Step 1. BRAINSTORM

Bring it! The college admissions process is a competitive process. You need to fight for a spot at the college of your choice. Bring your A game to paper. You need to be real and yourself, and you need to present your best self. We discuss in greater detail exactly what your best self means and how to capture yourself on paper in the Keys to the CASTLE Program.

Retreat & Rest. No, don’t throw in the towel and take a nap (although maintaining your health during the stressful college application process does include getting enough sleep). What I mean is this: Write in chunks. Write for a while and then take a break to get some perspective. When you return to write the next chunk, what you write will be stronger, if you write it with fresh eyes. This will be as close as you can get to having more than one head, so to speak. It will be as if multiple versions of you have written the final piece.

Also, the time you take off will allow you to think about the essay in your subconscious so that ideas will stream into your conscious mind that might not have arisen under pressure. Of course, to take advantage of resting and retreating, you need to schedule yourself enough time to take breaks. Have I said this before? Even if I have, I will say it again: Do not procrastinate and expect to get your best results.

Activities. Write about the activities that you are most passionate about, especially if they present you with a challenge. This is America, after all—the home of the underdog who overcame adversity, defied the odds, and won. Think about your adversaries, breathing and non, tangible and conceptual. We focus on helping you identify and excel at your activities both on and off campus as a leader in Stage II of the Keys to the CASTLE Program.

Interview current students, alumni, and campus representatives at the colleges of your choice. You can find out a lot by considering how and why their responses overlap and diverge. Nothing like hearing straight from the horse’s mouth what works and what does not. Even though there are almost always exceptions, knowing the norm will help you tremendously. I discuss the norms I witnessed when I worked in Admissions at Yale University in the Keys to the CASTLE Program, especially during coaching sessions with members.

No judgment. Of course you are going to be self-critical; that is an important part of any productive process. However, you will increase your creative juices and productivity and speed up your rate of completion if you allow yourself to brainstorm without judging all your thoughts or feelings as they occur. Just write down everything and anything that comes to mind, especially when you first start to write, so that you can get something on paper. It doesn’t matter how polished your ideas are in your mind if no one else gets to see them. So get something in writing on paper. Mute your inner critic and just get started.

Sincerity is your prosperity. No one will judge someone who speaks and writes from the heart. Let me give you an example that is more controversial and dramatic than any of the essay topics will be.

In the 1990s, I watched a show, I think it was CROSSFIRE or MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWS HOUR or something like it, and the topic of debate was whether gay partners should have the same hospital visitation rights as heterosexual spouses.

Of course, the show hosted two guests on opposite sides of the issue—I’ll call them Joe and Larry. They had a lot in common in terms of demographics: They were both middle-aged, Caucasian, male, and (based on their speech patterns) educated. However, the similarities ended there.

Joe thought AIDS was a gay cancer brought to earth by God to punish gay people and was disgusted by Larry’s homosexual lifestyle. Despite Joe’s obvious disgust and disdain, Larry tried to persuade him about tolerance and equality. The intellectual debate made no headway with either side.

Then Larry communicated how painful it was for him to watch his life partner die in vivid detail. He described the added challenge of having to fight the hospital bureaucracy about the limitation of visiting hours when he wanted to be by his partner’s side day AND night. The pain of the memory was so great that tears eventually started to travel down his cheeks as he erupted with clear frustration and declared, “You just don’t seem to understand the pain I felt watching the man I loved waste away day by day and eventually die in my arms.“

It was obvious that he loved his life partner. And love is love. Larry’s emotional outburst became a sign of strength, not weakness, and it became crystal clear that sexual orientation does not determine whether you will feel pain. It was apparent to everyone, even to Joe, that two men (or women for that matter) could love each other as strongly as any heterosexual couple.

Did Joe say anything to debate the matter further? Nope. It was written all over his face that, although he didn’t agree, he had come to a greater understanding and possibly an increased level of respect. You could see more than an ounce of compassion on Joe’s face. Incredible? Believe it or not, emotions are universal and persuasive.

My point? Speak from the heart, capture emotions felt, and you will move your reader.

Of course, admissions officers will not be playing devil’s advocate as they read your college essay or be adversaries as the two men were to each other. However, you will have to persuade them to consider your application over the thousands of others.

If a gay man can persuade a homophobe to have a little sympathy and compassion, surely your task at hand will be within your grasp. Keep in mind that admissions officers are looking for a match for their university. How can they know if you’re the one if you don’t let them know who you really are and what truly matters to you?

Target colleges and universities that you think will be a match for you. Although admissions officers have an important say in where you will go to college, you have the first say by deciding where you will apply. Apply to schools that you think you would actually like to attend. If you want to explore how to choose a college that is right for you, I encourage you to enroll in the Keys to the CASTLE Program for more detailed tips.

Organize your thoughts. Come up with an outline of your essay ideas and how they will flow. The more orderly you are now, the easier it will be for others to follow your logic. Admissions officers read thousands of college essays; make their job easier by writing something that flows.

Research. Find out everything you can about the colleges you plan to apply to before you apply. Do your homework so that what you write will be specific to that university.

Music. It is said that music soothes a savage beast, so it certainly can do wonders for writer’s block or at least drown out your little voice that may be criticizing you and preventing you from writing a strong essay.

When I was an undergraduate, I used to listen to the radio to calm my nerves as I did brainstorming, even first drafts. The beat got my heart pumping, and the melody would settle my nerves. If you are experiencing writer’s block or feel that your creative juices just aren’t flowing, give this tip a try.
Now that you have BRAINSTORMed what to write about and organized your thoughts into an outline, you need to WRITE A ROUGH FIRST DRAFT! Your first draft can be a fleshed out version of your outline.