I've heard the College Essay Guy has a great values exercise for writing college essays, but I can't find it anywhere. Everyone says it's super helpful for digging deep and defining what's important to you. Does anyone know where I can find this values exercise?
Of course! Ethaan Sawyer, also known as the College Essay Guy, has an exercise called the "Values Exercise" which is freely accessible on the College Essay Guy's website. It's a helpful tool for identifying your core values and using those to enhance your college essay.
The exercise consists of a list of about 200 words and phrases that embody different values; things like creativity, diligence, empathy, loyalty, and so forth. Your task is to go through this list and choose about 10-15 words or phrases that resonate strongly with you. Those selected words are likely representative of your core values.
Once you've identified these values, try to come up with specific instances in which these values have played a key role in your life. Use those experiences as a starting point to craft your narrative. Your essay will come across as more personalized and reflective, characteristics that colleges value in the admission process.
Lastly, as you're doing the values exercise, feel free not to limit yourself to the values provided. If your core values are not listed, feel free to add them. The point of the exercise is to help you recognize and articulate what's truly important to you.
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