Writing a Reflective Essay: A Framework of What, How, Why in your College Essay

For me, the journey of writing a college essay consists of two main phases: one, ‘thinking’ about writing the essay, and two, writing the essay itself. The first phase, the thinking, may begin much earlier than the writing–in some cases, a few months or even years before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Many don’t give enough credit to that first phase, but it’s important to consider how and where to lay that foundation of thoughts.

If you’re reading this, you are probably in one of two categories: either you have to start writing your college essay soon, or you might already be doing so. Take a second and think back to the first time you learned that you must write a college essay. Maybe a parent or friend mentioned it, or perhaps you learned about it at school. You know the essay is about you, your journey, your growth. It’s your chance to show admissions officers who you really are.

Perhaps, since this revelation, the thoughts began–potential ideas that bounced around within the walls of your brain. Some ideas you may have liked, some you may have dismissed. ‘This would actually be cool to write about,’ you may have thought to yourself. Consciously or unconsciously, you’re already gathering the bricks for your essay. Months later, when you sit down for the first draft, these same unfiltered thoughts might resurface. It’ll be like starting to write with the foundation laid and the walls ready to rise – a much smoother process.

These moments of undirected brainstorming are great for an initial spark of inspiration. However, something that could make this thinking process even more fruitful is to consider the ‘kind’ of college essay an idea would lead to. 

There are seven Common App essay prompts, each allowing you to emphasize a slightly different aspect of your life. At the heart of it, the Common App is a personal narrative. It may seem, at first, a story about your life, like an anecdote. However, the important thing that differentiates a personal narrative from a story is reflection. A story is simply a set of events. A personal narrative includes reflection, allowing the reader to understand you and the admission officers to understand you as an applicant.

Reflection can be complex to understand at first. It’s easier to identify something important to you and your life, but understanding why is a deeper journey and a longer process. Writing about it can be even more challenging. What I like to do is break this process down and categorize your potential idea and its stage into one of three types: a what, how, or why.

What: A ‘what’ idea would be about a particular event, achievement, moment, person, or place; something that tells you that if you write about this, you would be writing about an important part of yourself. Writing about this ‘thing’ would tell the admissions officers about you. This does not necessarily have to be a tangible thing: perhaps a place that means to you very much, or a language, a personal article, or a sports match. 

How: Is your idea more about the process rather than the event or thing itself? A ‘how’ idea would be exactly this: how is this event connected to you? How does it make you feel? More importantly, how did it help me grow, and what did that process look like?

Why: And finally, a ‘why’ idea, and perhaps the hardest of them to figure out. Why this specific idea? Why is it important to you?

Next time you think of a college essay topic, try to think about the reason this particular idea popped into your head. At first, It may be easiest to clarify it as a ‘what’ idea: you could identify a certain event, a certain place, or an object that is important or significant to you and your life, your history. Try to think of this idea as a ‘how’ idea instead. How does it represent your journey? And finally, a ‘why’ idea: why is it important to you, and why does it compel you to write about it?

As you break your idea into smaller chunks and categorize them, you can also understand the underlying motivation. Use them as you begin your writing journey to understand where to drive emphasis. Do you want to emphasize the ‘what’ or the ‘how’ to show more of yourself in the essay?

A good essay may ideally, in the end, consist of a little of all three. It’s important to understand what you want to write about and why it is important for a college admissions team to know this to understand you as an applicant more.