3.1 - PICKING A TOPIC, OUTLINING, & WRITING A FIRST DRAFT

Picking a Topic

It’s time to pick something and start writing! Before we talk about how, a word to the wise: Your topic may change. That’s okay. In fact, it’s often a great thing—I’ve seen plenty of students spend time exploring one approach, then find another that allowed them to write a stronger personal statement. Ultimately, you won’t know if a topic works until you try it.

With that in mind, how do you pick? What makes a good topic?

I believe a Montage Essay (i.e., an essay NOT about challenges) is more likely to stand out if the topic or theme of the essay is:

X. Elastic (i.e., something you can connect to variety of examples, moments, or values)

Y. Uncommon (i.e., something other students probably aren’t writing about)

I believe that a Narrative essay is more likely to stand out if it contains: 

X. Difficult or compelling challenges

Y. Insight

These aren’t binary—rather, each exists on a spectrum.

“Elastic” will vary from person to person. I might be able to connect mountain climbing to family, history, literature, science, social justice, environmentalism, growth, insight … and someone else might not connect it to much of anything. Maybe trees?

“Uncommon”—every year, thousands of students write about mission trips, sports, or music. It’s not that you can’t write about these things, but it’s a lot harder to stand out. 

“Difficult or compelling challenges” can be put on a spectrum with things like getting a bad grade or not making a sports team on the weaker end and things like escaping war or living homeless for three years on the stronger side. While you can possibly write a strong essay about a weaker challenge, it’s really hard to do so.

“Insight” is the answer to the question “so what.” A great insight is likely to surprise the reader a bit, while a so-so insight likely won’t. (Insight is something that you’ll develop in an essay through the writing process, rather than something you’ll generally know ahead of time for a topic, but it’s useful to understand that some topics are probably easier to pull insights from than others.)

To clarify, you can still write a great montage with a very common topic, or a narrative that offers so-so insights. But the degree of difficulty goes up. Probably way up.

So look back at the topics you’ve thought of so far through the brainstorming exercises. Where do you think they fall on the spectra above?

Outlining

Virtually every outstanding essay I’ve seen started as a strong outline. Luckily, the brainstorming exercises you’ve done set you up to build a good outline well.

For a Narrative, the different columns of your Feelings and Needs Exercise will become your outline.

For a Montage, the Roles/Identities exercise or the Five Things Exercise in module 2.4 can quickly become a good outline, setting up the values you’ll demonstrate through the different experiences linked by your thread.

To see what I mean by a “good” outline, check out these outlines for the “What Had to Be Done” and “Laptop Stickers” essays:

Narrative Outline (developed from the Feelings and Needs exercise)

Challenges:

• Domestic abuse

• Alcoholic stepdad

• Little brother Fernando's birth

• Learning I was undocumented

Effects:

• My brother and I shared the mental strain

• Father was arrested

• Money was tight

• Mom worked two jobs

• My brother and I took care of one another

• We kept to ourselves when dealing with financial and medical issues

• I avoided going on certain school trips

• At times I was discouraged from meeting new people

• My grades started to slip

What I Did About It:

• Took care of my youngest brother

• Became my own teacher

• Learned how to fix a bike, swim, socialize

• Found a job to help pay bills

• Improved my grades

• Shattered a school swimming record

• Taught myself how to play instruments

• Won the honor of being the first student in my school to pass the AP Physics 1 exam

• Took on several leadership roles in clubs

• Tutored and counseled friends and peers

What I learned:

• Inspired to help others a lot more

• Realized there's a lot more I want to do

• Want to continue supporting my family

• Need to feel free—not just for them, but for me too

Montage Outline:

Thread — Laptop Stickers

• We <3 data-preserve-html-node="true" Design → art, design, experimentation

  • Ex: spent weekend designing websites, graphics for my companies

  • Developed my own style

• Common Threads → authenticity, open-mindedness

  • Ex: street artists, musicians in Austin

  • Creating not just consuming culture

• Poop emoji → family, goofy side

  • Brother, interactions, thinking rationally

• Lol ur not Harry Styles → equality, activism, confidence

  • Various activism as motivation/reminder to act vs just internalize

  • My growth with acting/speaking up

• Catapult → entrepreneurship, social justice, awareness, meaningful work

  • Threaded Twine, women’s rights, breaking cycles 

  • Discovered my career

• Thank God it's Monday → enjoyable work

  • Importance of experience/framing

  • Want work to always be this way

• The Team → collaboration

  • Model G20 Econ Summit, group collaboration

• Kode with Klossy → community, social justice

  • Promoting women in underrepresented fields

With outlines like those, a first draft will be way easier (and take way less time and re-writing).

And here are the essays those outlines led to:

What Had to Be Done

At six years old, I stood locked away in the restroom. I held tightly to a tube of toothpaste because I’d been sent to brush my teeth to distract me from the commotion. Regardless, I knew what was happening: my dad was being put under arrest for domestic abuse. He’d hurt my mom physically and mentally, and my brother Jose and I had shared the mental strain. It’s what had to be done.

Living without a father meant money was tight, mom worked two jobs, and my brother and I took care of each other when she worked. For a brief period of time the quality of our lives slowly started to improve as our soon-to-be step-dad became an integral part of our family. He paid attention to the needs of my mom, my brother, and me. But our prosperity was short-lived as my step dad’s chronic alcoholism became more and more recurrent. When I was eight, my younger brother Fernando’s birth complicated things even further. As my step-dad slipped away, my mom continued working, and Fernando’s care was left to Jose and me. I cooked, Jose cleaned, I dressed Fernando, Jose put him to bed. We did what we had to do.

As undocumented immigrants and with little to no family around us, we had to rely on each other. Fearing that any disclosure of our status would risk deportation, we kept to ourselves when dealing with any financial and medical issues. I avoided going on certain school trips, and at times I was discouraged to even meet new people. I felt isolated and at times disillusioned; my grades started to slip.

Over time, however, I grew determined to improve the quality of life for my family and myself.

Without a father figure to teach me the things a father could, I became my own teacher. I learned how to fix a bike, how to swim, and even how to talk to girls. I became resourceful, fixing shoes with strips of duct tape, and I even found a job to help pay bills. I became as independent as I could to lessen the time and money mom had to spend raising me.

I also worked to apply myself constructively in other ways. I worked hard and took my grades from Bs and Cs to consecutive straight A’s. I shattered my school’s 1ooM breaststroke record, and learned how to play the clarinet, saxophone, and the oboe. Plus, I not only became the first student in my school to pass the AP Physics 1 exam, I’m currently pioneering my school’s first AP Physics 2 course ever.

These changes inspired me to help others. I became president of the California Scholarship Federation, providing students with information to prepare them for college, while creating opportunities for my peers to play a bigger part in our community. I began tutoring kids, teens, and adults on a variety of subjects ranging from basic English to home improvement and even Calculus. As the captain of the water polo and swim team I’ve led practices crafted to individually push my comrades to their limits, and I’ve counseled friends through circumstances similar to mine. I’ve done tons, and I can finally say I’m proud of that.

But I’m excited to say that there’s so much I have yet to do. I haven’t danced the tango, solved a Rubix Cube, explored how perpetual motion might fuel space exploration, or seen the World Trade Center. And I have yet to see the person that Fernando will become.

I’ll do as much as I can from now on. Not because I have to. Because I choose to.

(Word count: 606)

Laptop Stickers

My laptop is like a passport. It is plastered with stickers all over the outside, inside, and bottom. Each sticker is a stamp, representing a place I’ve been, a passion I’ve pursued, or community I’ve belonged to. These stickers make for an untraditional first impression at a meeting or presentation, but it’s one I’m proud of. Let me take you on a quick tour: 

“We <3 Design,” bottom left corner. Art has been a constant for me for as long as I can remember. Today my primary engagement with art is through design. I’ve spent entire weekends designing websites and social media graphics for my companies. Design means more to me than just branding and marketing; it gives me the opportunity to experiment with texture, perspective, and contrast, helping me refine my professional style.

“Common Threads,” bottom right corner. A rectangular black and red sticker displaying the theme of the 2017 TEDxYouth@Austin event. For years I’ve been interested in the street artists and musicians in downtown Austin who are so unapologetically themselves. As a result, I’ve become more open-minded and appreciative of unconventional lifestyles. TED gives me the opportunity to help other youth understand new perspectives, by exposing them to the diversity of Austin where culture is created, not just consumed.

Poop emoji, middle right. My 13-year-old brother often sends his messages with the poop emoji ‘echo effect,’ so whenever I open a new message from him, hundreds of poops elegantly cascade across my screen. He brings out my goofy side, but also helps me think rationally when I am overwhelmed. We don’t have the typical “I hate you, don’t talk to me” siblinghood (although occasionally it would be nice to get away from him); we’re each other’s best friends. Or at least he’s mine. 

“Lol ur not Harry Styles,” upper left corner. Bought in seventh grade and transferred from my old laptop, this sticker is torn but persevering with layers of tape. Despite conveying my fangirl-y infatuation with Harry Styles’ boyband, One Direction, for me Styles embodies an artist-activist who uses his privilege for the betterment of society. As a $42K donor to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, a hair donor to the Little Princess Trust, and promoter of LGBTQ+ equality, he has motivated me to be a more public activist instead of internalizing my beliefs.  

“Catapult,” middle right. This is the logo of a startup incubator where I launched my first company, Threading Twine. I learned that business can provide others access to fundamental human needs, such as economic empowerment of minorities and education. In my career, I hope to be a corporate advocate for the empowerment of women, creating large-scale impact and deconstructing institutional boundaries that obstruct women from working in high-level positions. Working as a women’s rights activist will allow me to engage in creating lasting movements for equality, rather than contributing to a cycle that elevates the stances of wealthy individuals. 

“Thank God it’s Monday,” sneakily nestled in the upper right corner. Although I attempt to love all my stickers equally (haha), this is one of my favorites. I always want my association with work to be positive. 

And there are many others, including the horizontal, yellow stripes of the Human Rights Campaign; “The Team,” a sticker from the Model G20 Economics Summit where I collaborated with youth from around the globe; and stickers from “Kode with Klossy,” a community of girls working to promote women’s involvement in underrepresented fields. 

When my computer dies (hopefully not for another few years), it will be like my passport expiring. It’ll be difficult leaving these moments and memories behind, but I probably won’t want these stickers in my 20s anyways (except Harry Styles, that’s never leaving). My next set of stickers will reveal my next set of aspirations. They hold the key to future paths I will navigate, knowledge I will gain, and connections I will make.

(Word count: 650)

Drafting

Once you’ve built an outline, you can dive in with drafting. In early drafts, don’t worry too much about word count or building a fancy opening—focus on content and structure. You’ll develop those other elements once you’ve got the latter two pretty solid.

Need to relax a bit to get calm and inspired first? Try the meditation exercise below.

Remember: you don’t have to get it perfect the first time. In fact, you won’t. You just have to begin.