Wondering how to start a college application essay in a way that will immediately capture your reader’s attention? It’s best to go straight to the experts:
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
George Orwell, 1984
“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
As you can see, I’ve chosen to start this blog post with a few quotes of some of my favorite first sentences. What they have in common, very broadly, are two things that are also essential when beginning your college essay: they’re attention-grabbing, and they set up some kind of tension.
Grab the Admissions Officer’s Attention
First, I’m sure you’ve heard that you should “Grab your reader’s attention” or “Have a hook.” Good, because it’s sound advice. Admissions readers, especially at the highly-selective schools with a high volume of applications, spend roughly 10-15 minutes on each student’s application. That’s 10-15 minutes on everything: your transcript, your test scores, your letters of recommendation, your personal statement, and all of your supplemental essays. What this means is that it’s your responsibility to cut through the coffee high, cut through the monotony of reading hundreds of essays back to back, and cut through any expectations that the reader may have of you. Ask yourself: will my first sentence shock them? Confuse them? Surprise them? Intrigue them? There are many ways to grab your reader’s attention (as the example first sentences above hopefully show), but it’s on you to pick a strategy and execute it.
Establish Tension
Second, in an ideal world, your first sentence will also establish what I call “tension” – but you could also call it “setting up expectations.” This tension could be one of identity (like the David Copperfield example) or a tension inherent to the world you’re writing about (like in 1984) or a tension related to a relationship you’re about to describe (as in Anna Karenina). There is a multitude of other “tensions” you can create – tensions that span the whole scope of human experience! But for the purposes of a college application essay, in which you only have 650 words to work with, setting up this tension, either in the first sentence or in the first paragraph, is essential to keeping your reader on the edge of their seat.
Answer the “So What?” Early On
Finally, not only does tension act as a magnetic force keeping your reader’s eyes glued to the page, it also accomplishes a secondary goal of the personal statement: answering the “So what?” question that colleges want answered about each application essay. It’s not enough to say “I worked hard and succeeded” – admissions readers will want to know: Why? How? What does this say about your character and value system? So by setting up this tension at the beginning of your college essay, you are already well on your way to answering the “So what?” question as well. Two birds, one stone.