My name is Len Friedland.
For the past 20+ years, I’ve been an advertising copywriter.
When I tell people what I do, many think I put the little copyright symbol© on the bags of Doritos©, Lysol© cans, Scott’s Turfbuilder Weed & Feed© sprays, and all the other products they see in the store.
I do not. (Meanwhile, that would be a pretty sweet gig.)
In reality, my job is to help products — from toothpaste to tech — stand out in a crowded marketplace by telling the right story, in the right voice, to the right audience.
Sound familiar?
Writing a college essay isn’t different. You’re trying to stand out in a grocery aisle full of other applicants, connect with a real person, and make them feel something about you and your potential candidacy.
Enough that they’ll go into a room of their peers and bosses and advocate for “shark-tooth girl,” or “100 roller coasters in 101 days, kid,” or however they recall you from your essay topic.
This isn’t about writing about something amazing, unless you’ve actually done something amazing.
Most teenagers haven’t.
It’s about writing something authentic. Something flypaper sticky.
Something that will matter to a university trying to put together its best incoming class of all time.
That’s what I try to help students do.
Not push some perfect narrative, because that’s unrealistic (and kind of boring).
But instead, write an essay that sounds like you, shows who you are and who you might become, and lands with an emotional jab-cross-hook on the psyche of whoever’s reading it.
If you do that with your essay, then you’ve done all you can.