The college essay, for me, undoubtedly is one of the most ambiguous components to the college application process. It’s quite literally your last chance to make an impression, and it begins with sharing your story, which does not require grades that look good on paper, extensive community service, or perfect academic rigor. Instead, it’s just sheer honesty. That honesty comes from being yourself and writing like the pen is you, because the flaws and imperfections found in a college essay can be overlooked if you can prove that your story shows that you are worthy of greatness.
Yet, there is an unpredictable aspect to sharing your story. Surely, many admission officers value creativity in the midst of something so rigorous and serious. Why do many of these creative college essays that share their niche experiences get rejected by others? Because, at the end of the day, creativity is not a one-size-fits-all thing. Rather, it stretches far beyond what we can imagine. Even with the earth being billions of years old, we are capable of creating something new and unique. This question inhabits a place in my mind, where I feel that there is no way of telling if my story compared to millions of others is good enough.
I think the unpredictability in college essays is powerful, because the stories written do not follow a standard paper and as a result of that, there is a conviction to write something completely out of the box, where originality can shine its light. But, people often feel that when writing the college essay—honesty comes from tragedy, which in some cases can be true. Because the honesty that lies from tragic stories can be so humanizing and inspiring it almost feels like a standard way to win the heart of an admission officer because describing your journey from the bottom to climbing to top is beautiful when you can see the connection of struggle and growth. But what about the people who don’t have a sob story, who don’t have a story significant enough to tell?
Easy. Fake it.
In a New York Times Article, T.M. Landry School is revealed to have sold top colleges fake sob stories in order to gain acceptance—and surprisingly, it worked. The concept of sob stories is very sophisticated because as some may hold the truth, others are completely exaggerated—distorting subtle stories to extensive abuse, or in this case, trying to articulate a hardship that doesn’t exist at all.
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Looking at the story of T.M. Landry School, it almost feels inevitable that faking these stories can present more impact than subtle stories that show truth and honesty. But the only thing this does is put creativity in a small box, where our trauma defines our capabilities. When I think of sob stories, my mind always brings me back to this school. And, it makes me wonder that if a school is able to hide in the clouds for so long, to what extent can high school students get away with the same problem with writing stories with calculation and a lack of authenticity. Despite all of this, we should hold on to our integrity because when we confront our true stories on paper we can form a conviction to actually learn from them, which is what colleges want us to do because reflection no matter how big or small will always allow room for growth.
But, there is also another way to access a student’s growth—passion projects. Passion projects are personal endeavors, where a student may pursue genuine interests like a podcast or even a YouTube channel. Passion projects allow students to shine without the presence of inauthenticity, without risking other students the chance of getting accepted in their dream school because their story wasn’t tragic enough. Taking initiative to do something despite being burdened with academic ambitions is such a bright inspiration because the drive to turn your passion or interest into reality shows us that our major is driven by a vision of initiative and potential success. Whatever your talents or areas of strength may be, and whatever weaknesses you may have, a passion project, more so than any essay, can help showcase your best, genuine, authentic self.