An old client recently reached out to us a few weeks ago about how to write your college essay about Kpop. It’s not exactly their essay per se. Instead, it was a sibling of theirs who was beginning the college process for the current year.

As the turn of a new generation comes to fruition, modern institutions are beginning to accept the intricacies and individual elements which make up people’s identities. This is especially true with the rising popularity of holistic admissions, which dictates that admissions officers must take a critical look at the “whole applicant” past the numbers.

Thus, our client’s question, “How do you write your college essay on Kpop?”, is actually quite a valid question to ask. Because Kpop is a rather unconventional college essay topic, you’ll need to tread lightly and take careful precautions when writing about this topic. It’s easy to fall for the common pitfalls when writing about personal interests that can be seen as unconventional.

So, we’ve listed some valuable advice below (plus how to actually write the essay well enough that it stands out amongst other applicants.)

Table of Contents

1. A Kpop College Essay is Still About You.
2. What Did Kpop Do For You That Made You a Strong Applicant?
3. Stand Out Amongst the Other Stans, Really!
4. Don’t Lose Track of the Main Prompt.
5. Weave Your Story Into a Narrative Format.

A Kpop College Essay is Still About You.

One of the things people forget when writing their college essay about Kpop is themselves.

Consider what purpose a college admissions essay serves to begin with:

Many applicants apply to top-tier universities with highly competitive GPAs. This leads to higher competition, which leads to admissions officers needing extracurriculars and essays to help distinguish between students. So, it’s imperative that the college essays are written about YOU.

The topic can be anything you choose. However, because admissions officers must distinguish between applicants, they need to know enough about their unique traits and personal qualities to make a proper decision on their acceptance.

So, let’s say you want to write a college essay on your favorite Kpop group: Ateez.

Who takes the spotlight? You, or Wooyoung? Yup, that’s right. Unfortunately, this is about you —not Wooyoung.

You can talk about how you fell in love with him. You can also talk about how seeing him inspired a fire in you to pursue your current aspirations. Maybe his charm gave you the spark you needed to take care of your fashion sense, clean up your act, and stay fit to take care of your body.

Whatever topic it is you choose to write about, writing your college essay about Kpop MUST be more about you and your character than about Kpop. This is what admissions officers will use as a metric to measure your value as a potential candidate for their school. This brings us to our next section.

What Did Kpop Do For You That Made You a Strong Applicant?

To look for a strong applicant, the admissions officers will comb through your application with a fine-tooth, well, comb. This means they will deeply analyze each paragraph and sentence you write to better understand the character behind the writing.

Imagine the admissions process in the same way as your typical high school English class. Your teacher asks you to read pages 15-17, and provide a deep analysis of the character’s personality traits. This is essentially the same process in the admissions office.

“What can I make out of this person’s character?” “What does being president of Science Olympiad and founding a nonprofit at their local high school mean?” “Does it mean they are very conscientious? Does it mean they’re just looking for things to write in their application?”

With this in mind, you need to input some proper characteristics into your application essay.

If you are writing your college essay about Kpop, then it needs to show how Kpop made you a strong candidate for the school. What were the elements of your journey with Kpop that brought forth unique characteristics in your personality that would make you a great fit for the school?

Let’s say for instance you want to get into UCB Haas for Business. You write the “how do you express your creative side” essay prompt by talking about how Kpop brings out your creative side. Maybe Kpop brought forth a rabbit hole of new hobbies into your life that you normally would have never considered. This includes listening to the music, drawing the art of your favorite members, and taking the time to write popular fan stories on platforms like Webnovel and Wattpad.

What can someone learn from this? Well, this essay not only shows your creative side. It also shows that your creative hobbies are more than just times to relax. It shows you are someone who is able to take initiative to conduct big projects with your free time and truly go the full measure on your creative outlets.

Thus, someone getting into UCB Haas may truly benefit from this topic. Why? Well, what makes a great potential applicant to Berkeley’s business school? Is it the Kpop? Nope. It’s the conscientiousness of the student to take action and build things off of hobbies that they truly love.

Berkeley will not read your college essay about Kpop and think, “Perfect! We needed someone who was interested in Kpop!” Rather, they will read your essay and think, “Perfect! We needed someone who could take action and start projects that they’re truly passionate about!”

Stand Out Amongst the Other Stans, Really!

Many other fans will have reasons to appreciate Kpop, that’s for sure. However, you need to do some introspection to discover why your interest in Kpop differs from the rest.

In the college admissions process, where competition is fierce, standing out amongst the rest is crucial. You can’t get away with a generic college essay talking about Kpop that says, “I was always interested in E’Last.” It’s critical that you mention what your unique journey was in getting into that group.

“But, I got into the group because they had good music and one of the members was super cute! That’s no different from everyone else, right?”

This observation is perhaps true. However, there are typically small details that, if you zero in on them, can make your experience with Kpop unique compared to the rest. Think of HOW Kpop made you feel and WHAT those emotions were in your experience. The more you zero in on the details, the more you’ll start to realize that your experience with Kpop is actually quite unique and special compared to the rest.

Here’s an example.

“The first time I found out about BTS, I wasn’t really all too excited at all. It was with my friends during a sleepover. Samantha would roll over from her side of the bed and poke at me with the plastic corner of her phone to say, ‘see this man, he’s a fine like wine isn’t he?’ That’s when i’d reply with a muffled ‘mmmhm…’ before drifting once again to sleep.

I don’t know why I did that. In fact, I don’t know why I never really bothered to listen or appreciate the next great glimmering object in the distance.

It was like there was some invisible block in myhead telling me to just stick with what was safe. Why bother with anything new to begin with anyway?

But, that’s seldom how Kpop works. It always finds a way to meander itself into one’s life; and I am very, very grateful for that… “

The reason this set of sentences works well is that the admissions officers may infer that the applicant used Kpop as a medium to discover more of the unknown. The applicant had a conservative temperament that was unwilling to try new things; but, Kpop made them into someone who is able to appreciate the new and experiment more.

Don’t Lose Track of the Main Prompt.

So, maybe you had the chance to see Dreamcatcher in your Youtube recommended list. Perhaps that first click is what got you enthralled. It may be the case that their music just made talking about them impossible without getting into a big, giggly fit. Hey, that’s understandable!

Everyone has their favorite group to obsess about. Everyone has their biases. Everyone gets a little bit too captivated sometimes.

However, it’s very common for people who are very passionate about their hobbies, interests, and projects to get tunnel vision about their particular subject. This can be quite devastating, especially if you lose track of the main prompt.

For instance, a university may require you to answer why you deserve to attend their school in a 650-word response. Instead of circling back to answer the question, it can be very easy to think that we need to dedicate 450 words to just how amazing one idol was to you. This would be too much, and it takes away from the main purpose of the college essays.

When writing a college essay about Kpop, one of the best ways to stay on track with the main essay prompt is to implement this rule: every time you write a sentence, look back at the prompt to see if your sentence answers or at least follows into the prompt’s question. If your sentence either answers the prompt or leads into it, then you know you’re on the right track.

So, an essay that only dives deeper into the history and lore of an idol group without answering the main prompt probably isn’t a good idea.

Weave Your Story Into a Narrative Format.

The college essay narrative format is exactly what it sounds like, a narrative. This means that your college essay will be structured much like how someone tells a story. This is not in a practical or overly-formal structure.

The narrative format typically works for anyone writing about meaningful hobbies, personal experiences, interests, and personal projects. This is because these topics help paint a good picture for admissions officers to see more of “you” in your character rather than just the scores you’ve earned and your academic performance.

Kpop as a college essay topic typically works very well for narrative formats. It gives you the chance to show more of your personality through your deep passion and interest in Kpop. However, most stans and fans have a special journey connected with their relationship with Kpop. It may have started with an off-handed recommendation from a friend. Or, it could have started from sheer curiosity after hearing about a certain idol.

No matter how you were introduced to Kpop, most if not everyone has had a journey with it. The narrative format will help you build the proper foundation for your story. The important thing to consider when doing this is making sure your narrative story dives deep into what you felt and what it made you into. How did your personal Kpop journey mold and change you into the person you are today? How do those qualities contribute to making you a great candidate for this school?

If you are still struggling with writing your college essay about Kpop, or have any questions at all about the writing process, don’t be afraid to contact us for a free consultation. Our 30-minute college admissions phone consultation will help you navigate the essay writing process and create a strong essay that will stand out amongst the rest of the applicants.