2.4 - HOW TO brainstorm A MONTAGE ESSAY

THE MONTAGE ESSAY

The “This is me” essay you read employs Montage Structure. If you answered “no” to either feeling like you have faced challenges or wanting to write about them, this structure will likely work well for you.

And by the way, isn’t it nice to know that you don’t have to have experienced extraordinary challenges to write a great college essay? (See essay below.) 

To learn how to develop the content for a montage, we’ll work through a simple but effective exercise.

There are virtually infinite things you could use as a theme to connect paragraphs in a montage.

But for now, we’re going to focus on just one, one that we’ve seen work hundreds of times for hundreds of students to create hundreds of unique essays.

In this section, we’ll talk you through steps for how to use some of your different roles and identities to build a montage essay outline. Then we’ll give you an example essay based on a sample outline.

If, after reading through these steps, you want to explore further ways you can build a montage by brainstorming other kinds of thematic threads, we’ll point you to additional exercises and a video walkthrough.

STEP 1: Roles/Identities

Remember that Roles and Identities Exercise you did a little while back?

Grab it. (Or if you skipped it, go back and work through it in this module.)

In addition, jot down some more “traditional” conceptions of identity around these kinds of things:

• Race  

• Ethnicity, heritage, culture  

• National origin; birthplace; places lived  

• First language, language use  

• Sex, gender, gender expression  

• Romantic/sexual orientation  

• Religion, spirituality, faith, ideology  

• Class, economic background  

• Ability/disability status (physical, developmental, etc.)  

• Family identity: roles, birth order, etc.  

• Physical appearance + body type  

• Abilities/Talents/Superpowers  

• Interests

Now, between the identities from the Roles/Identities Exercise and those above, pick 4-7 that feel most important to you and that you feel can best show a college the values, insights, qualities, interests, and skills you bring to that college. Note that some might pair well together, like they do below.

Here’s what that could look like:

• Community engager/Impacter

• Musician/Activist

• Indian/Ally

• Mental health advocate

STEP 2: Connect to different values.

Look back at your Values Exercise. Next to each identity, add one or two values that the identitie/s connect to, that are important to you, and that you want to demonstrate to a college.

Here’s what that could look like:

• Community engager/Impacter—Leadership; Community

• Musician/Activist—Art; Awareness

• Indian/Ally—Social change; Inclusion

• Mental health advocate—Compassion

STEP 3: Connect to different experiences/examples.

Think about a moment or experience that can potentially illustrate this role/identity + value to your reader.

Here’s what that could look like:

• Community engager/Impacter—Leadership; Community—involvement with Emerge California and leading Agents of Change and importance of grassroots movements

• Musician/Activist—Art; Awareness—protest music class, song about Syrian Refugee Crisis

• Indian/Ally—Social change; Inclusion—Telluride, songs about police brutality, experience as an Indian + responsibility to support others

• Mental health advocate—Compassion—“Amazing Grace” and school coming together

Those bullets are the outline for the body paragraphs of the montage. Each will use specific actions and details to demonstrate core values via the related roles/identities.

And here’s an example essay that kind of outline can lead to through drafting and revising:

“Angry brown girl, feminist, singer, meme-lover”

My Twitter bio reads: angry brown girl, feminist, singer, meme-lover. You will notice live-tweets of my feminist Pride and Prejudice thoughts, analyses of Hamilton’s power for musical representation, and political memes. Just as my posts bring together seemingly disparate topics, I believe there is a vibrancy that exists at the multidimensional place where my interests intersect.

Growing up as a debater and musician, it was easy to see the two as distinct entities where I had to make unequivocal choices. At the start of my junior year, I decided not to participate in the musical in order to work for Emerge California, an organization that helps Democratic women run for office. There I learned about data science, gender distributions in public office, and how to work with the evil printer. I also halted my voice and piano lessons to focus on building my student-led non-profit, Agents of Change. As someone who has diverted my energy into community activism, I can attest to the power of grassroots movements. It has been so rewarding to measure the impact that my team has had on my community. But even so, I felt that I was losing touch with the music that was such a profound part of me.

I found a new way of being when I started combining my artsy and political sides. I took an intensive class on protest music, where I learned how political movements have been shaped by the music of their time. While in the class, we were asked to compose our own songs. I am not a songwriter, but I am an activist, and I embraced the opportunity to turn music into an outlet for my political beliefs. As a first-generation American, I am dedicated to raising awareness about refugee rights and immigration. My songs about the Syrian Refugee Crisis let me find a way to bring the two sides of me together and gave me a rush that neither music nor politics by themselves would have provided.

This introduction led me to apply to the Telluride Association Protest Poetics program, where I dove deeper into my own identity. I wrote songs about police brutality and the ways that as a non-black person of color I am implicated in instances of subliminal racism. Over the course of the program, as I became more familiar with the visual, literary, and performance art we analyzed, I slowly started to realize that, though I confront colorism, jokes about Indian culture, and intra-community violence in some form every day, my proximity to whiteness still gives me immense amounts of privilege. I have come to know that this means I have a responsibility to both be at the forefront of movements, and conscious of not stepping over the voices of other intersectional identities. I hope that the music I choose to perform and the way I live my life can amplify, not overwrite, any of the struggles that others deal with daily.

Last year, I had another opportunity to use music to pay homage to an issue I care deeply about. In my South Asian community, mental health is an issue that is often papered over. When a member of my school community committed suicide, I was asked to sing “Amazing Grace” for the school to both unify and honor the student. Though I thought that I had really understood the power of music, holding that space for my entire school had a profound resonance that I still don’t fully understand.

My voice is an instrument for change—whether it be through me raising my hand to contribute to a discussion in a classroom, speaking out against gun violence at a rally, or singing at an event of solidarity. I know that someday my voice, in conjunction with many other unique voices and perspectives, will make a difference.

_ _ _

Notice that this essay does its job (showing her core values, insights, qualities, skills, and interests) really well, and essentially all it’s doing is just illustrating those values, insights, etc. through different roles/identities, with each body paragraph demonstrating those roles/identities through specific actions and experiences.

Additional montage brainstorming 

If you want to explore more ways to play with montage, here’s another exercise (not focused on identity) that you can use to explore a wide range of possible montage threads.

The 5 Things Approach

STEP 1: Pick five linked things in your life.

By “linked,” I mean five things that have a thematic connection—maybe five pairs of shoes that connect to different experiences that demonstrate your values and aspects of who you are. Or five mountain peaks. Five families you’ve learned from. Five photographs you took. Five decisions you’ve made. Five things you’ve collected. Five entries in your Happiness Spreadsheet. (One way to start is to spend a few minutes playing with the Essence Objects Exercise.)

STEP 2: Outline how each of the five could connect to different experiences that show different values.

For example, maybe there are five different places or experiences that feel like “Home” to you. Connect each home to different values from your Values Exercise. Maybe one home links to experiences that connect to culture and meticulousness, another connects to science and curiosity, another connects to personal growth...

And to clarify, you may not end up with all five things in your final draft. Or conversely, maybe you end up with more than five (like eight laptop stickers). But for now, aim for five, and do some exploring.

(Note: If you want to see more essays threaded together this way, see the 5 Things Exercise.)

Looking for more personal statement ideas? 

Check out this video: How to Brainstorm 7 Different Personal Statement Ideas

TIPS FOR FINDING A GOOD THEMATIC THREAD

1. Visual threads are easier to write. Storytelling is a visual medium. Use a lens that will help conjure images in the reader’s mind. I’ve had too many students try to write “soundtrack” or “mix-tape” essays in which their favorite songs provide the soundtrack for their lives. The problem with writing this type of essay, however, is that the reader can’t hear the music (and often doesn’t know or have the same emotional connection to the songs referenced). So you can use more abstract things (like Waves, or Home), but those will often take more time to write well.

2. Write what you know. Know how to cook? Use food. Play chess? Use that! Use your Essence Objects list as a starting point for ideas. 

3. Look for thematic threads that are “elastic”—that allow you to connect a bunch of sides of yourself. Use a metaphor, in other words, that will allow you to discuss several different aspects of who you are.