Essay Inspiration (I Hope)

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Post by Dan

If, like me, you use Twitter, you may find lots of 140-character-or-less tweets expressing similar sentiments: “A little stumped with how to begin my college essay….” Or this one: “college essay. hmm… help?”  What I find so powerful about Twitter is realtime insight into the moods of large groups of people, like, say, high school seniors applying to college.  So many applicants working on personal statements, supplements, and application materials and getting Stumped.  One student in particular, from Hialeah High School, really articulated the challenge well.

I’ve put off writing my essays because of a lack of inspiration and fear I might be too clinical in my essays, not enough “me”.

 

I want to help.  I want to provide inspiration, some kind of way forward out of the muck and into the sunshine of a senior year no longer dominated by college applications.  But this is a HUGE challenge; what can I offer in the face of that challenge?  Then it hit me: Radiolab.  This audio show performs an act no short of magic when they distill science, humanity, and choice into delicious and digestible nuggets that are simultaneously enlightening and enthralling.  The joy Radiolab brings me is so complete that pouring pure ambrosia directly into my ears couldn’t provoke greater euphoria.   Every time, Radiolab makes me reevaluate my old perceptions on what the world is and, more importantly, who I am.   Those new questions lead me to better understand myself.

 

Ultimately, we hope to find that understanding in your application – that you understand yourself and can articulate your beliefs, your values, and the qualities of your personality.

Maybe I’m really strange, and no one else will react this way.  But just in case I’m not the only one, I’d like to offer you a link.  The following will bring you to Radiolab’s 2008 show on Choice.  And I can think of no better place to begin an exploration of identity than to plumb the choices we make.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/11/14

To those of you still grasping for a handle on a question like “what voice will you add to the class of 2014?”  I suggest the following: try finding a different perspective on what it is that makes you “you.”  I know this is a little unconventional as essay advice goes, but normal isn’t really our thing at Tufts University.  Besides, maybe Radiolab can help.

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Filed under Applications, essays

Tags: admissions, Applications, Choice, college application advice, essays, Radiolab, Tufts, Tufts University, Twitter, Who am I?, WNYC, writers block