For the past few years, Stanford has asked applicants to answer the question, “What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?” in 50 words or less. Other schools ask similar questions that prompt applicants to place a stake in the ground by identifying something they care about and making a concise case for why it matters globally. The University of Richmond, for example, asks, “What is an urgent global challenge or social justice topic about which you are passionate? What solutions or outcomes do you hope to see?” These types of questions seem perfectly set up for a Coronavirus/COVID-19-themed answer.
Students who write about the Coronavirus will sound smart and informed, right? Wrong. Let us tell you why.
Every single year we have to beg our clients to stop writing about climate change unless they a) are pursuing a related field or b) live in an area that is currently visibly and drastically impacted by climate change. There are a few other exceptions, but those are the two big ones. Unless you meet exception A, exception B, or both, there is a 99.9% chance that we will be against you telling Stanford that climate change is the most significant challenge that society faces today.
The reason why we are so adamantly against that answer is two-fold. First, it is unspecific to their unique circumstances. “Climate change” is a vast topic that wraps together thousands of lower-profile challenges. The more specific your answer can be, the better. If an aspiring biologist in Louisiana wants to write about climate change, we direct them to explore something like changes in the salinity of the tidal areas of the Gulf Coast and the cascading impacts on the diverse biota of the region. Yes, that is a mouthful, but it’s also a way more exciting topic to zoom in on and says so much more about the applicant than just writing about climate change. So be specific. Always.
Secondly, it is far, far, far too common. Sometimes it feels like students think that they are the only person applying to college in a given year. While it is never good to dwell too long on what other people are doing, it is essential to remember that you are one of more than 3.5 million students who are graduating from high school in your graduation year. Of those students, over two million will start college the following fall. Every one of those students had to apply. Your work isn’t being read against all two million. Still, it is being measured up alongside applicants who also think they are clever and smart and creative, many of whom will have also told Stanford that climate change is the biggest challenge facing society today.
For the 2020-2021 college application season, we expect to see a massive number of students writing about the coronavirus in every way possible. Essays, supplements, and everything else will be tinted with COVID-19. Unfortunately, this will lead to content about the Coronavirus becoming stale in the same way, and for the same reasons, climate change content does.
Another type of question that may prompt a coronavirus response are questions that ask the applicant to share a challenge they have faced personally.
For example, the University of California application asks students to “Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?” MIT asks, “Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?”
Just as many students are going to fall into the trap of thinking that describing an experience is the same as writing an essay, many others are going to try to write about how surviving Coronavirus was their greatest challenge.
Perhaps you will have had a uniquely challenging experience. Maybe you have lost someone close to you, and we are not diminishing the real struggles that many people around the world are facing right now. However, thousands of students will write about Coronavirus generally, rather than elucidating something less universal in their lived experience, and so will end up with supplements that are cookie-cutter, common, and repetitive for application readers.
Across the board, we’re already suggesting that our students not write any supplements about the coronavirus. Unlike for the Common App essay, the applicant doesn’t get to frame the question. You can’t write whatever you want. You have to respond to what they’ve asked. This can lead to the formulaic and repetitive answers that you should be striving to avoid.
If you’re looking to stand out, send us an email. We specialize in helping students differentiate themselves from the pack.