How to Write the Application Essay: Thrown to the Wolves

In case you missed it, last week I passed on author Margaret Atwood's idea that "All stories are about wolves." One of Atwood's wolf stories is "being thrown to the wolves," and that's the one I'd like to expand on today.

Over the weekend, some of my Harvard Law School classmates and I met for our annual gathering. One of these guys is a both a litigator and a lover of literature, so asked him what kind of stories he thought resonated with jurors. I've adapted his comments into a simple, 3-part structure. If you're wondering how to write the application essay, maybe this will give you some ideas.

Part 1: Promise

The "thrown to the wolves" story begins when someone makes a promise. Maybe you made the promise, or maybe someone made the promise to you. The promise might be explicit, something that was stated clearly. Or it might be implicit, something that was expected or understood but was never clarified. The promise might have been made a long time ago, or it might have been made recently.

If these parameters sound broad, that's because they are. You have freedom to interpret what is or isn't a promise based on your perspective. In the application essay, your perspective is what the reader is trying to understand anyway.

Part 2: Betrayal

After the promise is made, the promise is betrayed. Like in the video above. I'm pretty sure those two buffalo or whatever they are totally have an implied agreement not to feed each other to the wolves. But then the second one bowls over the first and is like, "Later, dude," as he charges off to safety. Then the first one is like, "Dude..." as the pack of wolves begins to devour him. Dude, indeed.

In your case, you might be the betrayer, or you might be the betrayed. How did it happen? Did you say or do something? Did the other person say or do something? How did people respond? Where were you, exactly, and what do you remember about that setting? When did this happen, and what stood out to you about the timing in your life?

Part 3: Justice?

I put a question mark after justice because I don't know how your betrayal turned out. You might not, either. Maybe it's clear, but maybe it's not. If you think about your relationships, you already know what makes "winning" an argument difficult. There can be disagreement about whether a promise was made: "I never said that" or "Yes, that's what I said, but I thought you knew I meant _____." There can be disagreement about whether a betrayal happened: "I didn't do that" or "Yes, I did that, but it's not a big deal."

Whether justice, or at least a resolution, occurs depends mostly on the willingness of both sides to compromise in defining the promise and defining the betrayal. Maybe there is an apology. Maybe there is forgiveness. Or maybe not. It's messy.

Were You Ever Thrown to the Wolves?

I'm not trying to shoehorn your experience into a promise-betrayal-justice template. But I am trying to ask you questions so you can figure out for yourself if you have a promise-betrayal-justice type of story to tell. So tell me -- were you ever thrown to the wolves?

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

Where to Apply to College: 30 Choices for the B Student

You're just trying to find one place that suits you. One college is all you need. But to find the one you like, you're going to have to do some exploring.

Not every student can be in the top 10% academically. It's a mathematical reality. But it shouldn't be cause for alarm. If you're one of many students with SAT scores in the 1500s or 1600s and with a mix of As and Bs in regular classes, you have plenty of choices. To prove it to you, I've put together a list of 30 colleges you might consider.

No, this is not a list of obscure schools you've never heard of before. It's a list of schools that students from Palos Verdes to Palo Alto actually apply to and attend. It's a list of schools worth exploring.

30 Colleges for the B Student (or for the A Student Who Doesn't Test Well)

1. Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ. Large, 4-year, public university.
2. Auburn University. Auburn, AL. Large, 4-year, public university.
3. California State University: Chico. Chico, CA. Large, 4-year, public university.
4. California State University: Long Beach. Long Beach, CA. Large, 4-year, public university.
5. California State University: Northridge. Northridge, CA. Large, 4-year, public university.
6. Cuesta College. San Luis Obispo, CA. Medium-sized, 2-year, public community college.
7. DePaul University. Chicago, IL. Large, 4-year, private Catholic university.
8. Gonzaga University. Spokane, WA. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Jesuit university.
9. Loyola University Chicago. Chicago, IL. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Jesuit university.
10. Michigan State University. East Lansing, MI. Large, 4-year, public university.
11. Northern Arizona University. Flagstaff, AZ. Large, 4-year, public university.
12. Oregon State University. Corvallis, OR. Large, 4-year, public university.
13. University of Redlands. Redlands, CA. Medium-sized, 4-year, private university.
14. Santa Barbara City College. Santa Barbara, CA. Medium-sized, 2-year, public community college.
15. Santa Monica College. Santa Monica, CA. Large, 2-year, public community college.
16. Seattle University. Seattle, WA. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Jesuit university.
17. Sonoma State University. Rohnert Park, CA. Medium-sized, 4-year, public university.
18. St. Mary's College of California. Moraga, CA. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Catholic college.
19. Texas Christian University. Fort Worth, TX. Medium-sized, 4-year, private university.
20. University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, AL. Large, 4-year, public university.
21. University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ. Large, 4-year, public university.
22. University of Colorado at Boulder. Boulder, CO. Large, 4-year, public university.
23. University of Denver. Denver, CO. Medium-sized, 4-year, private university.
24. University of Oregon. Eugene, OR. Large, 4-year, public university.
25. University of Portland. Portland, OR. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Catholic university.
26. University of San Diego. San Diego, CA. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Catholic university.
27. University of San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. Medium-sized, 4-year, private Jesuit university.
28. University of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT. Large, 4-year, public university.
29. Washington State University. Pullman, WA. Large, 4-year, public university.
30. Whittier College. Whittier, CA. Small, 4-year, private college.

Good luck!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

How to Write the Application Essay: 9 Ideas

Last week, I finished reading Maragaret Atwood's novel The Blind Assassin. I was taking my time, enjoying the story and the writing, when I ran across a passage so concise and insightful that I knew I had to share it with you:

“All stories are about wolves. All worth repeating, that is...There's escaping from the wolves, fighting the wolves, capturing the wolves, taming the wolves. Being thrown to the wolves, or throwing others to the wolves so the wolves will eat them instead of you. Running with the wolf pack. Turning into a wolf. Best of all, turning into the head wolf. No other decent stories exist.”

Your Story Needs a Wolf

Call it an opponent, an antagonist, a rival, a nemesis, a wolf, or whatever else you want, but whatever you call it, your story needs one. Without a wolf, there's no conflict. And without conflict, it's not really a story. It's a list of facts or observations. Which is boring.

If you've written a first draft, the most important question you can ask yourself is, "Does my story have a wolf?" If it doesn't, find one. If it does, then think about how you can focus your essay more on the wolf.

9 Ideas about How to Write the Application Essay

You know your story needs a wolf, and Atwood gives us 9 ideas about what role the wolf might play in your story. For those of you more inclined toward listicles than block quotes, here they are in all their splendid simplicity:

1. Escaping the wolves
2. Fighting the wolves
3. Capturing the wolves
4. Taming the wolves
5. Being thrown to the wolves
6. Throwing others to the wolves
7. Running with the wolves
8. Turning into a wolf
9. Turning into the head wolf

Not too complicated, right? Start with your gut feeling about what topic matters to you. If you need more ideas, you can use the story tool on the Essaywise home page. Then find your wolf. Do that, and you'll be off to a great start.

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

How to Apply to Stanford

Everyone wants to know, so here’s my best advice about how to apply to Stanford: Don’t.

I love Stanford.  I had four great years there.  But I applied in a different era: pre-millenium.  The acceptance rate was 13%.  Now it’s 5%.  As my mom likes to point out, I was in that 8% that wouldn’t make it today.  She’s right.  (Love you, Mom!)

Hooked vs. Unhooked

Before you even think about applying to Stanford, you have to know what a hook is.  A hook is a quality colleges think makes you special.  (That is not the same as a quality that actually makes you special!)  Here are the common hooks:

• Legacy: one of your parents attended the school where you’re applying
• Recruited athlete: coach wants you on the team and will speak up for you
• Under-represented minority: you’re African American, Latino, or Native American
• Development candidate: your family has donated $$$ to the school
• Unique aptitude: you have already shown amazing talent or ability at the state / national level

If you’re like most applicants, however, you’re well-rounded, smart, and dedicated, but you don’t have a hook.  That’s the student I was, too.  I had lots of AP and honors classes and nearly a 4.0.  I had a 720 Math and 800 on Critical Reading.  I ran cross country and played soccer.  I volunteered at a hospital and at church.  Sound familiar?  Being a well-rounded smart kid might have been enough to get into Stanford back in 1997, but it’s rarely enough anymore.

1 in 35 (aka The Long Odds)

How rarely is it enough?  Let’s run through some numbers.  Let’s say Stanford gets 40,000 applicants and accepts 2,000.  Let’s say 1,000 of the accepted students -- 50% -- have a “hook.”

Here’s why I think 50% is a reasonable guess.  At Harvard, 12% of incoming students are legacies (See Freshman Survey Part I), and 11% are recruited athletes (See Freshman Survey Part II).  Also, 11% are African American, and 12% are Latino (See Freshman Survey Part I).  That gets us to about 46% of the class.  Though there is some double-counting of students with multiple hooks (for example, a student who is both a legacy and recruited athlete), once you allow for all the other kids with “unique aptitude” hooks, it’s not far-fetched to say that 50% of admitted students have hooks.  I doubt it’s a stretch to say that the profiles of admitted students at Stanford mirror those of students at Harvard.

But what does it matter if 50% of applicants have hooks?  Let’s say the acceptance rate for these hooked applicants is 20%. Yes, I am just guessing, but the admission rate for legacies at some elite schools has been clocked at 30%, so 20% seems like a conservative number to use (See Legacy Kids Have an Admission Advantage).

If we assume a 20% acceptance rate for hooked applicants, that means there are 5,000 of these hooked applicants in the pool.  With 40,000 total applicants, that means there are 35,000 unhooked applicants in a pool.  My superb subtraction skills tell me that if there are 2,000 total acceptances and if 1,000 of those go to kids with hooks, that leaves 1,000 slots for kids without hooks.  That’s 1,000 slots for 35,000 unhooked kids.  Hmm.  1,000 out of 35,000.

Let me put this another way.  If you don’t have a hook, the odds of getting into Stanford are 34:1.  In other words, if you don’t have a hook, your odds of getting in are about the same as rolling a pair of dice and coming up with double sixes.  Not impossible, but not encouraging.

3 Suggestions

I’m not trying to be a killer of dreams.  But I want to challenge you to think carefully about where to apply.  The better information you have, the better decisions you can make.  Here are some suggestions I share with my ambitious students:

1. Don’t automatically apply to Stanford.  Being a great student from California is not a good enough reason to apply.  If you’re a great student with a hook, or at least a quirk that might capture an admission officer’s imagination, then please do apply.  But don’t do it just because that’s what smart kids from California supposedly do.
2. Apply to excellent alternatives.  If you’re a great student without a hook, consider great alternatives like Cornell, Berkeley, UCLA, USC, and Michigan.  These schools admit high-achieving, well-rounded students.  If I were applying today, I would probably be going to one of these schools.
3. Apply to Stanford after you finish your other applications.  Unlike the Harvard and Yale applications, the Stanford application takes a long time to do well because it requires so many extra essays.  But if you must apply, then wait to apply until you’ve completed applications to schools where you have a better chance.  That way, you definitely spend enough energy on realistic options.

If you don’t have a hook, be wise about how  you allocate your energy.  It’s not a given that you must apply Stanford. You only have so many arrows in your quiver.  Why not save more of them for targets that are in range?  If you don’t, you might go hungry.

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

Writing about Conflict: Lessons from Maslow

Wait, Who's Maslow?

All I know is what he's known for: the hierarchy of needs. The idea is that there are different categories of needs people have. These needs can be displayed in a gorgeous yet illegible rainbow pyramid (see above). The most basic needs for survival are at the bottom of the pyramid, and the needs for emotional well-being end up toward the top. From bottom to top, the categories of needs look something like this:

1. Physical. Food, water, sleep.
2. Safety. Security of body, health, and family.
3. Love. Friends, family, romance.
4. Esteem. Respect of self and others.
5. Self-Actualization. Living up to your potential.

And I Should Care Because...?

Suppose you have decided to write about conflict (because you know what the Wild Things know). Are all conflicts equal? How do you decide which one to choose? It occurred to me over the weekend that Maslow has suggested an answer: the closer to the bottom of the pyramid, the deeper the conflict.

Quick Brainstorming

Start at the bottom of the pyramid, with the physical needs, and work your way up through safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. See if any conflicts come to mind. As soon as you encounter a category where you experienced conflict, stop and think. That conflict could make a good essay topic.

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.