1.4 - BRAINSTORMing

This lesson covers... an efficient way to identify different sides of yourself you may want to show in your application.
By the end you should... have developed some possible content to write a great personal statement.
Time 10-15 minutes
College Essay Essentials This exercise will appear in the Second Edition (2025).

In addition to more “normal” ways of conceptualizing identity—such as race/ethnicity, gender/sex, religion, etc—we’ve found that thinking about ways they explore and express the roles/identities listed below can be a great way for students to brainstorm ideas for a personal statement (such as an identities-threaded montage), or to add depth to a personal statement or supplemental essay draft (see: Hiking essay example).

Click here to download a printable version of the roles/identities exercise

Instructions:

  • Bold the top 10 roles you identify with most right now.

  • Next, underline the Top 5.

  • Italicize 3 values that you are “calling in” (wanting to be/experience more).

  • Finally, write 2-3 sentences or bullet points describing how/where you play these roles in life, or would like to.

 

  • Adventurer

  • Advocate

  • Ally

  • Ambassador

  • Amplifier

  • Anticipator

  • Architect

  • Artist

  • Attuner

  • Author

  • Big picture thinker

  • Bookworm

  • Builder

  • Catalyst

  • Challenger

  • Champion

  • Change-maker

  • Cheerleader 

  • Coach

  • Collaborator

  • Comedian

  • Composer

  • Connector

  • Contrarian

  • Coordinator

  • Counselor

  • Creator

  • C0-Creator

  • Critical thinker

  • Culture-creator

  • Curator

  • Decision-maker

  • Delegator

  • Details person

  • Diplomat

  • Doer

  • Dreamer

  • Empathizer

  • Energizer 

  • Engager

  • Engine

  • Enthusiast

  • Environmentalist

  • Executor

  • Expert

  • Experimenter

  • Explorer

  • Facilitator

  • Fighter

  • Fixer

  • Founder

  • Friend

  • Giver

  • Guide

  • Harmonizer

  • Helper

  • Hole-poker

  • Human calculator

  • Hustler

  • Idealist

  • Improviser

  • Innovator

  • Integrator

  • Interest hopper

  • Interpreter

  • Intuitive

  • Inventor

  • Investigator

  • Leader

  • Learner

  • Listener

  • Maker

  • Mediator

  • Mentor

  • Mess-maker

  • Nature-lover

  • Nerd

  • Nurturer

  • Observer

  • Organizer

  • Party-bringer

  • Peacemaker

  • Pessimist

  • Philosopher

  • Planner

  • Playmate

  • Producer

  • Problem-solver

  • Protector

  • Prophet

  • Question-asker

  • Reader

  • Realist

  • Recommender

  • Refiner

  • Researcher

  • Risk-taker

  • Scientist

  • Seeker

  • Seer

  • Self-starter

  • Shape-shifter

  • Storyteller

  • Strategist

  • Synthesizer

  • Systems-maker 

  • Teacher

  • Team player

  • Telepath

  • Thinker

  • Tinkerer

  • Troubleshooter

  • Truth-teller

  • Unifier

  • Validator

  • Visionary

  • Wanderer

  • Weaver

  • World-builder

  • Writer

  • ___________

  • ___________

  • ___________

← Previous: 1.3 - Warm up exercises
 
Next: 1.5 - Values exercise