711: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 10: The Silent Assassin) with Amber Patterson

Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, "On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling," where we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talk about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be.

In this episode, I'm joined by Amber Patterson, Regional Director of Admission at Texas Christian University. This conversation does two things at once. We read a real student essay closely, line by line, and we get inside an admission reader's head to understand what's actually landing as she reads through it.

We get into:

What Amber hopes to learn about a student when she sits down with their personal statement Why TCU has chosen not to use any AI to read applications, and the human moments she says a machine can't pick up How the reading process actually works at TCU  A full breakdown of an essay called "The Silent Assassin," starting with Amber's take on why a clever hook may matter less than students think How to nest a small, everyday challenge inside a larger essay (the hybrid structure), and how a common challenge can be than enough How to subtly weave an extracurricular activity into your essay, and how to actually use the additional information section Amber's honest take on AI for students: where it helps, and where to avoid it Amber Patterson is a first generation, non-traditional college student who earned her Bachelor's degree in Ethnic Studies from Cal State East Bay and a Master of Human Relations degree in Inclusive Leadership from the University of Oklahoma. After a decade as a college counselor in California public high schools, she moved into higher ed and now serves as Regional Director of Admission at Texas Christian University. She has served on WACAC's Executive Board and currently chairs Professional Development for the Regional Admission Counselors of California. What she loves most about this work is helping students find their path to higher education and fostering an environment where every student's unique experiences are valued.

I loved this conversation, and Amber's care for students comes through in every answer. I hope you enjoy it too.

Play-by-Play:

2:21 –  What is often happening in admission offices in June? 3:43 – What does Amber look for in a personal statement?  5:05 – What is the application reading process like at TCU and what is the role of the personal statement?  8:59 – What conversations are happening in the TCU admissions office around using AI for appli