How to start a college essay: first sentence tips

RReaders in Stanford's admissions office decide within a line or two whether an essay deserves their full attention, and most applicants spend those lines clearing their throats. Hemingway described his cure for a stalled draft. When he caught himself writing elaborately, introducing or presenting something, he cut away the ornament and started with the first true, simple, declarative sentence he had written. It is the best advice there is for the opening of a college essay, and it is the advice most applicants ignore, because the first sentence feels like a place to ease in rather than the place where a tired reader decides how carefully to read the rest.