#appspo

Are we talking Common App essay? Ignore the pattern. The pattern is what’ll get you rejected. Transitions like that get your application sent straight to the nothing-special-about-this-one pile unless your parents founded something important and you cured Alzheimer’s when you were three. 

Instead of trying to transition from an anecdote to a bigger picture something or other, tell a story, and infuse your narrative with an awareness of its greater role in your life. But whatever you do, don’t think of your essay in chunks. You are not chunks. You have a personality that shapes and is shaped by the events that occur in your life. Why would you try to distinguish the two when they’re so inextricably intertwined? 

 Hi all, here’s a list of different supplies that I have thoroughly enjoyed. If any of you guys are looking for recommendations (as an early back-to-school post), here’s one:

highlighter

Sharpie highlighters (capped / retractable)

I tried the gel variation, but honestly they are not my favorite. They have a tendency to transfer to the page touching the gel highlighted areas and can get messy very easily.

Zebra Mildliners 

This is one of those luxury items; whereas it’s nice to have them and I do love mine, they aren’t a necessity.

pen case

Kipling 100 pens case

Again, this is a luxury that I enjoy but I cannot justify paying full price (the color I selected was cheaper at the time). Wait for a sale or buy a duplicate (like this one!)

pens

Gelly Roll Stardust

These are great for writing titles or headers!

Stabilo set of 20

I prefer my Staedtler over these, BUT the case for this is so much better, and these are slightly cheaper.

Staedtler fineliners (20 colors / 36 colors)

Signo 0.38

MUJI 0.38 (black / 10 colors)

pencils

Paper Mate Clearpoint

Paper Mate Sharpwriter

planner

Molang diaries (did a whole review here!)

Printable planners if you’re more into that

playlists

My SoundCloud

My Spotify

Spotify’s intense studying playlist

Hey guys ! I thought it’d be interesting to get a thing going around tumblr where we share our recent studies (in class or independent) and specify the last topic/text you covered in the class. I’ll begin.

Its soooo hard to study after working.

with strawberry meringue cookies and greentea scoop cookie 🤭❤️

Not sure which post you’re referring to, sorry! Any chance you could send me a link?

I’m guessing you’re referring to “waxing” as in “waxing poetic” or “waxing philosophical”? In college essays it’s super easy to do either, so forgive me if I’m wrong :’)

“Waxing” means getting progressively more and more something. So in the case of “waxing poetic,” it means your writing is getting more and more poetic as the piece progresses, and in the case of “waxing philosophical,” it means your writing is getting more and more philosophical. This alone can be totally fine, but the trap that many college applicants fall into is thinking that flowery language and/or large-scale conjectures will make them seem more impressive.

Consider the well-worn “I experienced a new culture and am now a Changed Person™” essay. First of all, don’t write this. It’s overdone and hard to do well. But for the sake of this post, let’s say you’re writing an essay like this. What I’ve seen time and time again in this type of essay is a combination of the following: 1) the author waxes poetic as they describe details of a foreign culture, and 2) the author waxes philosophical about the importance of understanding other cultures and having a broader worldview and concludes the essay with what they believe to be some profound moral. 

Now, it’s totally fine to appreciate another culture, and it’s great if your experience with another culture helped you grow as a person, but this isn’t the way to write about it. Waxing poetic in this context introduces an atmosphere of perceived exoticism; waxing philosophical pushes the essay away from personal experience and almost always comes off as pretentious and/or naive. Neither  But let’s say you’re genuinely passionate about your time and work abroad, and you think it shaped some part of who you are today. How do you handle that?

Instead of waxing philosophical, you have two options: either stick to your own personal experiences completely, or include philosophical elements within the context of your own narrative. Basically, talk about your thoughts with the acknowledgment that they are your thoughts rather than absolute truths. 

Consider:

“We need to be tolerant of cultures that differ from our own if we ever hope to achieve a sustainable global political environment.” (waxing)

vs

“So I confronted my bias. I looked myself in the mirror and said ‘hey, maybe you’re part of the problem.’” (personal experiences)

or

“I’m curious, now, about the role of cross-cultural misinformation in larger-scale political issues. How do misunderstandings like my own play out across communities, across continents?” (personal thoughts)

An admissions officer wants to know about you. This is no secret. They don’t want to learn about How To Achieve World Peace when they’re reading your essay; they want to learn why you deserve an acceptance letter. Pretty much the only reason people make generic, sweeping claims like the first example above (aside from having less access to quality college counseling!) is that they think they’re saying something profound. Maybe you do have something profound to say. But the admissions officer doesn’t care right now, and so the personal essay is not the place to do so.

TL;DR you can avoid sounding preachy or pretentious by talking about yourself rather than making sweeping statements.

Waxing poetic is less of a problem as long as you do it appropriately. Avoid excessive flowery language - more words doesn’t necessarily mean better writing - and be aware of how your use of a more poetic style in certain parts of the piece impacts how it comes across. Hint: read your writing aloud to yourself. This helps a bunch with cutting down the excessively flowery language and is even something professional writers do to work out problem spots in their pieces.