Over the summer before my senior year of high school, I worked at a summer camp. It was an experience that I had been looking forward to since I applied in the winter. Since I had gone to this camp for seven years of my childhood, I was excited to help give kids the memorable experiences I had in my formative years. I would be away from my parents for a couple weeks and be around people my age, working all summer long doing activities I loved. In reflection, it was the best summer of my life. I didn’t think about school once while I was at camp; my biggest worry was which one of my friends would be driving us to dinner during our time off. I was initially only supposed to work four weeks, mid June to mid July, but then I worked until late July, and was debating about going back for two weeks in August because I loved it so much. When I was contemplating returning for two weeks in August, I thought of college application season, since applications opened in late August. I realized that I was in the home stretch of high school and needed to submit my college applications for my hard classes to be worth the stress. I needed to get recommendations, my class rank and GPA, functional and academic resume, my transcript, and of course, write my college essay. With all of this running through my head and stressing me out, I did what a responsible soon-to-be-high school-senior would do. I returned to camp for two weeks in August and had a great time.
When I came home, not only did I have to prepare for the first day of my senior year in five days, but I also needed to get in the school mindset and start working on college applications, which made me sick to my stomach. I soon regretted working all summer and hanging out with my friends. Even with her constant reminders about my college applications making my stress worse, my mom reminded me that I didn’t just sit at home doing nothing this summer. I did something worth writing about.
My College Essay:
“Wear sunscreen,” chorused through my ears as I sat on a dock watching a storm roll in, overlapping with the sunset. I listened to the song playing in the background while treasuring the beautiful moment of something dark and scary mixing with something bright making a confusing yet magnificent view. Tearing my eyes away from the view, I took a look at the young girls I am sitting around and smile to myself because, years ago, I was in their spot: twelve years old, in middle school, sad about leaving summer camp in the morning, reminiscing on a week full of adventures while listening to a song about sunscreen with advice that I didn’t fully understand.
Yet, there I was, years later on the same dock, playing the same song for them that my summer camp counselor played for me when I was a camper. Watching my young campers listen to a song about sunscreen packed with humor, practical wisdom and poignant reminders of life’s transient nature was an extremely transformative experience for me, as this moment made me realize how much I’ve grown out of the difficulties that I once found perpetual.
The girls cried as they listened to the reflective voice in the song, and, as it came to a close, I instructed my campers that we would go around in a circle and each say a line from the song that stuck out to them. As we went around, the twelve year old girls repeated the words of advice that I, at their age, felt comfort in.
One of my campers repeated “you are not as fat as you imagine.” Another said, “do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly,” then “sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind, the race is long and in the end, it’s only with yourself.” As we continued, others said similar quotes. After all the campers shared, they all began connecting over their shared difficulties: their worry for their algebra grade, the mean girls in their homeroom and the insecurities they face in the mirror. As I listened to their thoughts, I had a revelation: there were many quotes that the girls did not mention that were the first that I would have shared.
I realized that I, at my current age, face different difficulties than the twelve year old girls sitting around me because I have grown since I was in their position. I shared that I resonated with quotes like “don’t congratulate yourself too much, your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s,” “get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good,” and “keep your old love letters, throw away your bank statements.”
I explained to the girls that they will grow out of their current insecurities and difficulties. They will rely less on the supportive advice they repeated, and soon they’ll relate to other lyrics and find comfort in them.
As I reflected on the “Sunscreen Song,” it became clear that its importance lies in the timeless, oddly specific, universal pieces of advice about navigating the future, embracing uncertainty and cherishing the present. It was palpable that the girls found their troubles everlasting based on the emotion that spilled out of them while sharing with the group. As I was telling them that they would grow out of these difficulties, I realized that I wasn’t only helping them, but I was also helping myself heal from past worries by putting my growth into perspective.
Thinking back to the first line of advice, “wear sunscreen,” I considered how it symbolized the small actions we do to preserve our youth, appreciate our roots and realize our growth. As I glanced around at the girls still sitting in a circle looking out at the incoming storm and sunset, I noted that this was a small yet transformative moment of me “reapplying my sunscreen.”
Tips and Tricks:
- Find a passion: Everyone is passionate about something. I like music, art, reading, hanging out with friends, thrifting, etcetera, etcetera. These are important things to recognize about yourself, especially when writing a college essay. You may want to do a little bit of research or soul-searching, but try your best to make sure the passion you’d write about is unique and there’s a reason behind it. Since I am passionate about my summer camp job, I wrote about a memorable experience I had as a summer camp counselor for my essay.
- Find your voice: When writing about your passion, it needs to sound like you. When reading my passage above explaining the process of finding what to write my essay about and my overall essay, you should be able to hear a voice. Whether it’s my choice of words or the flow of my sentences, it doesn’t sound like ChatGPT. When finding your voice, you have to be authentic. This may be easier said than done, but when you get the hang of it, you should just be able to write with the flow of consciousness. To ensure you have a good, authentic voice to your essay, I would recommend reading it aloud once you are finished writing to proofread.
- Hook: The first sentence of your essay should make the reader ask questions and make them want to keep reading since you’re grabbing the reader’s attention with your first sentence. This is easier said than done, so I would advise to just start writing, go with the flow, and whenever you’re done, go back and do an introduction and hook. It should relate to your story, your lesson learned or key takeaway. Since my essay is about growing up, preserving your youth and taking care of your inner child, having my hook revolving around sunscreen is symbolic and catches the reader’s attention.
- Brush up on literary tools: When doing your hook, you can do it countless different ways. You can use a metaphor, imagery, an allusion, hyperbole, etcetera, etcetera. These are examples of literary tools and techniques, which are your biggest helpers. I included symbolic imagery when describing my first actions as sitting “on a dock watching a storm roll in, overlapping with the sunset. I listened to the song playing in the background while treasuring the beautiful moment of something dark and scary mixing with something bright making a confusing yet magnificent view.” I intended the setting to be symbolic for growing up and becoming an adult, which can be interpreted as “something dark and scary” being adulthood and “something bright” being innocence and childhood. My essay could’ve functioned without this symbolic message, but I personally believe it is better because of the addition. Brush up on things you’ve learned in your past English classes, believe me, they’ll help you with the overall impression of your essay.
- Show and Tell: When writing your essay, you need to show the reader, don’t tell them. This is where the literary tools and techniques come in. Paint the scene and make the reader feel something. However, you do want to tell them something along with showing them. Your essay should reveal something about yourself without saying it word for word. Write in a way that allows the reader to read between the lines and reveal a core value or characteristic about you. Without spelling it out, my essay tells the reader that I value my childhood, nostalgia and protecting my inner child by working at a summer camp.
- Find balance between storytelling and reflection: I would highly recommend story-telling or a play-by-play of a certain experience. When storytelling, your reader is better able to visualize you, your actions, your setting and you can even add an internal monologue, which is a plus. If you do go the story-telling route, make sure you have balance between the story and the reflection afterwards – I would recommend writing half your essay as a story and half as a reflection. I personally feel as though the reflection is more important than the depth of the story, so if you have a word count, prioritize a solid and in depth, personal reflection. I wrote about my cabin and I sitting on the dock for 375 words, while my reflection is the last 275 words.
- Don’t be a sob story: Finally, when choosing what story or experience to write about, there may be a couple that stick out to you, but I would advise against sob stories. I definitely could have written about personal and very poignant experiences, but I feel as though one that reveals character and core values is a better essay than a sob story. However, if you do write about something sad, it should have a good reflection, lesson you learned or epiphany attached to the story, which is what I tried to focus on in my essay. Your essay should be more focused on growth rather than the emotions you felt at the moment.
Prior to writing my personal statement essay, even as an underclassman, I had a couple ideas of what I wanted to write about, but nothing had that “wow” factor I wanted. Even though the essay I wrote may not have a “wow” factor, it was true to myself, which I believe is the most important piece of advice I could give. It was written on a personal level and putting a transformative experience into words is a great feeling. I wish good luck to any underclassman who is struggling or feels stuck on what to write their college essay about, and remember, wear your sunscreen.
