How to find the main point of your college essay

RReaders in Stanford's admissions office judge a personal essay by its point, the few words a reader can carry into committee, and most applicants build that point around a virtue. Ask a family what the essay should prove and the answer is almost always empathy or resilience, delivered through a hardship and a lesson. One reader in that office had a favorite admit essay that delivered something else. The student was taking music theory and could not hear the intervals her class kept asking for, and weeks of drilling got her nowhere. The breakthrough came somewhere absurd: the plumbing in her bathroom hummed a B flat, and she recognized it.

That was most of the essay, and the reader summed up its point in three words. They were not empathetic, resilient or kind, and the reason those words lose is the reason so many polished essays leave no mark.