When you are preparing the essay to submit for your college application, there is one very important point: make it personal but don’t turn it into a personal diary.

Some students think that just because it’s a personal essay, then they have the license to indulge in a long and rambling account of their life. It becomes a stream of consciousness, with no clear idea of the kind of point you want to make. This is very dull and annoying, even arrogant.

Remember, your essay must make a thesis statement: a very specific idea that you want to present. For example, if you are being asked about why you chose a particular course, then chose only the most important details in your life that led you to your decision. Don’t tell them everything. Let’s say that you were moved to become a doctor after the summer you took a job working at a nursing home. Stick to that anecdote. You don’t have to go on and on about your pay, the schedule, or even a long narrative about the people who were there. Just pick one very meaningful conversation, one insight, and then develop it.

Others don’t share any personal information at all, so their writing sounds so insincere and generic. They use very big concepts like “Medicine can change the lives of the people.” Of course that’s true, but it says nothing about why you want to take it as a course. Compare it to this statement. “Meeting the people at the nursing home showed me how important it was to have a quality of life and a dignified death. Medicine can give them that.”

Not sure what experiences you can use in your essay?

You don’t have to have very dramatic anecdotes in your essay. You can talk about your interests and hobbies, and the things that you enjoy doing. If you are very passionate about something then the excitement will show, and you will sound sincere. You can also talk about someone who influenced you profoundly, or an experience that had a great impact on your community.