#238 The “Why This Major Essay” Isn’t Really About Your Major Transcript

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT… PLEASE FORGIVE THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR! xo-Lisa.

Lisa Marker-Robbins  00:00

If you have a senior applying to college this fall-it’s coming fast. A younger student beginning the search for the right college, or a college student who’s still validating their direction. Today’s episode’s for you, because while we are going to talk about the why this major college essay that students have to answer when they’re applying, this episode really isn’t about one college essay. It’s about a question that colleges, employers, graduate schools, scholarship committees, and even networking conversations will eventually ask every young person: Why this path? Not why this major. Most families are thinking that why this major essay is just another admissions hurdle to jump over and try to get through, but I don’t. I think it’s one of the most revealing questions of the entire application, the entire process, because what colleges are really doing here-they’re not evaluating an essay or how your kid writes. They’re evaluating the evidence they can provide behind, underneath the essay. Now, before we go any further in this college and career clarity conversation, if you’re listening with a senior who’s starting to talk about applications right now and submitting is just a matter of months or even weeks, I don’t want you to think that this is an episode about. Well, we blew it. It’s too late now. You didn’t. It’s never too late, but it is easier when students begin this work as maybe a sophomore or a junior in high school. It is absolutely, but I’ve also coached enough seniors to know that meaningful exploration and validation can happen pretty quickly once they’re intentional about it, this isn’t about becoming 100% certain or know what you’re going to do forever for the rest of your life. It’s about having enough evidence to make your best decision today, and then continuing to validate even maybe after you’ve hit submit that that decision is right for you, even after submit, see there’s a false belief that I see many families holding on to. The families believe your student might believe that the goal is to write a convincing essay, so that when that scholarship or that admissions committee are sitting around the table, they’ll go, “Oh yeah, that’s a good essay, but the reality is this isn’t about convincing anybody of anything. It’s actually about demonstrating. It’s not about your student trying to convince that they’re picking the perfect major. It’s about them showing what they’ve done to arrive at an informed decision that they’re making today. So why this essay is called, and it comes in a lot of different flavors, by the way. The why this major essay, I don’t think I actually know that that’s not what college or colleges are really hoping to read about. They’re actually reading for the evidence behind or underneath your student’s story, I want to go back to an episode that I recorded a really long time ago with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At the time, Andy Borst, who’s now at the University of Georgia, was their admissions director. If you want to go back later and listen to it, it’s episode number 57, a really long time ago. So don’t judge your host. I’ve got a little bit more experience now, but we discussed as part of our conversation that UIUC asked applicants to answer two questions because the two questions, and I want you to hear me out on these. It’s not just one essay. Why this major? The two questions are actually aimed at learning two different things about the applicant.

Lisa Marker-Robbins  04:42

One reason that I really love the University of Illinois’ approach is they’re super transparent, unusually so, about what they’re trying to learn. Here’s what Andy and I talked about. Question one, and students only have 150 words to answer this. And while the app. So that we recorded together was, I think I don’t know, three or four years ago. Now I actually just checked, and they’re asking the same questions of this fall’s seniors who are applying. So question number one is really, what have you done in the past that’s led you to this point, right? And then question number two is: Describe what’s going to happen after graduation. What do you intend? Not what do you commit to in blood. This is not a blood oath. But what do you intend to do? What are your career goals, your personal goals after graduation, and how will this decision, the college major decision, help you accomplish that. See, here’s what I want you to notice: that they’re not asking. They aren’t saying, “Hey, do you have a crystal ball? Do you know with 100 certainty what you’re going to do for the next 40 years that you’re going to work? No, they’re simply saying, “Show us how you’ve been intentional with the time that you’ve had, with the choices that you’ve made, that led to where we are at this time, and see, here’s one thing that’s in the news all over the place: colleges are changing what they do with essays. It’s all over the news. The headline is colleges are dropping essays, and probably for a myriad of reasons. I’m sure if I really dug into that topic, and I am not a college essay specialist. We would learn that there’s an AI impact, right? And maybe some of them just want to make it easier for students to apply. But here’s what’s happened: as I’ve gone in, and I’ve not dug into all the essays, but schools that I know in the past were asking some form of why this major? How is this an informed decision? I went back and I’ve been checking. I haven’t found anybody who is dropping what I’m going to call the evidence essay. So before we move on to how how to write, how for your student to develop an evidence rich essay, because that’s the goal. I want to ask you something. If you’re sitting here and you’re going like, okay, I’m starting to get a little concerned, whether you have a a senior in college, a junior, or I’m sorry, a senior in high school, or a junior or a sophomore in high school who’s just beginning, or maybe you’ve got a college-I don’t know, freshman or sophomore-that needs to get locked in this year before they move move on through their curriculum towards graduation. If you’re sitting here thinking, “Oh my gosh, I got a lot of questions, and I know you just said it’s not too late, but I don’t feel that in my body. I want to invite you to something that I’m doing. If you’re listening to this live when it drops tomorrow, Wednesday evening, august 5 at 730 p.m. Eastern time, I’m hosting a Q and A. This is not a presentation. I prepared no slides. I want families to bring the questions that, as you’re listening to me talk right now, are coming up for you, or maybe these are the questions that come up as your family sits around their dinner table, right? I want you to bring your questions, and we’re going to have a discussion. I want you to join me. Parents can join me. Kids can join me. People who support these kiddos can join me. Go to flourishcoachingco.com forward slash Q A Q and A. You can submit your questions ahead of time. You can email them to me. You can drop them in a DM on social if you’re following me, or I even have a Google form that you can submit them in once you’ve registered. I want you to join us live. There’s not going to be a replay. Or if you don’t have any questions but you just simply want to learn from the conversation, go ahead and just listen in with your camera off. So it’s flourishcoaching.com forward slash QA, and I’m also going to drop it in the show notes.

Lisa Marker-Robbins  08:48

If we’re connected on social media, just send me a message, and I will send you the link, or you can send me your questions there. You can also email me. Okay, so we’ve talked about this evidence of how do I apply to this major? How do I demonstrate that this is an intentional choice? By the way, at a lot of universities, when a college freshman or a sophomore goes to switch their major or declare their major for the first time because they’re undecided, and we’ll talk about undecided in the panel, or not the panel, in the Q and A that I’m having, but there’s really three pieces of evidence that I see students having to apply. So, if you’ve got a senior and they’re getting ready to write the some version of the why this major essay, who are like you, IUC, 150 words about what have you done in the past, 150 words about where are you going in the future. If they’re going to have to explain that, this is the same type of stuff that they have to explain when they’re in college and they want to change their major, when they’re going for an internship, when they’re networking. All of these times, there’s three pieces of evidence that I want your, you know. Person, your student, your teen, your young adult, to think about and be able to provide. If you’re getting ready to write this write this essay, here’s what needs to be in it. Evidence number one: What is the past exploration that you’ve done? This could look like classes that you’ve taken in school, or maybe outside of school, hobbies that you’ve had, paid work, volunteer experiences, informational interviews, job shadows, networking. If you’re lucky enough that you landed an internship, one of those research projects that you’ve done in school. The point of evidence piece number one is you were curious and you show evidence that you pursued your curiosity to figure it out. Piece of evidence number two: your present reasoning why this major today, not certainty, just reasoning. So I’ve done these things: evidence one, evidence two. Here’s where I’ve arrived at and why provide the reasoning and then evidence piece number three. What’s the future direction that this is aiming towards? What’s the you guys hear me talk about GPS analogies all the time? What’s the pin of the location that we’re currently putting it in? Okay, this is where the UIUC second prompt really fits beautifully. It’s can your student explain how this major connects to the kind of work they hope to do, the kind of impact they hope to make after graduation? Not what I do forever, but why this is my best next step. Now there are three majors I need to say something about before we start talking about this, and I want I’m going to give you a way to pressure test through a friendly conversation, not an interrogation with your kiddo, but how to pressure test these three majors because there’s a pattern that I’ve noticed over the years: business, nursing, and engineering are majors that sometimes are code for I don’t know, I’m undecided. So when students see their peers making choices around them, or they’ve got all the adults saying, “What are you going to study? What was what are you going to major in? They get asked this all the time, and they start to feel the pressure of that. Often, if they’re just not sure, they default to business engineering or nursing. Now, for some students, those are excellent choices, but the reason why an undecided student or a student who hasn’t done any intentional thinking or exploration around this grabs at those three is they’re familiar, their parents know them, their peers know them, their teachers know them. They sometimes can easily connect it to their academic aptitudes and strength that they’ve demonstrated throughout high school. They are practical and appear to be stable, and many believe, and they do, lead to good jobs. But you know what? No jobs, a good job if it doesn’t align with who they are as a person, and they’re going to be miserable on it, and they’re just going to in it, and they’re just going to hang on to it. They’re going to what I call job hug.

Lisa Marker-Robbins  13:17

Job hugging is like I’m hanging on to it for a paycheck, even though I’m miserable. When I ask parents what they really want, what they really, really want, I’m going to break into a song here. They tell me that they just want a happy kid. So if your child is getting ready to write an essay or apply to a major that’s business, engineering, or nursing for sure, I want you to ask them kind of like the UIUC questions. Why is this right for you? Not is it respectable, or will you be able to get a job, or what kind of income will you make? That’s a powerful distinction. Why is this right for you? How do you know? And don’t make an interrogation right now. If you’re sitting here wondering whether your student’s direction could stand up for the to the three pieces of evidence, here’s what I don’t want you to do because it will backfire on you with a teenager every single time. I’ve raised a few of those. Don’t turn this into a quiz or a test. You’ve got to turn it into a conversation. And if you’re sitting here thinking like I don’t think our family is going to do that well, I want to invite you to join that live Q and A that I’m hosting because that will remove some of the pressure. And I found that when we wrap around each other in community and we hear other people having the same conversations, what happens is it lowers the pressure for your family, so that you can have a calmer, grounded conversation. So again, that’s flourishcoachingco.com forward slash QA. Registration is only open through the event up to the time that we start. Okay, now let’s back out and look. Like the you know 90,000 foot view here. This isn’t about essays. This, my friends, it’s about life, because as I said at the beginning, your kiddo is going to be asked this question in some way, shape, or form when they go to get an internship in college, if they’re applying to graduate school, if they need scholarships for undergraduate or graduate. If they’re applying for a job, a big kid job, a career, not a tiny job that gives them work experience now, the people that they network with are also going to ask some version of this question. Every meaningful opportunity that they’re going to have in front of them down the road, near and far, is going to say why this path. And the families who have done the work, they don’t struggle for their young person to answer that question. Now, some people assume that in Launch Career Clarity, my course, that we help students get into college, and you know what? That’s not what we do. What we’re doing is supporting families, supporting 15 to 25 year olds, and accumulating evidence that naturally is going to make for strong alignment with the choices they’re making, stronger applications, stronger essays, stronger interviews, networking conversations, and ultimately stronger career decisions. So they’re set up for a successful launch into adulthood. Once the kids do the exploration and they validate the ideas that are up here, or that maybe even other people are giving them the essay. The applications become easier. The recommendation letters that their teachers and their references are giving them, they actually become stronger, and then they perform well in the interviews. Everything becomes more natural because now they’re not trying to convince somebody that they’re interesting; they’re simply telling their story, and that’s a beautiful distinction that lowers the pressure on your young person. So, if you are sitting here listening to this and you’re like, “Honestly, we haven’t accumulated much evidence yet. Yet is the key word. Don’t hear shame in that. Hear opportunity. It’s yet. It’s coming, my friends.

Lisa Marker-Robbins  17:29

You can do this because every conversation, every move that they’re going to make, is going to help them get another piece of evidence, another piece to their puzzle, and eventually, your student’s not going to have to convince anyone that they’re headed in the right direction. They’re simply going to tell the truth. So I hope you’ll join me in our Q and A. I hope you’ll submit your questions to me or just listen in. It’s meant to be supportive, not pressure-filled. So thanks again for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you guys on the Q and A.