College Essay Reflections by Aaliyah Williams

I cannot describe a more tedious process than perfecting my college essay. I have somewhere between five and eight drafts of the same essay saved in Google Docs (labelled things like Draft(s) 1-5, Draft 1.1, Draft with ____ ‘s comments, Draft with _____’ s comments, and etc.), and five different people have seen and given feedback on different drafts, not including my mother or myself. My first draft was written in August of 2019, and it was honestly kind of gross. It read like a cringy YA novel written by a 14-year-old, which raised my total of unusable college essays up to five. 

College essays are the freaking worst for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it’s so hard to hit the gold mine of “just right.” You’re supposed to be confident, but never cocky; witty, but not snarky; sentimental, but under no circumstances sappy; and you should never explain anything, but show what you mean in your phrasing, diction choices, metaphors, and imagery. A narrative miracle is what you’re going for, and people that can write astounding essays like this can get into any school they please.

What I didn’t realize though about writing all these essays, and rewriting the same essay about the same memory, was that the process cemented a memory that could have easily faded away with time. I remember where my friends and I sat in the theater, I remember our crying and sniffling, I remember how we couldn’t really find the words to express how much we’d miss each other, and even remember the tacos I ordered at Barrio after the movie. Having this memory forever in writing is comforting, as I know how unreliable human memory really can be.

My essay ended up being just what it was supposed to be: not some kind of literary masterpiece like I’d dreamt of writing, not something that was a tear-jerker or even something especially memorable. It was, however, a thoughtful and concise narrative about one of my most notable memories that I’ve made with my friends, and writing about it over and over (and over and over and over) helped to solidify the memory forever. And if when I’m old and decrepit the memory begins to turn fuzzy, I can always go back to my essay and relive it.

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