Walking out of school after the last final of my junior year, looking forward to three months of relaxation, I thought to myself, "That is it. Everything that's going to be put on my college applications is done. I've taken the classes, gotten the grades, and done the extracurriculars. Now, all I have to do is write it all down." Apparently my brain had already started its annual summer hibernation, because I was overlooking one of the most important (and most daunting) components of a college application: the essay.

Don't get me wrong, I love to write. However, the thought of having to convey my identity to an admissions officer in a 400-500 word piece truly frightened me. To help ease the mental pain, I sought the advice of my older brother. When he was applying to college two years ago, I watched him struggle to balance the enormous task of producing several essays with his schoolwork and activities. Not wanting to be overwhelmed with the same burden, I went on a crusade to try to finish as many as possible before school was back in session.

Frankly, I was clueless as to where to start. I knew the questions, but had no idea how to answer them. I started doing internet searches for application essay tips and advice, but I had little luck with the so-called "information superhighway", so I went to my local library and checked out a book called Best College Admissions Essays. Included in it were a how-to guide and a collection of 50 college essays that helped students get accepted at their top-choice institutions. The best piece of advice I took from the book was that I needed to take my time brainstorming ideas, and then expand on them to see how well they fit my personality. By skimming many of the 50 examples, I was able to get a feel for appealing writing styles.

All but one of the colleges that I'm applying want a 400-500 word essay on the topic of my choice, so I decided to tackle that composition first. Over a span of a few days, I had several "Eureka!" moments where what I thought would be the perfect topic popped into my head. Apparently, though, it took a while for my brain to recover from the premature end to its summer hibernation, because after thinking about most of my ideas, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to use them to paint a sufficient picture of my personality.

Following much deliberation, I settled on an idea that I had initially dismissed. A conversation that I had early in my sophomore year had a major impact on my outlook in life, but, at first, I felt that writing an essay about a simple discussion wasn't going to impress any admissions officer. Fortunately, during one of those rare moments where my mind was operating normally, I remembered that at all of the information sessions from my college visits this summer the same idea was reiterated: the topic of the essay doesn't matter as much as the character and the voice of it.

When it finally was time to start writing (thank God), I took myself back to the day of that tenth grade conversation, examined my feelings, and poured my heart into my words. My first draft was full of emotion but it lacked an adequate explanation of why the event was so significant in my development. After rewrite after rewrite after rewrite, I finally was satisfied that my essay combined an interesting (although maybe not THE most interesting) story from my past with a depiction of how the event changed who I am and who I will become, and that it truly captured the essence of my personality.