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

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

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)