How Can You Stand Out?
Given the thousands upon thousands of essays read by admissions officers, it’s no secret that you should try to stand out as much as possible. But with so many applicants and so few essays—that’s a lot easier said than done.
You may have learned several writing strategies from your English teachers over the years, including similes, anecdotes, alliteration, and even onamonapia. But there’s a writing strategy that’s often underutilized in college essay writing. That’s dialogue.
Use Dialogue in Your Essays to Make Them More Engaging
Incorporating dialogue is a fresh and creative way to bring your paragraphs to life as you tell the story of You. Whether you’re retelling a story or recapping an interaction, bringing dialogue into your essays will add to an exciting sense of “being dropped into a story” for your reader. Dialogue not only spices up your writing, but places the reader in medias res, or into the midst of things, making your essay more engaging.
Dialogue also enables the reader to see into your world. Personalization gets two thumbs up!
How Is It Done and Where Should You Do It?
We’ve established that dialogue adds excitement and personalizes your essays, but how do you actually implement it?
We’ve seen quotes and conversations employed successfully in many different parts of the application including:
- Common Application essays
- “Why Here” essays
- Waitlist letters
Let’s look at some examples.
Using Dialogue in a Research Essay
Consider the effectiveness of quoting your tour guide in a research essay.
Here’s an example:
“…As much as the dual major program excited me, one of the most memorable parts of the tour came during a drop in at the Wilson Library study annex. My tour guide, Max, pointed to one corner, “That’s where I spilled orange soda on three people my freshman year,” he said, laughing. But don’t worry,” he added with a smile, “they later became some of my closest friends.”
This vivid memory can say a lot about the applicant. For one, the fact that the writer cherishes this memory makes evident their deep engagement and interest in the campus tour and the school itself. Also, this applicant’s respect for the tour guide’s good-naturedness implies that they, too, would be a good fit for the student body. Not to mention, the present-tense dialogue makes the text much more interesting to read!
Using Dialogue as an Essay Hook
Sometimes, dialogue can be most exciting when used as a hook or opener for your essay because it immediately piques the reader’s interest.
Consider an opener to a Common App essay.
Here’s an example:
“AARRRGHH!” is the exact last sound to leave my mouth before the boom sweeps across the sailboat and sends me sprawling into the waves.”
Using a sound effect to start an essay makes this story much more compelling than the alternative: I was sailing out at sea in July… Including dialogue at the beginning of your essay grabs the reader’s attention. Whether it’s sound effects, sentences, or conversations–this technique is effective.
Using Dialogue from the Media
The first two examples use dialogue from first-hand experiences. However, you can also integrate quotes from a blog, book, or movie relevant to your essay topic.
For example, many colleges offer student-written blogs about personal experiences they’ve had at their university. Reading such blogs is always a good idea to connect with a school. But, you can also take it one step further by interweaving snippet quotes from student posts into your essay. (Just make sure to give credit to the student author).
Consider this example:
In her blog post, “Things I Learned from My Semester Abroad,” junior Claire Daniels highlights her intra-European travels as well as “eye-opening flavor adventures” from restaurants in her new overseas neighborhood.”
As we’ve mentioned, using dialogue breaks up the monotony of essay-reading by adding detail and excitement. Also, this applicant demonstrates engagement and earnestness because he/she read student blogs and referenced key details. After using these snippets, it is natural for the writer to expand on why the Study Abroad Program at this specific school excites them.
Some Cautionary Tips for Using Dialogue
There’s no doubt that dialogue can be a fun, unique, and expressive enhancement in your college admissions essays. There are some things you’ll need to be cautious about.
Appropriate Artistic License
While dialogue is an exciting tool, you don’t want to use it in bad faith. In other words, there is a difference between taking a bit of appropriate artistic license in your storytelling and completely misrepresenting your speech or intentions.
Here are some things to check yourself on:
- Always write with sincerity and authenticity
- Always be honest
- Always ensure your quotes are accurate and from the original source
- Never misquote a person or a piece of published material
- Always make sure to give proper credit to the author or creator
All in, we’ve seen that dialogue can be an effective essay-writing tool in more ways than one:
- It brings excitement and action to your storytelling
- It breaks up the monotony of standard sentences and paragraphs, thus keeping your essay intriguing for tired admissions officers
- It can prove your dedication to a given school
- It can humanize and personalize you–enabling admissions to see you as a good fit for their institution
As you start your college applications, we recommend that you give dialogue a try in different essays. Although it may feel strenuous at first, practice makes perfect. And we’re here at WisePath to help you along your way!
