Webinar Transcript: College Essay Series: Live Essay Edit

Anthony Su (he/him): Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us tonight on this lovely Thursday. Glad we're able to start talking about essays. Hopefully you have a draft or two already going – so that we'll be able to take a look at some of the students that have already worked on things.

Today we have Sagrika and Grace joining us. Sagrika, do you want to introduce yourself, and then Grace?

Sagrika Jawadi (she/they): Yeah. I'm Sagrika. I am an essay specialist for ILUMIN, and I have been doing this since last year – so for about a year now. I really enjoy editing students’ essays and working with them, and also doing these webinars. And I'm looking forward to looking through some essays with you all today.

Grace Crowcroft (she/her): Hi. I’m Grace. I'm also an essay specialist. I've been doing this [for] a little bit less [time], but I've really enjoyed, so far, my time here.

Previous to working as an essay specialist I was a high school English teacher. So this is really my niche – and something that I enjoy getting to do for a job.

Anthony Su: Awesome, perfect.

Today we'll start looking at a couple of essays that students have done well – and we'll take a review of one student's submission, who was able to turn in what they've gotten so far. [We’ll suggest] next steps and how we would edit it for them as well.

Live essay edit

Sagrika Jawadi: We are going to be doing a live essay edit for webinar 5 [fifth installment of our ILUMIN College Essay Series].

Agenda

Grace Crowcroft: Going over what we're going to talk about today:

• Review of college essays 101

First we want to look at what college essays really are: boil it down and go through the basics for you.

• General editing tips

Then we'll give you a couple of tips: how to create a strong essay, and what admissions readers are looking for.

• What we look for

Then what we look for (in terms of what we are targeting while we read essays) – all that good stuff.

• Essay draft 1

And then we'll be going over one essay from a student – that [one of you] sent in.

• Essay draft 2

• Essay draft 3

And then a couple of essays that are samples – essays that have been done really, really well. We'll point out what looks good.

• How ILUMIN can help

And then, lastly, we'll talk about how ILUMIN can help you all. I know this is a really stressful time, and so we're here to help out – and we wanted to explain what that looks like

PIQs vs Common App statement

Sagrika Jawadi: Awesome.

So first, like Grace mentioned, some “college essays 101.”

There are the UC PIQs and the Common App personal statement. The other main category of essays you'll be writing are the supplemental essays.

UC PIQs

Sagrika Jawadi: In terms of the PIQs and the personal statement, though,

• the PIQs are much more straightforward.

• They're shorter [350 words],

• and there are four of them [out of eight prompts].

• And they are generally due november 30th. The UCs tend to put their due date at the end of November.

Common App PS

Sagrika Jawadi: The common app personal statement is

• longer [650 words]

• and it's more creative.

• And there's only one of them [out of seven prompts].

• The due date is going to depend on which colleges you're applying to – and also whether you're applying early action or early decision, or if you're just applying on the regular cycle. So that you will have to research as you're figuring out what schools you'll be applying to.

General editing tips

Grace Crowcroft: Cool. Okay, here are some tips that it's just a good rule of thumb to follow through on:

• Revise, revise, revise!

Revise, revise, revise! I cannot stress this enough. I know it's really hard, sometimes, looking at your essay – because you're like, “Oh, I just want to get it over with! I don't want to look at it. I'm done with it!”

But it's really important to go over – and really try to craft a good piece. And you want to be confident with what you wrote. To do that, you’ve got to go over it a few times.

Also ask other people outside of yourself. Because, after you've looked at it 15-20 times, you might be sick of it. Maybe ask an English teacher, a tutor, a parent, etc.

• Make sure that your essay actually answers the prompt and is within the word count

Also you gotta make sure that your essay actually answers the prompt and is within the word count! A good [strategy] with this is copying and pasting your prompt right above your document before you start it. And then look back at the prompt to make sure, like, “Did I follow this? [Yes:] check, and check.”

• Edit for content, for grammar, and for flow/style

And then, of course, you want to edit. You want to edit for grammar and flow – to make sure it makes sense, it's readable, [and] it's concise.

• Read your essays out loud

Lastly, just read it out loud. Like if you're just hanging out. Read it – make sure it sounds good. And that will help you get on the right track.

What we look for

Sagrika Jawadi: 

• Content that paints the student in the best light

What we look for (as essay specialists, when we're helping students edit their essays) is content that really paints the student in the best light. We are going to really work with you to make sure that the content you're presenting is actually the best content you could give to the college’s admissions board.

We really want to give you the best version of an essay – and the best version of yourself. And work on something that's not cliché or overdone, or maybe not the best example of yourself that you could give.

• Evidence of personal growth and strong character

Specifically, we look for evidence of personal growth and strong character – because those are the things that colleges are looking for.

• Not only answering the prompt, but also going beyond and answering the “So what?”

And (as Grace said) when you're editing, you want to make sure you answer the prompt. What we do is we make sure you're also going beyond that – and answering why this matters. If you're answering a prompt of “What is your favorite activity?” – for example, for a supplemental – we will help you take that next step: to also say what this says about you, and why this activity is important to you.

• Good structure and organization

We also look for good structure and organization: a structure that makes sense and really tells your story.

• Engaging writing style

And an engaging writing style. Because you can have great content, but if the writing style is really falling flat… then the essay is not going to be as engaging or as interesting as it could be. We really want to entice the reader with these essays.

Model UC essay

Sagrika Jawadi: First we're gonna go over a model essay. This is a previously-done essay that was really strong – and we're just gonna go over it, and talk about what it did well. And if we see anything, maybe, that they can also improve on.

I'm just gonna read it first, and then Grace and I will talk about things that stand out to us. The prompt for this one (which is at the top – so the person could have referred back to it) is, “Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest, inside and or outside of the classroom.”

My interest in computer science started when I took a C++ programming class and became fascinated by how I could make a computer think like a human.

One of the hardest projects during the class was creating a tic-tac-toe program using artificial intelligence. The goal was to make the program unbeatable. At first my code was messy and long, but eventually I created a slow but workable program. However, at the end, I figured out how to design a much faster program – that ranked each move to find the best one.

This experience inspired me to get into USACO competitive programming to improve my new skills. One interesting problem asked me to find the correct path through a complex maze. While it was possible to solve it by hand, I instead wrote a simple algorithm that branched through the entire maze to test and find the right path out of dozens of options. Problems like this made me curious to learn more algorithms and see how they can expedite other things, such as creating a bot to automatically reply to certain emails.

As I explored computer science, I began working with front-end development, and took an online course named freeCodeCamp that taught me HTML, CSS, and Javascript – where I created a shuffling algorithm to randomize the placement of mines in a Minesweeper game. I later discovered that there are multiple ways to randomize a board, and enjoy trying each one to understand its benefits and drawbacks. I hope to continue to create fun-to-use programs that I and others can enjoy.

Computer science has allowed me to write unique programs that are innovative and helpful. I want to pursue computer science in the future to continue my passion for creating solutions to problems, whether serious issues or something just for fun, and to share it with others.

Grace Crowcroft: I think this is a great example of somebody being really articulate, and laying out exactly what they want to describe and express.

A good starting point is how the person just explains what their interest is – and you know the origin of that very clearly. They say, “My interest in computer science started here.” And so we know, now, “This is the academic subject that inspires you.” It's answering the question right off the bat.

Sagrika Jawadi: Definitely. And I think they do a great job of talking about various experiences they had that really helped them build out that interest and develop it.

And I like how it is very straightforward. Because this is a UC essay, they have a limited amount of words, and they use those words well: to talk about three different experiences that they have, which make it very clear to the reader that this person has a lot of experience with computer science.

And I like how the last paragraph also goes beyond and talks about what they hope to do in the future. It shows how you don't have to have a very specific vision of exactly what your career is going to be – or even exactly what your major is going to be – as long as you can think, even broadly, about what you want to do later with this academic interest.

Grace Crowcroft: Absolutely. It's one of those things I just imagine – as an admissions office, and a reader of these essays – you see the same ones over and over and over and over again. So I think being as clear as possible, and giving distinct examples, like you're mentioning, is something that helps to make you stand out as an applicant. I just wanted to echo a lot of that.

I think also, in terms of the writing style and the flow, there are really great transitions that help me to follow: “Okay, so here's example one. Here's example two. Here's the impact that it made.” I don't get lost in it. I can move on from paragraph to paragraph with ease.

Sagrika Jawadi: Yeah.

The last thing I want to point out is that they also do a great job of being specific about what about the subject interests them. They say things like “…how I could make a computer think like a human.” That's not something every computer science essay is gonna say! It helps the reader understand what aspect of computer science is interesting to them, and why they're interested in it.

This sentence too: [“Problems like this made me curious to learn more algorithms and see how they can expedite other things, such as creating a bot to automatically reply to certain emails.”] Not everyone is going to write that. Not everyone is interested in algorithms, and how they can expedite different day-to-day activities.

And this: [“I hope to continue to create fun-to-use programs that I and others can enjoy.”] It's all very specific. I don't see anything like, “I hope to continue to pursue computer science because I think coding is fun.” That's not specific. I really like how specific this person gets with what aspects they like – and they connect that back to the activity that they did that made them realize [they liked computer science].

Grace Crowcroft: Yeah… I have really great things to say about this one, if I'm gonna be honest. [If I’m] somebody who's like, “I'm trying to find people who are wanting to come to my college and are going to contribute things,” I have a clear vision as to how this person will contribute to my college. So that makes it look pretty good.

Model Common App essay

Sagrika Jawadi: Okay, we'll move on to the next one. Now we're gonna look over a Common App essay that is also an example of one that's really strong.

Do you want to read this one, [Grace]?

Grace Crowcroft: Yes.

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

   “Straight backs, smiles, and … let’s go.” 

   Hannah strode onto the stage confidently, with Ashley, Jocelyn, and I following close behind, rolling our eyes at her overly professional attitude; after all, it was just a school concert. The four of us crammed onto the bench in front of the rickety piano and prepared to play Galop Marche, a quirky, lighthearted piece written for eight hands on a single keyboard. It was about as divergent from my traditionally competitive repertoire as musically possible, but I felt far more excited than out of place. I settled into my seat, and looked to Hannah for the starting cue. 

   At age four, facing the looming, seemingly endless sequences of black and white keys for the first time, I couldn’t have imagined I would fall in love with the piano. My first instructor, Ms. Doris, taught me the fundamentals. Ms. Sokolov used intense Russian scales and drills to push my technical mastery to a new level. Ms. Kaichi immersed me in the importance of musicality, understanding the composer’s emotions, and respecting music as a higher, universal language that transcends words. Their amalgamated teachings formed my diverse, nuanced playing style which, combined with rigorous practice, allowed me to pull off numerous competitive victories. At sixteen, I was at the top of my game — I felt invincible. 

   Sophomore year brought that perception to an abrupt end. As Ms. Kaichi dramatically described it, “only the strong remained.” Competitive events were suddenly dominated by students who loved music just as much as I did, but practiced three times as long, choosing homeschool to maximize their preparation. My annual repertoire, always comprised of objectively difficult pieces, was now deemed “average.” I could no longer win, and when I practiced even harder, I still barely made the top five. I realized the painful truth that all musicians eventually encounter: trying your best does not equate to being the best. After becoming so obsessed with the thrill of winning, I felt lost when competitions stopped going my way. Discouraged, my practice time gradually lessened; as I saw the skill gap between myself and competitors widen, I found it harder to care about music. I didn’t know what to do next. 

   Ms. Kaichi sensed my disillusionment, and suggested I spend time with other musicians my age. I had always regarded other pianists as competition, and after so much time in solitude, I was initially uneasy opening up to others. But when I finally did, I was amazed at how immediately comfortable I felt. I realized that our shared experience led to empathy: they had been through my struggles and understood me in a way that others could not. We shared laughs over our teachers’ occasional angry outbursts, the intimidating prodigy who used our most arduous competitions as his warm-ups, and our common stubbornness about practicing with a metronome. I learned to rely on them with my uncertainties, and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of community. So when my friend Hannah invited me to perform with her at a concert — what she assured me would be an entertaining, stressless piece — I couldn't have been more willing. 

2. ****

   Bang! The last sforzando rang out, a short but meaningful note that echoed eight times across the various octaves. A perfect, enjoyable performance, just as Hannah had guaranteed. I had forgotten what it felt like to have fun onstage, but I really wanted this feeling to stay. 

   Over the last year, I've come to understand that being the best has nothing to do with my relationship to the piano. I could be last in every competition, but everything — from the majestic melodies to the clever syncopations, from the overarching phrases to the short, sudden accents — everything about music still speaks to me. I love this language, and I always will.

Sagrika Jawadi: Thank you. That was a long one!

I think first of all, going back to the prompt, it's pretty clear what they're sharing about. Their talent is piano. And we can see why it's so meaningful to them.

Another thing that stood out to me was this part where they talk about, “I realize the painful truth that all musicians eventually encounter: trying your best does not equate to being the best.” I saw that as, “Oh, that's kind of a cliché. I wonder where they're gonna take this.” That's something a lot of people learn – and it is an important lesson – but I would advise against that being the main point of an essay. Because many people write that essay, whether it's from athletics, or from (like this one) music, or some other kind of hobby. Anything that becomes competitive. This is a life lesson that a lot of people learn.

But I think what makes this so meaningful is, first of all, they say, “all musicians.” They're acknowledging this is a universal lesson. And then they go on to really build on that: talk about how they grew from that, and talk about how they were able to rediscover their love for piano through community. And I think that is not cliché. That is a very original experience.

That's just to say: think about how far you can go. Try not to end on, “and then I learned the lesson: even if I work my hardest, I'm not always going to be the best.” You want to take it beyond that, and make it personal: why is this meaningful to you, and how has this made you who you are?

Grace Crawford: Absolutely.

I think the student does a really great job at taking us [on a journey]. I like the title [“Journey of a Skill”]. It takes us on this journey.

And while I was reading it, I felt like there was actual personal development. One of the things that you can try to do while you're writing these is [think], “Are you able to bring in your reader?”

Honestly I felt like this is something that could be like a short story – where it took me from “Here's how I got really discouraged…” [on] this epic hero’s journey, and then you grow into learning these lessons, [and] finding something even greater. They take us to all of those… and make us feel the things as well, along with them. That was done really well.

Also, in terms of [style]… we don't always focus on um stylistic things – or that's one of our last steps – but I just want to commend the dialogue, and the way that it's communicated stylistically. It just flows great. And it does a good job with descriptive language to, again, help us be brought into the journey along with them.

Sagrika Jawadi: I totally agree. And great reflection as well. They talk about what they experienced and – throughout – infuse what it meant to them, and their own reflection looking back, or how they felt in the moment.

Okay, awesome. Anything else, Grace, or should we move on?

Grace Crowcroft: We're good.

Sagrika Jawadi: Okay.

Essay Draft 1

Sagrika Jawadi: Last one. This one was submitted to us. And the prompt is, “What is the single most significant impact you have brought to a community, and what motivated you?” This is a supplemental.

Okay, here we go. I can read this one.

I am sure any attempt to locate a person who does not feel good receiving a greeting card will always come back empty handed. After all, who doesn't feel happy to receive one with their name written neatly on an envelope or even one over the internet?

But the arrival of a greeting card takes on a whole new meaning when the recipient is a terminally sick young kid, on a cold hospital bed with no visitor. There is no holiday to celebrate and nobody to talk to. A greeting card with a funny picture or message even from an anonymous senator could be the only distraction they have from their daily pain.

I was one such anonymous sender.

When I first saw a mundane little flier asking for volunteers for a non-profit serving orphan kids with terminal diseases, I applied without thinking much. Within a few days I received a reply that I was selected. My assignment was to create holiday greeting cards in digital format. Greeting cards! I snickered. These days aren't they simply big business of translating any and all human emotions to corporate profit?

During an idyllic afternoon, I finally sat down and started making my first greeting card in years. Using my software paintbrush, I summoned the bright yellow sun in a clear blue sky, black and white cows grazing on a green pasture underneath, and red robins on the leafy tree branches. I attached a personal message wishing them the best. Once the card was complete, I paused for a moment and wondered how it would be received on the other end. Would they be surprised? Would it bring joy even for a moment? Would they touch the bright spring colors of my card and hope for better days to come?

These thoughts made me start my next card, and then the next, and then the next. Eventually I made numerous more, each with a different colorful picture and a personal message.

The single most impact I brought to someone was a smile that I never got to witness.

Grace Crowcroft: First, I just like the example that this person chose for this seemingly quote-unquote “small” impact: really showing, “this is bigger than that,” and going through and explaining. So I think the story itself [is] really cool. I think there's a lot you could do with it.

Sagrika Jawadi: Yeah, I agree. It's really a creative way to answer the prompt. I also really liked some of the imagery that they used. It was very engaging to read.

One thing I would say to watch out for with this essay is to not paint yourself too much as a hero, and assume the experience of others that you don't know. For example, this part [“the recipient is a terminally sick young kid, on a cold hospital bed with no visitor”]… I think it can come off a little bit like, “I am helping this person who has no one else!” And you don't want to come off like you're entering into a person's life to help them without recognizing that you're also benefiting and getting something out of it.

Watch out for that when writing essays – especially essays about impact or about how you've served a community. You really don't want to make it sound like, “I entered this community and helped these poor people who had no one.” These people were [living] and will continue to live lives without you. You want to be able to recognize that – and be grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their lives. That's just one thing that I wanted to point out.

But, overall, I do think it is a strong essay – and it definitely answers the prompt. And I like the little comments here and there: the little rhetorical questions. I actually wish they could focus a little more on the end. Maybe take out this part [the intro], and then just reflect more on what it meant to them – and talk more about how their mindset changed.

Yeah, those are my thoughts.

Grace Crowcroft: I completely agree. That's exactly what I was going to say – to rework it a little bit at the very end: having something to say. Again, the admissions [readers] want to hear about you – and how you've grown from this experience. I think that's a big part of showing maturity and being able to reflect – and all that jazz.

Just have something at the end to say: “This was a great experience, because this is what it taught me; this is what helped me learn about myself.” And just showcase the impact that it's made for you, specifically.

And then there are just a few things – once you read through it a couple times, maybe out loud – there are a few places where wording and simple [things] like grammar and commas and all that… But yes, overall, I think in terms of the storytelling – it was there. [There are just a few] nitpicky things now – to make it the best it can be.

Sagrika Jawadi: Right. And that's why we suggest reading out loud: because there were parts where maybe, when you're reading in your head, you don't stumble. You're like, “I know what I'm trying to say!” But when you read it out loud, you might stumble and realize, “Oh, that's not good grammar!” or, “That's not phrased very well.” So that is a big reason why we recommend that.

And, yeah, there were just a few, little points of that. I had highlighted this sentence [“These days aren't they simply big business of translating any and all human emotions to corporate profit?”] because this was one of those parts where it makes sense – I understand what they're trying to say – it just (I think) could be phrased a little bit better.

But yeah, overall it's definitely a solid essay.

So those were the three that we have to talk about today. We are going to do Q&A, but I think Anthony might first talk about ILUMIN – and then we might circle back to Q&A.

How can ILUMIN help?

Anthony Su (he/him): Yeah I can talk a little bit about [that]. We'll definitely be doing a bit more essay work and things like that. I will release a poll about a free consultation. We do a free 30-minute check-in with one of the essay specialists on our team. Sagrika is one of the folks that students might check in with, whether brainstorming or, “There's a particular prompt that's really hard for me. I want to get some extra thoughts or feedback.” So definitely let us know if we can contact you about that.

We do have this curriculum to help students get started. I know a lot of students are starting school – just making sure that they're able to get an idea of: “What are the most important prompts? Which ones can I work on? Which ones will be a little bit easier for me compared to others?” And that we're not going to be wasting time – given that time is the most precious resource, right now, for our seniors. Just to make sure that they will not be too overwhelmed when we're getting close to deadlines.

[Essay consulting with ILUMIN’s essay specialists:

• 1:1 coaching from your assigned essay specialist

• 5 to 10 hour packages

• Access to our ‘Essay boot camp” online curriculum

• Flexible scheduling

• Support with brainstorming, outlining, editing, and polishing essays of your choice.

Sign up directly on our website and get started whenever you’re ready!]

But I do want to have questions. Anyone want to ask about the essay process, or any particular prompts that are a little bit tricky?

I do want to go back and I wanted to ask about the submitted essay. I want to bounce an idea off of you two, Sagrika and Grace. There's this concept of the anonymous sender that the student is writing about, right? And then we were also talking about, “We don't want to insert ourselves in [the mind of] the receiver – the person that got the card.”

Do you think it'd be powerful to talk about anonymous sender, anonymous receiver? Do you think that's also a little bit too vague? What would you think about that as a potential theme, or way to intro it – and maybe make the intro a little bit shorter?

Sagrika Jawadi: I think that would work. I think that could tie into, maybe, the concept of how we as humans – as people – can relate to each other and connect to each other. Even anonymously, right? We don't need to necessarily know who each other is to connect in that way.

I think that can definitely work – and [would] be a really interesting theme to play with.

Anthony Su: There's a potential direction to take it.

Sagrika Jawadi: Yeah.

Q&A

Anthony Su: Awesome. Questions? Thoughts?

If there are any students stuck on a particular prompt, or [who want to ask], “I'm at this point in my essay. What would you recommend?”

I guess, Grace, if you're working with a student [and] they're starting their essays right now, what would be the steps – like a rough framework – of what to expect these next few weeks or months?

Grace Crowcroft: ILUMIN does a really great job with the resources that it provides. Especially for the student, but also for the essay specialist as well. So there are a ton of resources in Google Classroom that we look through.

You might have a couple of general worksheets to get the brainstorming ideas flowing first. That takes a couple of days. And then we move on to outlining. We might have a Zoom with you and discuss the brainstorming sheets first: “These are some really good ideas. Let's hone in on one of them.” And then focus: get that information, put it on an outline…

You work on that. You can work on it alone, or we can talk you through some of that. It's kind of up to you. That's something that's really nice about this: there's a lot of flexibility. You tell us what or how you want uh to operate – in terms of, do you want us to just give you some edits? Or do you want us to Zoom and talk you through a lot of it? You give us that direction, and then we do what we do: give you clear feedback to move forward.

After brainstorming and outlining – after we've worked on that – we'll go on to the first draft. It might take a week or so to do the first draft. [After it’s finished,] I normally give the first round of editing, revising, [and] all that. There will be some general comments.

And then we just go back and forth. After the revision we'll come back and give you some more comments. Go back and really work on that. After three to five times of those back and forth, then you'll have a pretty great product to show for it!

Anthony Su: A question did come in: “What process would you recommend for choosing the best prompt for yourself?” That's actually a really good question. Make sure you pick the right prompt for what you want to talk about, right?

Sagrika Jawadi: Yeah. There are lots of great ways to go about it. We actually do have a worksheet specifically for that – for both the UC essays and the Common App – where we basically tell you to list all the significant experiences and activities you've done in high school, and then match them to prompts that work.

That is a great place to start, I think, for these essays that have multiple prompts that you have to choose from. First reflect and think about, “What are the most meaningful experiences I've had, and what do I want to say about them?” And then figure out which prompt fits the best.

Because, for example, with the UC essays, there are four of them. There's probably going to be one prompt [into which] you could fit your topic and what you want to say. It's just a matter of being thoughtful – so that you're not repeating yourself in multiple essays.

But it comes down to brainstorming, really, and figuring out what you want to say – and which question is going to help you say that.

Anthony Su: Another way to answer that is this idea [that] you should not necessarily look for the best prompt,  but look for the best story you have. And then you kind of play a matching game to see where that fits.

It's really helpful as an exercise for UCs – since you do have four PIQs you need to answer. They're all 350 words. There are some stories where you'll be able to match them to a lot of the prompts. There are some stories you may only be able to match to one. Understanding that priority is also important.

We do have our supplements webinar coming up next week as well. We have a couple more webinars coming up. We have that one. We have one about pre-med applicants. If you're interested in going in that direction, you can definitely take a look there.

Supplements, I believe, will be our last essay webinar – to walk through the “Why us?” (the “Why this college?”) essay, and typically the “Why major?” essay. For a lot of students it's about helping them adapt essays. Hopefully you already have a UC [essay] done that we can wrangle around.

Sagrika Jawadi: I think one of the biggest things to be aware of during this specific time (September) is it's really easy to feel overwhelmed and like, “I don't want to do this! I'm busy with school.” [Or] like, “This feels so scary.”

Starting is always the hardest part. And it's okay if you haven't started. It happens. But we can really help.

Sometimes I feel like one of the biggest things that I provide to my students is accountability: “Oh! We're meeting next week! I have to have something to show!” And that can be really important – and something that I just want to emphasize. Even for those of you who might not be able to do ILUMIN, really give yourself accountability and deadlines – so that you're still doing something, and everything doesn't just creep up on you.

Because, trust me, those deadlines are going to come up – and you're not even going to realize. And it's going to be stressful. So just try to do a little bit each day.

Anthony Su: I always try to advise students: it's not [that] you have an all-nighter session [to] try to knock out all the essays. It's about doing it 20 minutes a day. And it's about – for when you're starting – never hitting that “delete” or “backspace” button, and just being able to put everything out there: anything you remotely think could be discussed in an essay.

A couple questions. “How would you tackle the major essay if you're applying undecided?” That's a good question.

Grace Crowcroft: We have a worksheet for that. But that's a super common and understandable thing. When I went into undergrad I was going in undeclared.

It's basically trying to like hone in on, “What am I passionate about? What are my interests – and things that I know how to talk about, and can talk about with passion?” I'm sure you have something that you're considering or thinking about.

Even if there are a couple things that you're dabbling with, that's where you start. You start with recognizing what your potential paths are – and then be honest in that. Again, it's super common to not know what the heck you're gonna do. (It’s super common not to know what the heck you're gonna do five, ten years down [the line].)

But the point is that you're exploring, and you're wanting to see – and you're basically able to articulate, “I have these interests. I'm exploring them. We're gonna figure it out.”

Anthony Su: Let's see… “Do you suggest we brainstorm on the Common App essay? How do I figure out what essay is really best for us?”

I think you're asking about the specific prompt for the Common App essay – because you only write one of the seven. Is that what you're getting at? Maybe we can discuss that?

Okay, the person said “yes.” So I'm gonna assume I have the right interpretation of the question. Given one of seven – compared to four of eight for [the] UCs – is there a way to tackle that Common App essay that's gonna be a little bit more efficient, or easier for the student?

Sagrika Jawadi: A great way to go about it is to really think about what you want to talk about. You don’t need to systematically go through each prompt and answer it. What's more helpful is what Anthony was saying earlier: thinking, “What are strong stories that you have?” Ideally, do you have a couple stories that are along a similar theme – that you can tie together into this essay? Because it's gonna be 600 words – so there's definitely space, and you want to write multiple stories to really create a narrative.

I don't recommend going through each prompt and thinking about [it], and trying to write a draft for each of them!

Grace Crowcroft: I think similarly: sometimes when you have so many options, it's hard to go through the options. Like, “Too many options! I can't pick!”

Another strategy too – or in addition – you can just read through [all the prompts] and say, “Okay, these are the ones that I can't answer. I don't have a particular X, Y, or Z.” So you're just going to cross it off.

I think that will make it feel a little bit more manageable – when you've narrowed it down to a few options. Then you can really focus in on those, and start to come up with a couple of ideas here and there. And then, from those ideas, I think it's a little bit easier to do the reflection.

Anthony Su: A question around PIQs versus a personal statement: which one to tackle first?

Our general consensus is PIQs but Sgrika, Grace, can you talk about why we generally recommend that?

Sagrika Jawadi: Yeah, sure.

One big reason is (if you're not applying early action) [the PIQs are due first].

(PIQs are “personal insight questions” – they're the short essays for the UCs. They call them PIQs.)

The reason we want to start with them is (usually) those are the ones that are due first.

Also, you usually choose one to build on for your Common App essay.

Anthony Su: It's that idea again: if you're going for very short essays, you get a lot of topics out of the way very quickly. So it's an easier way to help students organize their stories.

There's this general theme of: the prompts are not important. The story is important. And then we can help fit the story to the prompt.

When a lot of students are like, “Which prompt do I talk about? How do I find the right prompt for the Common App?” and things like that… It's really about finding that story, first, that's most impactful. And then figuring out where that story fits.

Let's see, when we were doing that essay editing package, or essay work, how does the essay specialist get involved in the essays? Is it just editing, or is it some advice?

Can you talk about a former student you worked with, and how you worked with them?

Sagrika Jawadi: Yeah, definitely.

What it looks like is we'll have an introductory meeting: you'll tell me what your goals are, [and] where you're at. I've helped students that already had drafts and just wanted help polishing them, and I've had students who had nothing.

For a student who didn't have anything, I start with, “Okay, what essays do you want to do? Are you applying to the UCs? If they say yes, they're applying to the UCs, we start with that.

I will (over Zoom) talk them through, “What are your activities? What are you interested in academically? What do you do in your free time? Have you played any sports?” All the questions trying to get to know them, and trying to find out what stories and what characteristics they have that are going to be helpful for these essays.

So we talk through that. Usually (as we're talking through that) we're filling out a worksheet to keep track of all the topics. And then we see, “Okay, this seems like it could be built out into an essay, and this seems like it could be built out.”

Usually what we'll do is we'll figure out a topic, we'll think of a relatively flexible outline for that topic, and then I'll say, “Go write a first draft and come back to me.”

You know, depending. I've had students who have come to me in October and didn't have any PIQs yet. [They’re due in November.] That was like, “Finish your first draft within three days and get back to me.” Depending on when you come – that's gonna change the timeline of how long you have to actually write and edit.

We could do asynchronous edits: you send me a draft, I edit it back to you on Google Docs. Or we can do Zoom editing together.

I would say we're very involved – we do give advice on how to write it, and we also edit.

Anthony Su: Definitely there's a lot of flexibility for the student – just given schedules and things like that. But yeah, we're definitely getting in the weeds! Early on it might be brainstorming, but getting into the technical [side] also: yeah, these things for word choice, or cutting down on word count. Things like that.

I guess we'll end with this question: “If you've got two interests or majors that you're looking at, how should you choose?” Or, “Which one should you write about when it comes to your application?”

Grace Crowcroft: I actually had this with a student recently. I just asked her, “Which one are you more interested in? Which one are you more passionate about?” I think that's a strong indicator.

Sometimes we have more technical experience in one area, but then (really) our passion is coming from another area. You just gotta sit down. Maybe it's easiest to do a pro and con list: pros and cons of these two. [For] which one do you have the more engaging stories or examples?

You can take it in different ways, but just do some reflection. It boils down to some reflection: which one you're more interested in.

And if you're like, “I'm just set on both of these!” I would do a pro and con list. It's a good tool to just say, “I have both of these, but maybe I have more stories, or more hands-on experience, or more details that I can add to my essay for this one. So then I'll go with that.”

Anthony Su: Yeah – again, it all comes back to stories. What are you able to write that's more comfortable, or you have more examples?

Okay, I think we'll leave it here today. Again, we'll have a couple more webinars discussing topics and things like that. We actually will also do an in-person event. If you're in the Bay Area... We should have an email out soon to sign up for that as well. We'll be at a bubble tea shop, and we'll just talk, and be able to discuss a little bit of what we're seeing for admissions.

I'll put the link one more time: we can definitely put a free consultation in, or you can sign up for our essay consulting. But definitely we hope to see you at another event.

Sagrika, Grace, thanks for joining us today. See you everyone. Bye!