Last week, I intentionally left out one important word: anecdote.
Teachers and guidance counselors who don’t know any better often talk about the importance of “hooks” - and hooks can be important. But, hooks - that dramatic opening sentence that makes one want to read more - are only useful if there is a good anecdote attached to them. After all, everyone likes hearing stories. As children, we ask our parents to let us stay up late to hear “one more story,” and that desire never really goes away. If you’ve ever binge-watched a television show, you know how difficult it is to say no to the next episode, because it is already past the time where you should have been asleep. “Just one more,” you think, and the next thing you know it is 5am and you have two hours before you have to get up.
Here are some recent hooks that students I have worked with have used: “One of the most traumatic moments of my childhood was when my father flushed the mice down the toilet;” “I have a vivid fantasy life;” “That afternoon, I made a killing on Nerds;” “I am afraid of coconuts.” Each one makes you want to read more, but, more importantly, each one is the beginning of a story that tells the reader something important about who the writer is. The hook is important only if what follows after it is worthwhile.
That is why in my last blog, I asked those three questions about your life. If the goal is to get someone who has never met you to understand who you are, each of those questions will, in its own way, lead to a unique story about you that can begin to encapsulate your personality. Not everything about you, obviously, but one important thing that someone who wants to get to know you needs to understand. It is also a great way to get started, because we almost all like telling stories as much as we like listening to them.
You might ask what you should be doing. The first thing to do is make sure that your story takes up less than half the space you have available. Short, sweet, and memorable is your goal. If the story drags on, even if it is phenomenal, we’re not going to get to the important part. After all, the story might be interesting, but what the college admissions officer wants to know is why you choose that story as opposed to the many others that make up your life. In other words, why is that story an important insight into who you are?
I’m going to be frank and tell you that this is the hardest part. You need to reflect on what you learned because of that story, or how you have changed. When I wrote about how applying to college is like dating, my goal was to get you to think about attraction and relationships, and how it is important for a relationship to be based on more than mere looks. This reflection is where we get your personality in the mix because it is not merely the story you tell, but how you think about and make others think about that story that demonstrates what type of person you are - whether you are a good fit for that particular college, and what you might add to the relationship you are seeking with them. Introspection is a big word, but all it really means is that you need to show that you can think about yourself, recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to be better as a person as a result of that recognition. In other words, this is how you get to develop a successful relationship after the excitement of the first few dates wears off. Sure, you made them laugh with your funny hook, and you kept them engaged with that charming story from your childhood, but are you deep enough to go further and show that you are a worthwhile person for them to spend four years with?
This, by the way, is why I have my job, and why everyone should seek someone else out to help with their college application, because this is not something that anyone should do alone. We all need feedback on our writing, not just to check our grammar but because we also need the perspective of another human being who can tell us what we’re missing. I am, if I may say so, good at standardized testing prep, and have a solid understanding of what colleges are looking for. But, I would not do this if I did not love helping students find the right words to express themselves and show who they truly are, and that is what I do. If you’re looking for someone to help you with that, please do contact me, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you with what I know can be a daunting process.
Mr. K
Y O U M I G H T A L S O L I K E :
Taking the August SAT? Don’t panic! Here are a few things to think about that will help you prepare for the test, so you can do your best.