Episode 4: Common App Essay Tips: Authenticity, Voice, and AI

Podcast Description:

A beautifully written college essay that tells us nothing about the student is not a good essay. In Episode 4 of Drop In, Josh and Lisa are talking about what actually makes a college essay work:

• Voice

• Perspective

• Reflection

• Authenticity

The problem is not always the lesson. The lesson may be completely true. The problem is that thousands of students explain that lesson in exactly the same way.

An admissions reader does not just need to know that you learned perseverance after a sports injury or gratitude after a mission trip. They want to understand what that experience actually did to you. What did you notice that someone else might have missed? How did you react? What changed specifically for you?

This is the reframe we give our students:

Write as if you already trust the reader, not as if you are trying to impress them.

When you're trying to impress someone, you perform. You reach for bigger words, the most dramatic moment, or the version of the story that makes you sound the most accomplished.

But when you trust someone, you simply talk to them. You tell them what actually happened and what it actually meant to you.

That is where your real voice shows up.

Parents, please do not edit the kiddo out of the essay.

And AI? It can be a great tool for brainstorming, organizing ideas, and helping students think more deeply about why a story matters. But it should never sand down their voice until the essay sounds like everyone and no one at the same time.

At the end of the day, the essay should sound like the best version of the student. Not the parent. Not a polished fake adult. And definitely not a robot.

The student's voice should always stay at the center of the college essay.

Our senior college advising services include essay brainstorming, story development, application guidance, and multiple rounds of editing. Want to work with Josh and Lisa? Get started here.

🎙️ Also available on: Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music | iHeart

Top Questions Answered in This Episode

What makes a good college essay topic?
A strong college essay topic does not have to be dramatic, unusual, or completely original. What matters is what the topic reveals about the student: how they think, what they notice, how they have grown, and what perspective they bring. Small moments, routines, jobs, hobbies, conversations, mistakes, and everyday experiences can all become strong essays if they reveal something real. For more help choosing a topic, read How to Choose a College Essay Topic.

Does a college essay topic need to be unique?
No. Admissions officers have read thousands of essays, so trying to find a topic that nobody has ever written about can create unnecessary pressure. Two students can write about the same sport, job, family experience, or challenge and produce completely different essays because their perspectives are different. The goal is not to invent a one-of-a-kind event; it is to write an essay that could only come from you.

What does “show, don’t tell” mean in a college essay?
“Show, don’t tell” means giving the reader specific moments, observations, choices, and details instead of simply stating the lesson. Rather than writing, “This taught me never to give up,” a student should let the reader see what happened, how they responded, and what changed. The reflection should emerge from the story instead of being announced in a generic sentence.

What should a college essay reveal that the rest of the application does not?
The essay should add a new dimension to the application. The transcript already shows grades, and the activities section already explains what the student has done. The personal statement gives the student a chance to show how they think, what matters to them, how they make meaning from experiences, and what kind of person may eventually show up on a college campus. Decision Drop’s guide to the Common App activities section can help students keep those two parts of the application doing different jobs.

Should parents edit their child’s college essay?
Parents can be helpful readers, but they should be careful not to edit the student’s voice out of the essay. Over-polishing vocabulary, sentence structure, humor, or tone can leave an essay sounding more like an adult than a 17-year-old. Lisa and Josh recommend helping students become clearer and more reflective without turning the essay into something the student would never naturally say. Families can learn more about Decision Drop’s college essay coaching approach.

Can students use AI to help with college essays?
AI can be useful for brainstorming, organizing ideas, or helping a student think through why a story matters, but Lisa and Josh strongly caution against using AI to write the essay itself. AI-generated writing can sound polished while stripping away the student’s individual voice. The words on the page should still belong to the student who will eventually arrive on campus. For more on authentic student voice, continue with Episode 5 on supplemental essays.

How polished should a college essay sound?
Polished does not automatically mean strong. A beautifully written essay that reveals nothing about the student is not doing its job. The best college essay should sound like the strongest, clearest version of the student, not like a professional writer, parent, counselor, or thesaurus wrote it.

How can a student stand out in a college essay?
Students stand out by being specific and authentic rather than trying to sound impressive. Instead of copying topics, structures, or ideas from essays that supposedly “worked” for someone else, students should focus on their own experiences and perspective. Admissions officers are not looking for a perfect performance; they are trying to understand the person behind the application.

Timeline:

00:00 Introduction to College Admissions Stress

02:34 Understanding the Personal Statement

05:02 The Importance of Authenticity in Essays

07:43 Finding Your Unique Perspective

10:30 The Role of AI in College Essays

12:52 Hard Truths About College Essays

15:34 Final Thoughts and Next Steps

#CollegeEssay‍ ‍#CommonAppEssay‍ ‍#CollegeAdmissions‍ ‍#CollegeApplicationTips‍ ‍#CollegeCounseling‍ ‍#CollegeEssayTips‍ ‍#StudentVoice‍ ‍#AuthenticWriting‍ ‍#AIAndEducation‍ ‍#CollegeAdmissionsAdvice‍ ‍#DecisionDrop‍ ‍#DropInPodcast

▼ Read Full Transcript

Josh: Every week we drop the noise.

Lisa: Drop the stress.

Josh: And drop some knowledge.

Lisa: Welcome to Drop In, the College Admissions Podcast by Decision Drop. If you want to learn more about our services or have Josh and I help you and your family through this process personally, head to decisiondrop.com and check us out.

Josh: I'm Josh.

Lisa: I'm Lisa. Let's go!

Josh: Okay Lisa, today's topic is a big one. We're talking about the personal statement — the essay.

Lisa: The one that keeps every junior up at night.

Josh: Every single one. And I think the reason it's so stressful is that kids think there's a secret topic. Like if they just find the right story, they win.

Lisa: Right — like the essay is a trivia question with one correct answer.

Josh: And it's not. It's not about what happened to you. It's about what you do with what happened to you.

Lisa: Which is exactly why today's episode is called Show, Don't Tell. Because that phrase gets thrown around so much in English class that kids stop hearing what it actually means for this specific essay.

Josh: So let's get into it.

Lisa: So here's where I want to start. Most students sit down to write their essay like they're interviewing for a job. Like they have to prove something. And I get it — it feels like the biggest audition of their life.

Josh: Right. The impress-them instinct.

Lisa: But here's the reframe I give every single student I work with: write as if you already trust the reader — not like you're trying to impress them. Because when you're trying to impress someone, you perform. You reach for the biggest word, the most dramatic moment, the thing that sounds the best. But when you already trust someone, you just talk. You tell them what actually happened and what it actually meant to you. And that's the version that stands out.

Josh: Because the admissions reader has read a thousand versions of the mission trip essay, the sports injury essay, the grandparent essay. And a lot of students get paralyzed trying to think of something nobody has ever written about before. The reality is — you probably won't find that unicorn topic. But here's the thing: two students can write about the exact same topic — the same sport, the same loss, the same summer job — and those essays will be completely different. Because the students writing them are not the same. Nobody else has processed that experience the way you did.

Lisa: Right. So the topic almost doesn't matter. Some of the best essays I've ever read weren't about the biggest accomplishments. They were about a car ride, a family dinner, a favorite stuffed animal, a part-time job, a mistake, a weird hobby, a conversation, a routine — a tiny moment that reveals something real. The topic doesn't have to scream. The writing has to let the reader in.

Josh: Exactly. When we're working with students, we're asking them to think about their life — the things they've done, what they're interested in, what they've read or listened to. There's no secret sauce. It's really about finding something that resonates with you and speaks to who you are. And then the questions to ask yourself on every draft are: What perspective of mine does this show? Did I have an impact — large or small? What was my actual thought process? How have I grown? What have I learned?

Lisa: And I tell my students constantly — stop stressing about finding the perfect topic. Your perspective is your superpower. Nobody else has it. The real question underneath the whole essay is: who are you becoming? That's what helps a college see what kind of human you're going to be on their campus.

And students, hear this — and parents, hear this too. You are not writing a polished AP Lang essay. Eight out of ten times, we will cut the first two paragraphs because it took too long to get to the point. 650 words is not that long, especially if you actually like your topic. And if you start writing something and the topic feels impossible, stop — it might just not be the right one for you.

If you want to work with us, we start with a brainstorming session where we ask about fifteen get-to-know-you questions. And every single time, we come out of that session with at least three different essay ideas. If you want Josh and I to walk you through that process, head over to decisiondrop.com and check us out.

Josh: One of my other pet peeves: students who respond to a prompt by opening with a restatement of the prompt itself. The setup was the question — you don't need to repeat it. Just dive in.

And when you do find your topic — reveal something about yourself that isn't anywhere else in your application. Your transcript already tells them your grades. Your activity list already tells them what you did. The essay is supposed to add a new dimension, a new perspective — something the admissions reader hasn't already encountered in your file.

Lisa: Because colleges aren't admitting a GPA or a resume or a list of activities. They're admitting a real person. And the essay is one of the few places where that person actually gets to show up.

Josh: Right. The essay is the one part of the application where the student's voice comes through directly. Recommendation letters are written by other people. Your transcript is a reflection of your effort and ability in those classes. But the essay is where you speak directly to the college — to share a piece of yourself.

Lisa: And that's the authenticity piece we keep coming back to. Stop hunting for the right story. Start with something real, and then dig deeper. The goal is not to cover every detail of your life. The goal is to help the reader understand how you think, what you noticed, and why it matters to you. Show them your thinking — not just a timeline.

And please — don't jump on TikTok to find out what someone wrote to get into Harvard or Stanford and try to copy it. Unless you're bringing your own genuine perspective, copying someone else's approach won't sound like you. And if it doesn't sound like you, it won't make sense to the reader at that school.

Josh: That's one of the biggest traps right now. Social media makes students and parents think there's a formula — a specific path that, if replicated, leads to admission. But even the student who got into that school doesn't fully know what got them in. Copying someone else is not authenticity. It won't truly represent who you are and what that college would be getting if they admitted you.

That said — it is absolutely okay to seek advice. Talk to an older sibling, a cousin, a friend who went through this process. Ask about managing stress and timelines. Just don't try to replicate their exact steps to get into a specific school. That's not the way.

Josh: Alright, students — here's my hard truth about college essays: polish doesn't equal substance. I've read essays where students wrote gorgeous prose, sculpted and carefully crafted — and it told me absolutely nothing about who they were. A beautifully written essay that reveals nothing about the student is not a good essay.

Lisa: Hard stop. I couldn't have said that better myself. And I have one this week — and this one's for parents. I say this with so much love, so please hear me.

Do not edit your kid out of their own essay. Your instinct is to help polish it, clean it up, make it sound more mature and impressive. But sometimes that help takes the student's actual voice right off the page. Suddenly the essay doesn't sound like a 17-year-old with a personality — it sounds like a 45-year-old wrote it after attending a leadership retreat.

Josh: With a bad back.

Lisa: With a bad back — exactly. The admissions reader can tell. Every time. The goal is not a perfect essay. The goal is an essay that still sounds like your student — just clearer, better organized, more reflective, and most importantly, more them.

Josh: Parents — let the run-on sentence stay if that's genuinely how the kid thinks and writes. It worked for Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. Let the sentence fragment live. Let the random joke stay in there. That's the voice. And the voice is exactly what the college is looking for — not yours, but your student's.

Now — we have to talk about AI. We can't have an episode about college essays in 2026 without it. Our advice is straightforward: using AI to write your essay is not the move. It produces exactly the kind of polished, voiceless essays we've been talking about — essays that sound like everyone and no one at the same time. And it's not simply about getting caught, because some admissions offices use detection tools and many don't. It's that an AI-written essay doesn't allow the admissions reader to learn anything real about who you are. The polished essay that says nothing isn't a successful essay.

Lisa: We are not anti-AI. AI can help you brainstorm. It can help you organize your thoughts. It can even help you figure out why a story matters to you. But do not let it sand your voice down until there's nothing left that sounds like you. The words on that page belong to the same student who is going to show up on that campus in September. Remember that.

Josh: Exactly. We don't want students to panic and reach for AI because they haven't given themselves enough time or don't have a plan. Applying to college requires real effort. When students are organized and have the time to think about who they are and what they want to say, they can go through the drafting process and produce an essay that is genuine — one they feel good about, and one that centers their voice. That's the goal.

Lisa: If you take one thing from today, let it be this: your perspective is not something you need to invent. You already have it. It's in the way you notice things, in the way you react, in the way you connect dots. It's not your job to chase the perfect topic. Your job is to let the reader hear how you think. When you trust your voice enough to do that, that's when the essay starts to feel real.

Josh: Students — you're not writing to impress a stranger. You're writing to reveal yourself to someone who is genuinely trying to understand who you are. Give them something real to hold on to.

Lisa: And if we're being honest, show don't tell isn't really about writing craft. It's about trust. Trusting yourself. Trusting your story. Trusting that who you are is enough.

Josh: Next week, we're staying on the essay — but zooming in on supplements. The "Why Us" essay, those 250-word short answers buried in the portal that somehow matter just as much as the personal statement.

Lisa: Maybe even more. Students see 250 words and think "I'll knock this out after dinner." But short does not mean simple. Short means every word has a job. Whether it's Michigan asking about a specific program or Virginia Tech asking how you'll contribute to their campus — these essays are specific, and they are one of the fastest ways to tank an otherwise strong application. Or, when done well, make it shine.

Josh: You don't want to miss it. Tune in next week.

Lisa: We're Decision Drop — making your college journey collaborative, simple, and most importantly, yours. If you want to learn more about our services or have Josh and I help guide your family through this process, head over to decisiondrop.com and check us out.

Josh: Thanks for dropping in. We'll see y'all next week.