Your college essay writing journey can feel daunting, and uncertainty can come with this apprehension about how to get started. If you are feeling particularly stuck, visualizing your life’s experiences on paper can be incredibly beneficial. Try following these steps to pull yourself out of a writing “rut” and put pen to paper!

1. Map it Out

Start by creating a chronological visual map of your experiences. Prioritize your most recent impactful experiences at the top of your map. These experiences could include:

• Club involvement
• Volunteer experiences
• Community service opportunities
•  Academic programs, internships, research experiences
• Honors/advanced courses
• Extracurriculars
• Sports
• Exploration of a new skill or interest

Below these experiences, list some of your earlier activities that may have occurred in middle or elementary school. This could include anything from hobbies or traveling opportunities to influential encounters with family and friends.

Although these experiences may not make it into your essays — as you’ll want to focus mostly on your recent experiences — mapping out these earlier events can help establish important connections and themes in your life while helping you think about your growth.

2.  Look for Connections

It is important to understand that college admissions readers are looking for five key traits: a student’s drive, initiative, contribution to a community, diversity of experiences, or intellectual curiosity.

While seeking to understand how you’ve demonstrated these qualities within your experiences, ask yourself, “How have I demonstrated these traits throughout each experience?”

As you contemplate these answers, jot down notes under each experience. These notes can help you begin to see the connections between various experiences.

Digging deeper into these connections, ask yourself questions like:

• How did my drive during X experience push me to engage in Y?
• After taking the initiative to engage in X, did I become inspired to participate in Y?
• By contributing to others through X, did I feel passionate about extending this impact by doing Y?
• How has the diversity of X, Y, and Z experiences contributed to a certain trait, value, skill, or interest?
• How do X and Y experiences show how I’ve pursued a topic that fascinates me?

3. Structure Your Story

Do you recognize interesting connections among your experiences? If so, you’re ready to start thinking about how you’ll tell the story of your growth!

You might experiment by structuring your experiences around your journey of personal development, hooking your reader with a defining moment that demonstrates one of those key traits in action. You can then backtrack, providing context about the “old you,” discuss the experiences that sparked your growth, and finally highlight who you are now by reflecting on a couple of your most recent impactful experiences.

Alternatively, you can try using a “montage” structure in which you discuss several of your most impactful experiences centered around a common theme and trait.

4. Experiment with Topics

If you aren’t head over heels for your first draft or if you have an abundance of ideas and don’t know where to start, experiment with different topics! There are likely many different “themes” and connections that can be made from your life experiences, so experimenting with several different themes, topics, structures, and traits can help you determine which approach works best for your unique story.

5. Use Your Map for Supplemental Essays

Having a map that visually represents your life experiences will become a valuable resource when brainstorming ideas for your supplemental essays. Supplemental questions often prompt a student to reflect on these key traits, so you’ll already have these brainstorming ideas rolling! 

We hope this helped get you unstuck from the writer's rut. If you still need help or want feedback on what you have so far, reach out to us!