The Common App: An Adventure

“Insert telling anecdote here. Generalize events to demonstrate traits that colleges seek. Zoom back in to resolve the story and provide a clear, cleverly-worded morale.”

This is advice from a 22 page document I made entitled “The Common App: an Adventure.” However, this carefully calculated framework never yielded an essay worth sharing. Mostly, I just stared at a blank word document, proving definitively that college essays do not write themselves.

I understand that the purpose of a college essay is to describe yourself to the reader. But, none of the ideas I brainstormed seemed to capture me genuinely. Sure, it is true that I am quite possibly the only person alive with the name Bradley Posdal, but how does this communicate my individuality? And yes, I am my grandfather’s only heir to the Posdal surname, but why does this speak to my drive? The answer to the both is the same: I don’t know.

In the end, both of these could potentially have made for interesting topics. Not one of them, however, could capture for a complete stranger the essence of my personality in 650 words or less. So as the page remained blank, the truth of the matter became apparent: I’m not quite sure how to truly describe myself.

At that point in your life you are defined by the groups you are in, rather than your personality. I considered myself merely as an overlap of social categories, my characteristics resulting accordingly. I was Irish-Catholic. I was an only child. I was positive engineering was the career path for me. I judged others by their social groups, with only innocence precluding prejudice. My favorite song was “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones and I could explain each historical allusion ad noseum. My life was chronicled in black-and-white and I was the main