Waste Not, Want Not: Why every single thing matters.

Waste Not, Want Not: Why every single thing matters.

If there is one lesson I can impart on each and every one of you, it would be to take nothing on your applications for granted. There is no “good enough” here.

Do not waste a single essay, word, interview response. Everything you submit to every school should be something you are proud of.

The purpose of an undergraduate application is to create an image of you. You as a student (boards and transcript), as a leader and participant (resume), and as a person (recommendations, interviews, and essays).

Each little bit is a puzzle piece to who you are, and who you have the potential to become.

You might hide or downplay some of the bad, but you want to take the good and bring it front and center.

If you have a weird life story, write about it. If you went through some trauma, write about it or make sure it’s noted on your application. If you have a learning disability make sure it’s on your application. If you’re a charismatic person, make sure you interview. If you had a great relationship with a teacher, even if you didn’t do well, even if it wasn’t in a subject you are applying for, have them write your recommendation.

Don’t hide anything that could help. Don’t submit anything less than the best.

When you’re writing an essay, nothing should “just take an hour to write and spell check.” Things should take time, ideas should marinate, and supplements should be read over and analyzed.

I don’t care if it’s your safety school. Laziness comes across, even with the best writers.

If there is a sentence you’re unhappy with, take it out. Rewrite it. Change the entire 500-word essay to fit the 20 words in your first draft that you do like.

This blog has taught me how to write a thousand word, coherent argument in an hour or less. Does that mean that I write my papers for school that way? No. Does that mean that I crank out cover letters in 20 minutes? Absolutely not.

Nothing on a college application that is listed as “optional” actually is.
If the supplement is optional? Write it and write it well

If a Skype interview is optional? Make sure to set one up.

If an additional resume is optional? Send one in that further elaborates on your activities and what you actually do. 

If you’re an outstanding artist (of creative or performing nature)? Send in an arts supplement of your very best work.

If you’re an incredible athlete? Get in contact with the coaches.

If the school is test optional and your SAT/ACT scores are great? Send them in.

Do not waste any opportunity to flesh out your application in a positive light.

Admissions committees want to see ambitious, interesting, accomplished, driven, students. They want to know who you are, not just what your grades were.

If you’re passionately into stand up comedy, don’t write your essay on the research you did on jellyfish. Jellyfish might make you look like an intellectual, but stand up comedy tells them something about you as a person.

The jellyfish essay tells them what they already know, you’re smart, you like science, you’ve done research.

The stand up comedy essay (a question 1 essay on this years CommonApp) tells them that you’re funny and interesting, and you have nonacademic interests. Maybe you’ll be a member of the improv troupe at the college, maybe you’ll take some acting or writing classes when you attend. Maybe you’re super funny and will make a great tour guide.

The fact that you did science research is still on your application in your classes, activities, and recommendations. A jellyfish essay is wasting valuable space.

Don’t waste any opportunity to add something new to the pile of information they have about you.

I did drama and music in high school. But I sent in a theatrical resume as well. It told them that I can do gymnastics, I’m trained in stage combat, I took voice lessons, I acted in films, I did 3-5 plays a year. None of that information was on my application in other places. I fleshed out the “theatre” part of my identity to show that I was accomplished in that respect.

My biggest regret on my applications is that I did not, on any essay I wrote or any interview I went on, mention my lifelong love of Jeopardy. My CommonApp essay had one sentence about my collection of trivia and random fact books.

That was not the whole story.

I am a massive lump of random and useless trivia. I aspire to be on Jeopardy, and I had to give up my one chance because I was in a play the same night as the second round of teen Jeopardy callbacks.

Even though I was accepted to 100 percent of the schools I applied to, I sorely regret that I didn’t add that in anywhere, because it was such a huge part of my life and my personality.

Waste nothing. If you’re into fashion, wear something cool or funky on your interviews. If you’re into photography, send in an arts supplement. Nothing that is important to you should be left out.

Want nothing.

There should be nothing that is so important to you that you think “man I should have added that in somewhere.”

Waste no opportunity to add everything in.

Tailoring your image and personal branding are a huge part of what I preach, but you should come off the application as a three dimensional person, not a one-dimensional, one-sided list of grades and achievements.

A college application is, in its essence, a summary of who you were in your first 16-17 years. Give them the detailed, nuanced summary, not the spark notes.