When I did my writings, I got the sense my English classes only laid half the groundwork for presenting myself in the best light. Yeah, I got the sense of which rhetorical devices best clicked in some analytical essay, but analysis only occasionally begets charm in real life. I had to trim sentences for applications when I was rewarded for padding them out before. I had to justify myself rather than a distant theorem. Heck, until last year, I barely knew the importance of how applications use essays, so the persuasive quality of my writing was rather touch and go for me.

I’m guessing I probably get my head around the assignment around December, which is fortunate because it took me until after application season for me to find an unintentionally stellar college supplemental in the wild:

This is only an 90 econd speech but you can easily hear the conviction Chappell has about her past, and how it connects to a broader issue and community. And if it spoke to me, someone who otherwise has little to do with the music industry, then maybe we hit the formula for effectively marketing oneself. At least anecdotally, I can definitely see that when my supplementals paralleled this speech’s strengths, my application was far more likely to get past the post compared to when I felt aprehensive about my efforts just before hitting submit.

So in short, to be like Chappell:

1. Be honest and vulnerable – that way you’re relateable and readers/interviewees know you’re genuine
2. Use punchy, but down to earth language
3. Emphasize that you’re part of a bigger cause