The Importance of Specificity
So here’s my advice: to be interesting, first you have to stop caring about college, do the wild things that actually, genuinely interest you, and be a bit daring. Curse if that’s who you are. Reveal your flaws and vulnerabilities. But after you do those things, the next best lesson is to be specific. Things that are interesting are inherently specific. If a Stanford interviewer asks you, “What do you like to do on your free time?” and you say “read books”…um okay…yeah maybe, but that’s not specific. Everyone freaking likes to read. What if instead you said: “I like to read books about the theory of justice” or “I like to read books about the economic effects on Russia caused by crippling deforestation”. Now…we’re getting interesting. If an essay asks you, “what do you care about and why”, don’t say “memes”. Freaking everyone likes memes. Instead, what about “Kermit the frog memes, especially those where he’s drinking Lipton tea”?
Okay, but now you’re asking: Robab, how the freak do I be specific. I’m not that interesting. I slouch on my couch and chew bubble gum all day.
Uhhhhhhhh. Can you maybe chill???
Here’s how to be a specific self-reflector in five minutes: copy paste the questions down below into a word document, set a timer for 5 minutes, and answer each question in 5 minutes. The Rules? Don’t delete or backspace anything you type (even spelling errors) and type as much as you possibly can under the time limit.
Describe your room. Why did you design it this way?
Describe why you like what you wear.
Describe what you eat for dinner.
Describe why you watch what you watch on YouTube.
Describe why you like your favorite book.
Describe why you like your favorite subject.
Then when you’re done answering all the questions, review your answers. Does anything seem like it’s so unique to you? For instance, on question 1, I wrote “my black Michael Kors purse sits atop my black Ikea table next to a white bed and white dresser”. For question 3, I wrote “I eat salmon and carrots and rice nearly every dinner and I like it because its healthy”. Now I know two broad things about myself: I love chic black/white design and healthy foods. Then I can specify in my supplements or essays why these things are unique to me: my whole room is filled with only black or white objects, and I eat “salmon and carrots” literally every day. These little details make me memorable. In fact, if you asked my friends to describe me, they’d say I’m a health freak and that if you wanted to spot me in a crowd of a hundred people, to look for the girl with the black Michael Kors purse and red coat. Because that’s literally what I wear every. single. day.
And again: AdComs want people with interesting stories that make them human. Simply saying “I value health and fashion” or “I love design and draw sketches of cars” is too broad and describes many people. It’s the small things that are descriptive and make you, you.
The Interview
In your interview, be specific. When the interviewer asks, “what would you do with 1 million dollars” most people say something like “donate to charity”. This is amazing, but, what charity? Why that charity? What makes you want to donate to charity instead of start a hedge fund? Furthermore, when they ask “if you were to teach a class, what would you teach?” don’t say “math” or “science”. Be very specific, like: “I would teach a class on how transindividual power relations in a society change people’s behavior”. Again, these small details make you memorable, complex, and human.