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The Problem With Creative Personal Essays
Posted by on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 10:39 AM (PST)
My last blog post got me thinking about “creative” essays--those obscure, tangential personal admission essays that read well but don't necessarily focus on the student. Does your main personal essay need to be uber-creative, like nothing an admissions committee has ever seen? Does it need to address a topic that has never been addressed, and address it in a completely fresh way?
Many of the winning college admission essays that get featured online are like this, and students often drive themselves crazy trying to create this kind of essay. Here’s an example: LINK
But I’ll be honest: trying to write something like this for your primary college admission essay is not always the best strategy. Here are 3 reasons why:
- The essay above doesn’t actually communicate anything about the student (except, perhaps, subtextually, which I will address in a moment). The approach, then, is risky. An admission officer might read the essay and think “Wow, this is different! What a breath of fresh air!” On the other hand, she might think “Hmm, this is good, but I don’t know a single thing about this student except that he came up with one original idea and executed it well. Who is he? Will he fit into our class? Will he succeed here? Not enough information. I’ll pass.”
- Creative personal essays have to be extremely well written. Most people probably think they are better writers than they are, myself included. And while I think I’m a decent writer, I’ll admit to not being a strong creative writer. Powerfully poetic prose is as rare as pulchritudinous painting, and the simple fact is, not everyone can do it. I’m not trying to throw a wet rag on creativity here, but it’s important to proceed with caution. If you’re going to leverage an already risky approach, make sure you do so wisely. Ask for lots of feedback on your “unusual” essay.
- There are often other opportunities in the application to be creative. Most applications include supplemental essay questions, and some even include questions designed to elicit creativity. Make sure you put your best foot forward with your main personal essay, giving the admissions committee a powerful sense of who you are and what makes you unique. If you succeed in this, the supplemental essays provide a great opportunity to play around a little and have some fun.
Ok, I’ll conclude with an exception to the above guidelines and some general advice.
The exception:
If you are a creative writer, and you intend to study creative writing in college, it’s actually quite important that your admission essay be creative. In this case, it’s probably less important that you talk about yourself; the medium IS the message.
General advice:
As I mentioned in my last blog entry, most students should begin with a thorough exploration of the gifts, passions, accomplishments, and future goals that make them unique, and NOT with an attempt to find some random, creative thing to write about. Once you’ve discovered your most powerful personal story, THEN you can think about the most creative way to tell it.
Good luck!
Justin
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