· In , Brittany Stinson’s Costco essay, went viral after she was accepted into five Ivy League colleges—Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell—along with Stanford and several other highly selective schools Statement Guru | Brittany Stinson’s Costco Essay Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning · Meet Brittany Stinson, an year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, who just last week found out she got into Yale, Columbia, University of
Statement Guru | Brittany Stinson’s Costco Essay
Admissions and test prep resources to help you get into your dream schools. the costco essay demonstrates how any topic brittany stinson essay bE used to write a compelling personal statement.
And the Common App Essay prompts are broad enough that your child can write about any topic. But here, we want to discuss one unique way to tackle the Common App Essay. Because as one high school applicant proved, a successful essay can also be about something as simple as their love for Costco. Our students have been accepted into their dream schools by writing about everything from their love of the New England Patriots to grilling meats, and we consider each of those topics their own Costco essay.
Show how your child can apply lessons from the Costco essay to their own essay. Explore how the Costco essay may not be a good model for your child. Thank you! Your guide is on its way. In the meantime, brittany stinson essay, please let us know how we can help you crack the the college admissions code, brittany stinson essay. You can also learn more about our 1-on-1 college admissions support here.
You might assume that this would be a mundane subject. So why choose this topic? How did it work for Stinson? Stinson has explained that she zeroed in on Costco as one of her potential Common Brittany stinson essay Essay topics because of the running joke between her and her friends that she spent so much time at Costco that she practically lived there. While shopping at Costco might not be a suitable topic for everyone, it was the perfect choice for Stinson because she found those experiences personally significant.
She mentions many other interests, including scientific research, cross country, and dance—all of these could have made brittany stinson essay a more typical college essay. But Costco is an unexpected and humble route into those topics. While Stinson uses her essay to show off her intellectual curiosity brittany stinson essay her writing ability, it is not centered around an event or experience that showcases how brilliant or accomplished she is.
Instead, she simply wrote about something she genuinely loved to do, without worrying about the prestige of it.
Out of this authentic interest, Stinson managed to perform one of the great potential brittany stinson essay of personal essay writing—transforming what could be a broad, universal topic into a narrative that is specific to her own life.
Particularly if your child enjoys the humanities, you might encourage them to read great personal essays by writers like Joan Didion, Anne Fadiman, David Foster Wallace, or James Baldwin or essays published in outlets like The New Yorker or The New York Timesrather than browsing the many Common App essays posted online. These authors will inspire your high schooler to dig deeper and avoid sounding cliche. Lastly, Stinson acknowledges the impossibility of articulating oneself in just words.
One of the biggest mistakes we see parents and students making when approaching the personal statement is the notion that this must be an autobiographical statement, or a story about a massive epiphany.
Stinson displays maturity by not trying to say everything. Within this sentence, Stinson takes a simple object, a jar of Nutella, and uses it to playfully ponder a philosophical question. These kinds of moves suggest that she is a thoughtful, curious person who will ask engaging questions inside and outside of the classroom.
Not only does Stinson use shopping at Costco to illustrate her intellectual curiosity—in listing her interests and activities, Stinson also explicitly links her topic to the rest of her application.
In this way, the essay helps to create an overarching narrative or story about who Stinson is, a story that admissions counselors likely remembered as they reviewed the rest of her materials and moved forward in the admissions process. Once she moves on from that anecdote to the rest of the essay, her writing remains grounded in specific images and moments.
Her essay manifests the age-old writing truism to show rather than tell. This technique draws the reader into the essay and helps keep them engaged. The Costco essay is also filled with active language and dynamic word brittany stinson essay. Stinson did share a final draft of her essay with an English teacher before submitting her applications. Stinson writes in a fun, brittany stinson essay, approachable tone.
Humor permeates the piece, which has a conversational feel. In this way, the Costco essay hints at what she might be like to hang out with in the dining hall or after class, that is, it helps create a picture of her personality. In this essay, Stinson seems like someone who might be likely to start long philosophical discussions in the residential hall or encourage her physics study group to take a fifteen-minute break for an impromptu dance party or, of course, corral her roommates for a weekend trip to Costco.
In other words, her essay brittany stinson essay that she will be a great addition to her college community. However, Stinson does not fall into one of the traps of Common App Essay writing: sounding too casual. Her essay is filled with complex, well-crafted sentences and careful word choice. The essay is neither too stiff nor too informal. This goes for ordering from Papa Johns or another pizza place, too.
What your child can do is brittany stinson essay possible essay topics that on the surface level might seem like they have little relevance to their academic or extracurricular life but are still important to them. What is your ideal way to spend a Saturday? Is there a weekend brittany stinson essay activity or ritual you love? Or do you prefer to spend the day on some solo adventure?
Walk us through one of these memorable days. Is there a special meal you like to cook with a family member? What does this meal mean to you and your family? Do you remember the first time you helped to prepare the meal? What is the one thing your friends make fun of you for obsessing over? Do you have a childhood memory that you constantly return to? How has that childhood experience shaped who you are today?
What is something that admissions officers would never guess about you based on the rest of your application that you and maybe your friends and family feel defines who you are? In what unexpected place do you feel completely at home? Maybe instead of serving as captain of the soccer team, brittany stinson essay, you led your friends in an incredible water balloon fight or flash mob last spring. How have you helped bring your community together?
Remember that your child needs to link whatever topic they choose to a larger idea about their worldview or who they are as an individual. Maybe they decide to write about how they feel at home in the hair salon where their aunt works. The essay could start with a reflection on what makes a good haircut but could become about something larger. It could be a way for them to discuss your evolving relationship with their family, their ideas about what makes a community, or their own work ethic.
Does the essay about cooking a big family meal with their dad every Sunday support the idea that they are a leader and engaged member of the community? Or does the essay about their love for a favorite band complicate the picture of them as a serious mathematician?
The essay does not need to do either of these things, but it is a good idea to consider how it fits into the story they brittany stinson essay telling throughout the application, brittany stinson essay. Writing skills are essential for success in college and admissions committees want to know that your child can communicate ideas effectively. Have your child start by freewriting specific anecdotes or images related to the topic of the essay.
All this means your child needs space and time to come up with a creative topic. Your child can even tell this reader that, brittany stinson essay, in addition to looking for grammatical errors or awkward phrasing, brittany stinson essay, they want to know if their reader brittany stinson essay able to envision the anecdotes or moments in the essay.
Your child can also ask if the reader understands the larger lesson that they are hoping their topic leads to. Does this move feel logical or forced to them?
Just as your child searched for a topic that feels true to who they are, they should strive to find a natural tone and voice. We simply want to dispel the notion brittany stinson essay your topic can only be a serious one, brittany stinson essay.
Anchoring the personal statement in specific details e. With careful execution, any topic can be used to help your child convince an admissions committee that they would be a great addition to the student body. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on college admissions.
Over the past 15 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into top programs like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT using his exclusive approach. View our Privacy Policy. Medical School Admissions College Admissions, brittany stinson essay. Medical School Admissions MCAT Question of the Day College Admissions, brittany stinson essay. Medical School Admissions Consulting MCAT Tutoring Residency Admissions Consulting.
Medical School Admissions College Admissions Medical Residency Admissions MCAT. Learn About Services Join Our Team. Your Trusted Advisors for Admissions Succes. Blog Admissions and test prep resources to help you get into your dream schools. Learn exactly why the Costco essay was so impressive to Ivy League admissions officers and how to select your own unique essay topic. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: What works about the Costco essay Part 3: How your child can write their own Costco essay Part 4: Why the Costco essay may not be a good model.
In this post we will: Discuss what works about the Costco essay Show how your child can apply lessons from the Costco essay to their own essay Explore how the Costco essay may not be a good model for your child.
First Name. Last Name. Email Address, brittany stinson essay. Send me the guide. Tone Stinson writes in a fun, approachable tone. Connect the topic to unique personal qualities Remember that your child needs to link whatever topic they choose to a larger idea about their worldview or who they are as an individual. Write in an authentic voice Just as your child searched for a topic that feels true to who they are, they should strive to find a natural tone and voice.
SEND ME THE GUIDE. About the Author Dr.
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, time: 2:19Essay About Love for Costco Wins Student Admission to Five Ivies - NBC News
Statement Guru | Brittany Stinson’s Costco Essay Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning · Meet Brittany Stinson, an year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, who just last week found out she got into Yale, Columbia, University of · In , Brittany Stinson’s Costco essay, went viral after she was accepted into five Ivy League colleges—Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell—along with Stanford and several other highly selective schools
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