The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

406: Why You Don’t Have to Write about Trauma in Your College Essay to Stand Out—and What You Can Do Instead w/ Tina Yong

Sep 15, 2023

In a thought-provoking discussion, TED speaker Tina Yong shares her insights on college essay narratives, emphasizing that students shouldn’t feel pressured to write about trauma to stand out. She reflects on the systemic issues around personal storytelling, especially for students of color. Yong highlights the importance of taking ownership of one's identity and offers practical exercises to help articulate personal narratives. The conversation also touches on the implications of recent Supreme Court rulings regarding race in college applications.

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ANECDOTE

Tina Yong's TED Talk Research

Tina Yong searched Ethan Sawyer's website for examples of counselors advising students to write about trauma.
She used this to highlight a pervasive expectation in college applications, not realizing Sawyer's other work discouraged this approach.

ADVICE

Reframing Essay Workshops

Start essay workshops by brainstorming diverse topic possibilities.
Then, address challenge-based stories, so students don't feel pressured to focus solely on challenges.

INSIGHT

Application Rejection vs. Personal Rejection

Students often over-identify with their essays, perceiving application rejection as personal rejection.
College decisions involve many factors beyond the essay, including institutional priorities.

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In this episode I sat down with TED speaker Tina Yong to talk about why students don’t have to write about trauma in a college essay to stand out—and what they can do instead.

We discussed, among other things:

Tina’s experience as an immigrant/racialized person feeling the pressure to turn her personal story into a personal statement with a linear, digestible plot—and how she realized how damaging this could be damaging to students of color
How Tina believes this is more a systemic issue
The recent Supreme Court ruling and how it can be okay to talk about race in the college application, with certain caveats
An example personal statement that mentions race but speaks specifically to qualities of character and unique abilities the author would bring to a college campus
Other ways students can share their identities in ways that allow them to take ownership of their story
Practical exercises students might use to talk about their different identities in their application—identities that include but aren’t limited to race
Supplemental essay prompts that ask specifically about challenges
Specific advice from Tina for students and for counselors

Play-by-Play

0:00 - Intro
3:45 - Who is Tina Yong?
4:04 - Ethan and Tina’s backstory
7:08 - ICYMI: recap of Tina’s TedX Talk about her experience as an immigrant applying to US universities
9:44 - What inspired Tina to speak on trauma in college essays?
11:11 - How and why Ethan changed his workshop approach
12:32 - What response did Tina get after her TED Talk? What was the impact?
14:29 - What has Tina learned since giving her TED Talk?
17:28 - How will applicants of colors be affected by the recent Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious admissions?
19:46 - Is it okay to discuss race in your application?
22:03 - Ethan & Tina read of a sample personal statement that discusses race
25:03 - Tina’s analysis
27:32 - Ethan’s analysis
30:04 - Three ways that students can share their identity in their personal statements—that don’t focus on a traumatic story with a happy ending
34:55 - How to avoid writing a “sob story”
35:45 - How to structure a challenges-based essay
36:34 - What are colleges looking for in a college essay?
38:15 - Practical brainstorming exercises for finding great personal statement topics
43:04 - Navigating supplemental essay prompts
47:31 - This isn’t the “Vulnerability Olympics”
51:36 - Counselor resources & takeaways
53:11 - Student resources & takeaways
55:47 - Book recommendations from Tina on psychology & trauma
57:21 - Closing thoughts

Resources:

Ethan’s edit to the"35+ Best College Essay Tips..."
Should You Write about Race in Your College Application—And, If So, How? (Blog)
How to Answer the “Diversity” (and Other Related) Supplemental Essay Prompt(s) (Blog)
Colleges and Universities that Changed Their Supplemental Essay Prompts After the SCOTUS Decision Was Released
Resource for counselors on How (and Why) to Uplevel Your School Profile (coming soon)
Why You Don’t Have to Write about Trauma in Your College Essay to Stand Out—and What You Can Do Instead (blog)