that they do holistic admissions review, you’ll see that in, you know, a lot of admissions web pages and whatnot, right? That’s the, the really the, uh, explanation behind it, right? Like, you know, this is that platform where you’re showing more than just, you know, again, you as a scholar, but you know, it’s your chance to mention who you are as a person.

Chi: Um, and so can’t really say, you know, again, a specific proportion of wha- how it’s important, but just know that you wanna invest a lot of time into it because it is, uh, important.

Anna: Yes, absolutely. We have a few questions about how to end the essay. [00:54:00] Should students, um, link it back to wanting to go to college or their future goals, or can they sort of just tell the story of personal growth and stop there?

Chi: Yeah, it’s a great question. Um, I, I think, right, like, you know, when you’re able to connect it to even something as simple as, right, like now with insert skill in mind, right? Or now learning from insert experience, right, within your essay. If you can segue that into mentioning, eh, let’s say something along the lines of, right, like, you know, “In college, I now hope to…”

Chi: right, kind of apply that and, and using an example there. Like, that helps, right, like, you know, wrap up your, your essay, but it certainly is also okay just talking about the growth overall, right? Like, the, the most important piece of the conclusion in th- in this type of essay writing that I should mention is that unlike, again, you know, traditional writing where your conclusion is kind of just summarizing everything you’ve already written, [00:55:00] this type of essay, it’s not necessarily doing that, right?

Chi: It’s just ma- mainly focusing on, okay, we’re here now in the present, what’s going to take place as your next steps, right? So almost think about the conclusion of your essay as a call to action or, you know, as a, as a lens towards what you want to take, right, like, you know, your own experience to the next level, or to, you know, do your next steps in college.

Chi: And so, um, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to reference, right, like, you know, the future. You can just focus on the reflection, but just make sure that the conclusion isn’t just, you know, again, repeating, um, right, like, you know, what you actually already mentioned in your essay.

Anna: Yeah. Um, you mentioned earlier, Chi, uh, you advised sort of against doing like a really creative writing.

Anna: Could you provide an example of what you mean by that? Like what- Yeah, um … what’s too creative?

Chi: Yeah. And so, so when I say creative writing, I mean as in like the literal term, right? So like I would sug- [00:56:00] I would not suggest, um, you know, sending in like a poem, right? Or like, you know, an excerpt from a literal creative writing contest that you might have done.

Chi: Because, you know, as admissions officers are reading these essays, again, it’s very, very quick, right? Sometimes there’s a lot of also interpretation intentionally, right, when it comes to fiction or creative writing. This is effectively a nonfiction, right? Like it’s a narrative piece, but it’s y- it’s nonfiction.

Chi: It’s not really meant for interpretation, right? You wanna be clear and concise with your writing. And so that’s kinda more o- of what I meant, right? Like, you know, um, you can be creative in the ideas that come in y- in your writing, right? But like when I, when I mean creative writing, I mean as in like, you know, let’s say you’re not writing Shakespeare, right?

Chi: Like, you know, as, as a literal common, uh, Common App essay. Or you’re not submitting a poem. So that’s kind of more of like the, I guess we’ll call it, right, more of an extremity that I certainly wouldn’t want to, you know, try risking for.

Anna: Yeah. Do you think jokes are okay? Or are those too [00:57:00] informal?

Chi: I mean, I think as long as it’s relevant to the story that you’re making, right?

Chi: Um, I would say if you wanted to, i- i- if it works, right? Like you could even use it as like an opening hook, um, as an anecdote to, right, maybe a conversation that you had with a friend. Jokes certainly, right, like, you know, can be helpful. Just make sure that obviously it’s not an inside joke or, right, like I would also probably try to avoid any sort of like, you know, TikTok trends or references in there.

Chi: Like, not that admissions officers aren’t gonna immediately not know what it is, but rather, you know, make it so that it makes sense to the narrative at the end of the day.

Anna: Yeah. And I find with something, if you’re unsure of it, like a joke, that’s a really good thing to ask for feedback on from- Mm-hmm

Anna: you know, just a few trusted advisors. Okay. We are getting close to time. Hopefully we can fit in at least one more question. What if you feel like you haven’t done [00:58:00] anything impressive? How do you write a compelling essay?

Chi: I promise you, you’ve done something impressive. You might just not remember or know what it is yet, right?

Chi: So I’ll give you an example. My, I, I mentioned before, right, my personal statement, yes, it was about my identity, right? Like, and if anything, like be, from being first generation, yes, I, I, there’s challenges but also a- um, accomplishments that come with that. My supplemental essay that I wrote to the college I eventually ended up attending, it was about baking bread I like to think that’s very in- like whimsical.

Chi: Others might think that’s incredibly boring, right? But alls to say is, so i- it’s n- you know, it- it’s not solely about thinking of what’s the most, right, like, you know, strong accomplishment that you’ve done or about, like, you know, again, a, a big lifetime achievement. But this essay writing process overall, think of it as what is just a moment in your life that you’re excited to [00:59:00] share with an admissions officer about, right?

Chi: So again, I keep referencing the idea of like maybe j- it’s just having a conversation with a friend, right? It can very much be just that. Like, you know, if let’s say for example, right, it was just one day after school, you and your classmate had a conversation about, let’s say for example, right, like, you know, why a hot dog should be a sandwich.

Chi: And you realize that like from your perspective, you only ever thought about it from this one particular vantage point. But then you realize that, a- again, I’m kind of dramatizing this example, but it’s like, you know, you realize that when you challenged the idea, it was really, right, like, you know, formative in terms of how you’re going to eventually, you know, research and prepare your ideas for future discussions, let’s say for example, right?

Chi: So it’s, the, the way that I would think about this writing process is kind of finding the, you know, the extraordinary within the ordinary, right? The baseline is not finding an extraordinary idea to talk about. It’s [01:00:00] pulling from what you have in our own ordinary lives, right, that we’re excited to just share more about.

Anna: That was so perfectly said, Chi. I think we should let that be our, our last note for tonight. We are at time. Thank you so much everyone for coming out. Thank you, Chi, for your expertise. If you haven’t been able to scan the QR code for whatever reason to schedule your free assessment with us, please just keep your browser open until the webinar officially ends, and at that time, you should be redirected to the booking page.

Anna: Thank you so much, everyone. Best of luck with your essays and your applications, and we hope we get to, to meet with you. Take good care.

Chi: Take care, everyone.