{"id":7149,"date":"2016-05-26t13:20:42","date_gmt":"2016-05-26t20:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=7149"},"modified":"2016-05-26t13:20:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26t20:20:42","slug":"brag-without-totally-annoying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/brag-without-totally-annoying\/","title":{"rendered":"how to brag without being totally annoying"},"content":{"rendered":"

adapted from his forthcoming book, college essay essentials<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

let\u2019s be real: your personal statement for college should do a little bragging, even it\u2019s a little humble-bragging.<\/p>\n

but nobody really wants to read \u201825 reasons i\u2019m the actual best and why you\u2019d be lucky to have me.\u2019<\/p>\n

so how do you talk about all the things you\u2019ve accomplished without annoying or alienating your reader? how do you, well, brag without sounding braggy?<\/p>\n

brag without being annoying by connecting your achievement or skill to an important value.<\/h2>\n

bragging that\u2019s annoying and not connected to values:<\/strong>
\nwhen my team took first place at the 2010 united nations global debates program i knew that i had a future in politics and foreign affairs. we were able to beat our competitors by doing better, more complete research and supporting our statements more effectively. we worked hard for that award and i\u2019m incredibly proud of myself.<\/em> <\/p>\n

bragging that\u2019s connected to values:<\/strong>
\nmore importantly, i now confront issues instead of avoiding them. it is exciting to discover solutions to problems that affect others, as i was able to do as part of the 1st place team for the 2010 united nations global debates program on climate change and poverty. i take a natural interest in global issues, and plan to become a foreign affairs analyst or diplomat by studying international affairs with a focus on national identity.<\/em><\/p>\n

in the second example, the author shows that she has developed courage and is discovering solutions to problems that affect others, so her fancy un global debates award isn\u2019t (only) a brag, it\u2019s evidence that she has developed or is in the process of developing this value.<\/p>\n

bragging that\u2019s annoying and not connected to values:<\/strong>
\ni\u2019m fluent in both hebrew and farsi; i\u2019m a natural language learner. i learned farsi on my family\u2019s yearly trips to india and biannual trips to jerusalem. i feel that my aptitude for language makes me a particularly good candidate for your program.<\/em> <\/p>\n

bragging that\u2019s connected to values:<\/strong>
\ni also love sharing this appreciation with others and have taken it upon myself to personally eradicate mathonumophobiconfundosis, my calculus teacher\u2019s term for \u201cextreme fear of math.\u201d a small group of other students and i have devoted our after-school time to tutoring our peers in everything from pre-algebra to ap calculus b\/c and i believe my fluency in hebrew and farsi has helped me connect with some of my school\u2019s israeli and iranian students. there\u2019s nothing better than seeing a student solve a difficult problem without me saying anything.<\/em><\/p>\n

read the whole essay here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

kinda want to punch the author of that first example, don\u2019t ya? the second example is primarily about helping others. but the author works in a brag (his ability to speak hebrew and farsi) by connecting it to this value. his fluency in multiple languages has helped him pursue this deeper (and altruistic) value.<\/p>\n

if you\u2019re not quite sure how to work your brags into your essay, brainstorm your essay like this:<\/strong><\/p>\n

a. value<\/strong>
\nb. accomplishment that demonstrates that value<\/strong>
\nc. moment or event that (visually) proves you possess that value<\/strong><\/p>\n

quick examples:<\/h2>\n

community >> voted mvp of lacrosse team >> rallied the team to win an important game after one of our best players was injured.<\/p>\n

empathy >> started an award-winning mentorship program >> helped a new student and her family find housing. <\/p>\n

curiosity >> placed at the national science fair >> tried dozens of variables and conducted hundreds of experiments. <\/p>\n

important:<\/strong> you can come up with the accomplishment (part b) first, then think about what value (part a) that the accomplishment represents, and finally the moment or event (part c) that proves it.<\/p>\n

but here\u2019s the (even more important) thing: you don\u2019t have to explicitly tell the reader what the value is. you just have to show it. <\/p>\n

in the first example above, for example, the author doesn\u2019t explicitly say \u201cwinning first place at the united nations global debates program on climate change and poverty (moment that proves she possesses that value) helped me find my voice (value).\u201d we get it from the rest of the essay.<\/p>\n

read the whole essay here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

tucking your brags and accomplishments into your personal statement is an art, not a science, so there\u2019s no one perfect way to do it. but you can do it. in fact, i\u2019ve done it in this post\u2026 but it\u2019s so sly you may not have even noticed. can you find it?
\n
\nif you\u2019d like more essay help, check out my on-demand and live courses here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>
\n
\nor check out my new book, college essay essentials<\/a><\/em>, available on amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

your college personal statement should do a little bragging. but how do you talk about all the things you\u2019ve accomplished without alienating your reader?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24924],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nhow to brag without being totally annoying - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"your college personal statement should do a little bragging. but how do you talk about all the things you\u2019ve accomplished without alienating your reader?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/brag-without-totally-annoying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta 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www.collegeessayguy.com.","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/ethansawyer\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24924,"user_id":185,"is_guest":0,"slug":"ethansawyer","display_name":"ethan sawyer","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70963318cc44aca145aee0e6eacbc1b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"sawyer","first_name":"ethan","description":"ethan sawyer has been helping students tell their stories for more than ten years and is the author of the forthcoming <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/college-essay-essentials-step---step\/dp\/149263512x\/ref=sr_1_2?ie=utf8&qid=1446567681&sr=8-2&keywords=college+essay+essentials\">college essay essentials: a step-by-step guide to writing a successful college admission essay<\/a>. he has reached thousands of students and counselors through his webinars and workshops and has become a nationally recognized college essay expert and sought-after speaker. he is a graduate of northwestern university and received an mfa from uc\u2013irvine. for more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegeessayguy.com\/\">www.collegeessayguy.com<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7149"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}