The College Essay and the Philosopher’s Thoughts
by Albert Leo
When we think of philosophy, we might think of some Greek man draped with a piece of cloth, contemplating on a rock. Thinking about that image, I would say ouch, I’d hate to think of a life without cushions. But beyond the physical details of a philosopher, what we’re left assuming about their thoughts is vague. The man is not doing, he is thinking. We have no idea what is swirling within the thoughts of someone’s head. That man could be thinking about existentialism, or he could be hankering for a sandwich.
As mentioned many times in these EssayNarwhal Blogs, what you’ve done is only part of the puzzle that makes up who you are. To really bring a richness and layered ideas into your essay, you’ll sometimes want to utilize philosophy in your essays.
Do you have a philosophy in your life? Are you conscious about conservation, do you have an egalitarian mindset, do you find the self-obsessed culture in social media damaging?
You should have opinions and be thoughtful about things. Philosophies often coincide with your values and offer a peek into why you think the way you do.
However, if you’re sort of drifting through school, unaware of the kind of person you want to be, you’ll probably find making your essay thought-provoking difficult.
I feel like the best essays incorporate both the insightful thought processes that make up a viewpoint and values as well as the tangibles and concrete examples that embody those philosophies through action. Finding that balance can be tricky.
More commonly, students often strictly talk about an event like a news report. They’ll write about their challenges in a very fact-based way but will offer little context about the importance that drove their decisions in the first place. If you talk about how you fundraised for a nonprofit by creating a dance class, and go through the logistics, we learn little about you. You might as well stick that in your extracurricular portion of your application. However, if you add your ideas of how you think kinetic energy is a form of creative expression and dance is an outlet that should be accessible to everyone, suddenly, your philosophy infuses new meaning to your work.
On the other hand, I have some students who get so stuck in the thought process of what they feel is important, their essay becomes only about that one thought. In one case, a student’s early draft had eloquent breakdowns about wanting to be an entrepreneur. He detailed how business was the foundation for creation from nothing and symbolized progress. He cited influential books from successful business leaders and their thoughts into how certain products have been brought and shifted the course and thought processes of humanity. The essay was well written and interesting.
The only problem was that the philosophy sort of engulfed the whole essay and the actual student, the person, got lost. I didn’t get a sense of how he applied this thinking to his actual life. We’ve all probably heard the familiar proverb, “Knowing is Half the Battle.” To counter that statement, here are words from another famous philosopher:
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”
– Bruce Lee
To make the philosophy have meaning, they cannot just be constrained to your thoughts, they must be applied, lived, and fully integrated to your life by actions you’ve done.
To make this student’s philosophies about entrepreneurship more tangible, we brainstormed the things he’s done. We talked about how he would fill up white boards full of ideas, of the immense number of concepts he had to research to put something into the pipeline all the way to production with a physical product. We were no longer guessing how he would apply business principles that were pivotal in his thought processes, we saw it with evidence in his essay.
Why does your essay matter? Is it because you wrote it or that you want to express something about yourself? In your essays, think, and think some more, but also think how your thinking affects your doing.
