Real Stories from Students Who Made It Happen
Sunday night. Deadline's real now.
You've stared at that essay prompt for weeks. Read the first sentence over and over. Nothing clicks. Your brain spins in circles, and suddenly 650 words feels impossible.
The college essay keeps you up at night. You wonder if you sound smart enough. Will admissions officers care about your volunteer work at the animal shelter?
Students who got into top schools weren't superhuman geniuses. They struggled with the same blank page. Spent nights deleting paragraphs. Wondered if their topics were boring.
I got tired of reading "be authentic" everywhere. Those tips don't help when you're staring at a cursor. So I found someone who made it work.
She got into NYU's graduate program through trial and error. Figured out what worked by actually doing it, not following generic advice.
She'll share what actually worked. Not magic formulas or secret tricks. Just honest insights about finding your voice in a process that feels anything but authentic.
What Carrie Learned
Carrie lived through those same Sunday nights. She knows what it's like to delete the same paragraph five times. Here's what she figured out.
Which essay mattered most in your applications?
"The ones that actually show your personality. Admissions people want to know who you are – what gets you excited, how you've grown up. You're trying to make an impression among thousands of other candidates."
Did you focus more on your personal statement or supplemental essays?
"Personal statement, definitely."
How'd you pick your topics? Did you end up with what you started with?
"I made this huge list of stories that showed my best qualities. Then I tagged each one – leadership, perseverance, problem-solving, whatever. When I saw the college prompts, I could match stories to what each school wanted. Way easier than starting from scratch."
How many drafts did it take?
"Once I picked the story? At least four or five. Minimum."
How do you stand out from everyone else?
"Details. Your story might sound like someone else's, but how you tell it matters. Details make you human instead of just words on paper."
How'd you connect personal stuff to academic goals?
"Every trait can work academically. Love watching animals? That's attention to detail, patience, passion. Just connect the dots."
If you wrote about failure, what angle did you take?
"Show the solution you found or what it taught you. Yeah, you messed up, but prove you learned something."
What worked for 'Why this school' essays?
"Every college has a motto that tells you what they want. Check their social media too – see how current students describe the vibe."
Who looked at your essays?
"Counselors and college students. Fresh eyes help."
Any tricks for word limits?
"Write way over the limit first. Describe everything. Then get people to read it and see what stuck with them after. Cut the rest."
As a non-native speaker, what was toughest about writing in English?
"Trying to sound fancy, I guess? Making it prettier than it needed to be."
How'd you manage your timeline?
"Started when prompts dropped. Finished two weeks before deadlines. Give yourself wiggle room for those last-minute ideas."
Biggest regret?
"Should've written down stories and memories way earlier. Just bullet points, topics, whatever. Don't wait until the last months to brainstorm. Good ideas need time to develop."
What mistakes should high schoolers avoid?
"Don't make it boring or too academic. Nobody wants to read a research paper."
Any topics that feel too cliché?
"It's not what you write about – it's how you write it."
Are you living up to what you promised in your essays?
"I focused on who I was then, not making promises. Just convinced them to pick me based on that."
What would you change if you rewrote them now?
"Make them more interesting. More dynamic."
One thing you'd tell your high school self?
"Play harder senior year."