College essays are often the defining pieces in a student's application, and getting them right is no small feat. Harpal Kochar, founder of Success Koach, recently shared his concerns over the quality of students' essays and outlined how he and his team aim to refine the process. This blog dives into the challenges Success Koach students have faced with essays and the improvements being made to guide students toward storytelling that captivates admissions officers.
Enhancing the Essay Brainstorming Process
In previous years, Success Koach utilized the College Essay Guy's brainstorming framework to help students craft thoughtful and compelling essays. This year, the team decided to give students more freedom in selecting prompts and expressing themselves, particularly starting with UC application prompts. However, the more flexible approach has brought mixed results, as the less formal workshops and documents seem to have left students needing clearer direction in their storytelling.
To address this, the team suggests scaling back and incorporating an intermediate step. By encouraging students to create “experience dossiers,” Success Koach hopes to better structure the brainstorming phase. This dossier serves as a preliminary outline that will help students build stories that capture their unique attributes, strengths, and values.
Dossier-Based Storytelling and Self-Reflection
An essential part of the revised process is for students to create “dossiers” that emphasize storytelling and self-awareness. A recommended activity is for students to take the VIA survey to identify their top values. By understanding their core values and strengths, students can reflect more authentically on their experiences.
Kochar and his team guide students to write four- to five-sentence summaries on six to seven key topics in their dossier. These topics are designed to highlight aspects such as leadership, community impact, intellectual curiosity, and educational commitment—qualities that colleges value. This approach allows students to pinpoint the stories they want admissions officers to remember and, more importantly, helps students move away from copying commonly told stories.
Building a Solid Foundation: Story Creation and Review Process
Success Koach’s revised approach requires students and mentors to identify and finalize six to eight unique stories for applications. In Kochar’s experience, students who struggle with brainstorming often have limited stories to tell, leading to repetitive and uninspired essays. With the dossiers, students can choose from a broader range of stories, each carefully crafted to reflect personal growth and insight.
Harpal himself reviews the dossiers with students, providing guidance and feedback to ensure each story is distinct, authentic, and engaging.
Setting Milestones for the College Application Process
For Success Koach students, the college application process is broken down into clear milestones to keep them on track. Here’s a look at the timeline:
- June: Students brainstorm and create personal statements with their essay coaches.
- July: Students complete the Common App activities list, focusing on individuality and community impact.
- August: Personal essays and supplemental drafts for primary schools are finalized.
- September: Brainstorming and personal essay writing continue, with attention to Common App submissions.
This structured timeline ensures that students can prioritize their storytelling without last-minute rushing.
Strategies for UC Application Essays
For students applying to the University of California, Anu and Kochar highlight the importance of showcasing personal values and contributions. They encourage students to avoid mentioning specific UC campuses or professors in their essays. Instead, students are advised to convey a research-oriented mindset, emphasize community service, and highlight major choices and leadership skills.
Kochar advises students to focus on impact—how they’ve influenced others and how their chosen field ties into their future goals.
The SK Three-Step Approach to Successful UC PIQs
Success Koach’s three-step approach for UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQs) includes brainstorming, mapping, and evaluating essays. Anu and Kochar guide students in focusing on two key experiences that align with the UC PIQs, using the "iceberg test" to ensure depth in storytelling. The emphasis is on the “show, don’t tell” approach, prompting students to use specific details and reflections that convey personal growth.
Telling Stories That Matter
Through the revised process, Success Koach places a heavy emphasis on storytelling techniques to elevate college essays. Anu encourages students to map their essays, providing a start-to-finish account of one significant experience. This approach allows students to give admissions officers a sense of who they are, with each story illustrating a challenge, a strategy to overcome it, and the impact of the outcome.
Kochar emphasizes that a strong story is one that keeps readers engaged, much like taking them by the hand and walking them through the journey. Success Koach encourages students to include “nuggets” that allow the reader to experience the moment alongside them, creating an emotional connection.
Conclusion: A New Chapter in College Essay Success
Harpal Kochar and his team at Success Koach are dedicated to helping students navigate the complex world of college applications by improving their essay process. Through structured brainstorming, reflective exercises, and storytelling techniques, Success Koach is setting a new standard for how students approach their college essays. With a focus on authenticity, impact, and clarity, Kochar’s guidance aims to ensure each student’s unique voice shines through, one story at a time.