How to make your college application memorable

RReaders in the Stanford admissions office we learned from presented their strongest files to committee weeks after reading them, and by then hundreds of applicants sat between the reader and any one file. A reader in season may get through dozens of files a day. To keep them straight, readers jotted a short label into their notes: the quarterback hand model philosopher, the astronomer who runs a five minute mile, the space-materials kid who skateboards and sings for children in a hospital. When their turn came to present, many led with it.

A file that never produced a label had a harder time in that room, and the reason has to do with what a label tells colleagues before a single grade is read.

Why a clear application theme helps a reader remember you

Opening with a nickname did two jobs. It told colleagues at once that this was a file the reader liked, since nobody bothers to name an applicant they feel lukewarm about. And it set the frame for everything that followed. A committee that hears "my syncopated scientist" before any grades has already been told what is distinctive about you.

Nobody bothers to name an applicant they feel lukewarm about.

What makes one form

A memorable label usually joins your academic center with something unexpected. One point of excellence alone produces a forgettable tag, the strong physics kid. One quirk alone produces a gimmick. The combination is what sticks: a serious interest in a field, plus an activity or habit that makes a reader smile. That is why a hobby with no connection to your major is worth keeping in the file. It is often the second half of the name.

You cannot choose the label, though you can make one easy to form. Keep your academic direction consistent across activities, essays and letters, so the first half is obvious. Let one or two vivid details recur lightly, so the second half has material. The label can be plain. A reader's shorthand for a strong file is often just a field and a surprise.

Coining your own, carefully

Occasionally a student names themself, usually in the last line of an essay. One applicant who wrote about how music and engineering fed each other closed by calling himself a syncopated scientist, and readers adopted it gladly. Most attempts sound like a slogan from a personal branding workshop, and a skeptical reader will hold that against you. Try it only if the phrase is exact and grows naturally out of what the essay has already shown. Otherwise leave the naming to the reader, and give them good material to name.