two student reading outdoors and wearing protective masks

 

If You’re Wondering Where to Write About Your Covid-19 Experience, Here’s What We Suggest

Don’t Use Your Personal Statement 

two students walking out of doorway and wearing protective masksWe’re sure you have plenty to say about your experiences during the pandemic, and you will have a chance to write about them…..just not in your Personal Statement.

Your life before Covid-19 might be a hazy recollection. That said, you did spend more than 15 years before the pandemic immersing yourself in important activities and developing your passions. So, the top priority in your essay is to focus on those- your experiences before the coronavirus crisis.

You’ll still have a chance to address your journey during the pandemic because the Common App now has added an optional Covid-19 essay prompt. Use that prompt to discuss how the pandemic changed you.

Do Use the Covid-19 Essay Prompt to Write About Your Covid-19 Experience

The 2020-2021 Common Application writers added the following essay option to the additional information section:

This is the Student Applicant Prompt:

“Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. (250 words)”

In essence, this prompt is asking about any personal and academic difficulties you faced during the pandemic.

Explain your circumstances while going to school online.

If you or a family member contracted Covid-19, then you should explain how that impacted your academics, if applicable. If your home was full of family members attending work and school virtually, give specific examples of how the disruptive environment affected your performance. Lack of computers, technology, or internet services should also be detailed here. Moreover, if you acquired additional responsibilities such as tutoring siblings, caring for family members, or working, it is important to share that information.

Keep the overall tone of the essay positive.

All students were affected by the pandemic. While this essay can be used to explain how it impacted a grade, the inability to take the SAT or ACT, or other lost opportunities, remember to keep the tone positive versus complaining. You don’t want to use this space to write about how you couldn’t eat out or socialize normally, as those experiences were not unique to you.

Avoid generalizations and use details to tell YOUR OWN story.

This essay is about You. It is essential to write about how you were personally impacted. How did Covid-19 change your life? What did you learn about yourself during this challenging time? What were the adversities you faced? What new skills did you attain because of your difficulties? Did you discover any silver linings?

It’s important to incorporate specific examples of what happened.

For example, depending on your circumstances, you may have had a family member who was hospitalized. Perhaps you needed to care for siblings during that time. Your family bonds may have strengthened or been tested. What lessons did you learn?

Or maybe it was difficult for you to grasp the material in one of your courses, and it became clear to you that you learn best through personal interaction rather than textbook reading.

If one of your parents lost their job, you could write about how you have first-hand experience on the financial implications of Covid, and how you specifically helped your family adapt. You may also better understand the economic impacts of the pandemic across the country. Use this essay to share your insight into unemployment and job searches during this time because of your personal experience.

To summarize, here’s how you should divide your focus on your application:

Personal statement = Write about yourself.

Covid-19 essay = Write about you in the context of the crisis.

Covid-19 Essay for School Counselors

Students aren’t the only ones who will get to submit an additional statement regarding the impact of the coronavirus. Your school counselors will also get a chance to submit a 500-word essay.

You need to know what kinds of information your counselors will include, so you make sure not to repeat it.

This is The School Counselor Prompt:

“Your school may have made adjustments due to community disruptions such as COVID–19 or natural disasters. If you have not already addressed those changes in your uploaded school profile or elsewhere, you can elaborate here. Colleges are especially interested in understanding changes to:

  • Grading scales and policies
  • Graduation requirements
  • Instructional methods
  • Schedules and course offerings
  • Testing requirements
  • Your academic calendar
  • Other extenuating circumstances

The counselor’s response will populate all the applications of students from the high school. They will cover any school or district policies that have impacted students, so you do not need to take space to include that information. No specific student details will be included.

Students can ask to see a copy of this statement to know what information has already been shared with colleges. For example, if the school states that classes went virtual starting in March 2020, you don’t need to repeat that in your Covid-19 essay.

Putting it all together

As with any college application essay, the Covid-19 prompt is an opportunity to let the reader into your world.

  • Your job is to be accurate and clear about how the Covid-19 pandemic affected your academic experiences.
  • Discuss how you were affected.
  • Demonstrate how you adapted.

How Can You Stand Out?

girl pondering schoolwork sitting on floorGiven 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

dictionary reference book learning meaningThere’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!