Now that we know the three pillars of a good college essay—as well as Logic Prep’s proven process for writing one—it’s time to reflect on the role of these essays within your application narrative.
On its own, your college essay should already tell admissions officers a clear story about yourself. But it is also part of a broader narrative that connects your personal, academic, and extracurricular life.
What does narrative mean for college applications?
One of my colleagues, an LP advisor and former admissions officer, breaks down application narratives into two general types:
Pointy narratives are more focused, emphasizing a student’s particular passion, commitment, and accomplishments in a particular area.
Rounded narratives are more broad, displaying a student’s diversity of interests and experiences.
So how does your college essay fit into one of these narrative types? Let’s look at some examples from successful applicants I’ve worked with:
Pointy Narratives
For my student looking to emphasize her specific interest and experience in business, her essay added depth to interest by sharing her success in developing an app that provided interactive financial literacy lessons.
It shed light on the source of her passion for entrepreneurship:
When I was 13, a local entrepreneur discovered that he could harness internet signals using radio transmission. His simple but creative innovation bridged the gap between this community and the outside world. On the weekends, my grandma could now watch Youtube to expand her recipe repertoire, and local kids now had access to online learning platforms that have become so vital in our increasingly atomized world. The impact of his simple innovation on the people of Membeca made its mark on me.
It also tied her love of teaching to the impact she wanted her app to have:
I came away with the realization that my passion for entrepreneurship was matched by my love of teaching. The more I taught them how to identify problems, create viable business plans, and develop unique selling points, the more I learned about how to make technical topics resonate with a diverse group of kids.
Rounded Narratives
For my student wishing to emphasize her variety of interests, her essay told the story of learning to play jazz music as a way to emphasize the spontaneous and open mindset that she will bring with her to college:
She shared what she learned about herself through jazz:
I dove into Jazz looking for a fresh and spontaneous approach to playing saxophone. It became a transformative lesson in how to learn with intention, in the impact of speaking with confidence, and in the necessity of bringing my authenticity and openness into any space I was in.
She then linked these personal traits to a few different areas of her life:
I now carry these lessons with me. They’ve helped me contribute actively within my Ismaili Centre here in Dubai, where I volunteer to welcome new members and recite announcements during services. They push me to ground my intellectual interests in ecology, sustainability, and economics in the impact that these fields can have when linked together. Most of all, they remind me to embrace my eccentricities and spontaneity—they’re what make me who I am.
Aligning your essay and application
Whether you choose to pursue a pointy or rounded narrative, it’s essential to align your essay with the rest of your application. What major(s) are you applying for? What interests are demonstrated by your extracurriculars? What skills, talents, or passions are your teachers likely to mention in their recommendation letters?
My favorite part of being a LogicPrep Essay Coach—aside from my students!—has been the lessons I’ve learned about building application narratives from our incredible team of College Advisors, all of whom have worked in actual admissions offices at colleges across the country.
I believe that’s what makes our essay writing process unique. With LogicPrep, you won’t only be working with our Essay Coaches. You’ll have a team to support and guide your essays towards success—a team that will help you produce college essays that are creative in the story they tell, but also strategic in the narrative they build.