College Admissions Essay as Reality TV

This is my favorite time of year for several reasons: the weather cools off, the leaves start changing colors, TV networks start running new episodes, and high school seniors scramble to put together personal statements for their college applications.

For some students, the most challenging part of writing an essay is coming up with a topic that is authentic, meaningful, and (at least somewhat) original. However, nearly all students I’ve worked with struggle with focusing their passion into an engaging and cohesive narrative. In other words, they have trouble telling a good story.

I don’t remember getting a lot of experience telling stories when I was in high school. I had plenty of opportunities to write essays and craft arguments, both skills that are important for a college essay as well, but the only stories I told were in my own tattered notebook and amongst my friends in the cafeteria.

How can teenagers harness their skills of storytelling skills (and what teenager hasn’t told stories from time to time?) when it comes to college applications?

I like to leverage students’ experience watching and listening to stories - from reality TV.

What can we learn about storytelling from reality TV?

1) Create drama. Make the story interesting, even if it means picking and choosing which details to share. We know that reality TV isn’t real, but there’s some grain of reality in it. Think about how the producers of reality TV shows edit the recordings to show only the most gripping details and interesting events. Leave out all the stuff that doesn’t contribute to the story. That doesn’t mean write a short story. In fact, I recommend that students write down more than they need and then edit the essay down to the limit of 650 words, in the same way reality TV is filmed over multiple days and then edited to fit in a 44-minute spot.

2) Provide background information. A good TV show always starts with “scenes from last time”, a series of scenes that highlight the most important information viewers need to get invested in the plot of the episode. Even better, start with a highlight of the primary dramatic moment from the current episode - a hook - and then dive into the relevant history.

3) Show, don’t tell. Don’t describe what thoughts or lessons; describe what happened. Make the story interesting by creating conflict and showing movement towards character development or realization. What’s more interesting: hearing a character explain they were angry, or watching them turn red in the face, flip over a table, and shout some creatively bleeped words on their way out the door?

4) Don’t forget the rules of writing an essay. In addition to being a captivating story, the personal statement is also an essay. There should be a coherent thesis that is supported by every single sentence in the essay. Each paragraph should, directly or indirectly, refer back to the main argument. The focus should be singular and clear from the first sentence to the last, in the same way the main conflict of a TV show is obvious from the 30-second preview played the week in advance, emphasized during scenes from last episode, and developed over the remaining 40 minutes.

There’s a reason reality TV is so addictive and keeps us coming back for more. Make the admissions officers want to meet you in person and bring you into their community.