Writing and Communication | Building Narratives for Self: Writing an Effective College Essay

About the course

Have you ever wondered whether you’re ready to write a compelling personal essay at this stage in your life? How can such an essay be both engaging and authentic—without sounding boastful or bland? And most importantly, how do you craft a narrative that reflects your whole self—honestly and powerfully YOU!

If you have found yourself thinking about any or all of these questions, then this is the course for you. 

​Building Narratives for Self is a live interactive course that enables participants to pursue a step-by-step process to build cogent, coherent and engaging narratives while writing personal essays. Personal essay has emerged as a powerful literary form—offering a space to share formative experiences, build empathy, and reclaim one’s voice. Whether you’re aiming for a standout college application essay or simply hoping to articulate your story more clearly, this course will equip you with the tools to do so with confidence and integrity.

The course will therefore start with helping you mine and uncover the moments that matter to you the most: your memories of milestones as well as intimate moments which you carry with you as talismans or cautionary tales. We will work to find a singular  thread that connects these moments, giving shape to the foundation for your narrative outline and structure. You will be introduced to a variety of ways to visualise your particular narrative via narrative arcs and shapes of storytelling. As your narrative takes shape, we will focus on strengthening your authorial voice—ensuring your writing feels deeply personal and true to who you are.

The pedagogical elements will include group discussions, peer collaboration, and feedback sessions. We will also discuss at which point in the process it would be useful to take recourse to AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini and when it might be damaging to do so. During the course, we will also bust some myths surrounding writing about one’s own self and learn some best practices about the same. The sessions and writing workshops focus not only on the ‘what’ of ‘good’ writing but more importantly, on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of ‘good’ writing. 

The course will culminate with a capstone project: where you would have crafted a complete personal essay, suitable for college applications or other self-reflective writing goals. 

What’s more? Top students will also achieve an extended opportunity to continued mentorship for crafting custom submission-ready college essays!

“Doing this course has given me a better understanding of how one is supposed to write college application essays and how you are supposed to craft your own unique story.”

– Pariddhi, Grade 11, Prudence School

Eligibility

• High school students from India and across the world are eligible to apply.
• Students should be entering or in grades 9-12 as on the programme commencement date.
• Students should be comfortable with written & spoken English, which will be the medium of instruction for the courses.
• Students should have consistent access to the Internet and a computer that aligns with the recommended minimum specifications.
• Students should have a good and consistent academic record.

Who is this course for?

This course is for high schoolers who are in the critical phase of building their life story for their college applications and admissions-related group discussions and interviews.

Prerequisites: High proficiency in written & spoken English. You will be required to submit your latest mark sheet in the application form.

What do I take away?

By the end of the programme, you will:

1. Write your own unique and compelling story that captures your authentic and singular voice.
2. Develop a winning college application essay/personal statement/supplemental essay/internship cover letter that takes you closer to your professional aspirations.
3. Learn about the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to elevate your writing process. 
4. Enhance creativity and productivity with features like automated brainstorming and style suggestions.
5. Identify your strengths and weaknesses as a writer to become a more confident writer.
6. Learn from the best (and worst) examples of personal stories.
7.  Grab the opportunity for one-to-one mentoring sessions for effective writing.*

*Only for selected students, based on the discretion of the faculty

Programme Details

Week	Lecture Module	Project Module
Week 1	Patterns of Self-discovery Which moments and milestones played a defining role in making you, you? Peer Collaboration Activity: Memory Mapping Circle – Discover meaning in memories, build empathy and identify potential connections.	Writing workshop: Thread your outline Build an outline based on the reflection of your memory map, moments and milestones Get personalized and actionable feedback on your essay outline.
Week 2	Narrative Arcs How do you thread your outline into a narrative arc, which gives the reader a sense of the direction in which your story flows? Peer Collaboration Activity: Narrative Arc Clinics – Test if your story’s structure is engaging, gather multiple perspectives, strengthen the logical flow.	Writing workshop: Visualize your arc Learn strategies to storyboard your outline to build a viable narrative arc for your story. Get feedback on your narrative arc to see if it works.
Week 3	Shapes of Storytelling How do you give shape to your storytelling and figure out which direction your story will move into, making the direction evident for the reader? Peer Collaboration Activity: Shape Swapping Exercise – Consider alternative ways of structuring, gauge impact of different story shapes, push your creative boundaries.	Writing workshop: Mould your story Experiment with different approaches to telling your own story: braiding, framing, collaging, and more. Get feedback based on the particular approach preferred by participants to build your shape of storytelling.
Week 4	Your Authorial Voice How do you identify aspects, lines, phrases and moments that strengthen and weaken your authentic powerful voice – with/without AI tools? Peer Collaboration Activity: Voice Rehearsals – strengthen tone, prepare for wider audiences, stand-out.	Demo Day: Present Your Story Present your story to a guest speaker and polish it further by getting expert guidance and actionable one-to-one feedback.
	Counselling Session: Get a chance to ask questions to the faculty and the mentor and get their answers and perspective. You are encouraged to ask questions to the faculty around the following aspects: What are some related fields that can be explored based on this course topic? What are the future trends in the related fields? How can the course learning help the student enhance their college applications?	Mentoring Session:  You are encouraged to ask questions to the mentor around the following aspects: What are some sub-topics to learn/practice beyond the course? What is the scope of the course topic if the student wants to pursue/study it further? What are some personal projects that can be taken up outside of the course based on the knowledge gained in the course?

 

Capstone Project

Getting your college application ready is going to be your capstone project for this course. This will include three hands-on writing workshops which will focus on reflective writing, outline of the essay, your own introduction in the essay, body of the essay and multiple drafts of the essay. At the end of the project, you will get actionable feedback to make your essay submission ready.

Faculty

Arpita Das is an alumna of St Stephen’s College, Delhi University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for which she received the Felix Scholarship. She is the Founder-Publisher of the award-winning independent publishing house based in New Delhi, Yoda Press. Das teaches the Publishing Seminar to senior students of Creative Writing at Ashoka University and two Foundation Courses called Introduction to Critical Thinking and Great Books to first-year students. In the past, she helped set up the Word Lab at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements in Bangalore, and led the Sage School of Publishing courses at various universities and institutions across India. She contributes a regular column to the New York-based trade journal, Publishing Perspectives. She is also the Editor of the South Asia Series at Melbourne University Publishing. In the past she has been a Sponsoring Editor at Oxford University Press India, Deputy Acquisitions Editor at Sage Publications India and Copyeditor at Harper Collins Publishers India. She has run multiple run Academic Writing Workshops for faculties, research communities, and graduate students at the Centre for Studies of Governance, JNU; South Asian University; Jindal Global University; and CEPT, Ahmedabad; Christ University, Bangalore; Srishti School, Bangalore; TISS, Mumbai; IIT Roorkee, and others.

Grading, assessments, certification and much more

Grading, Assessments, Certification and much more

All Ashoka Horizons courses offer a certificate on satisfactory completion of the course.

• Essay evaluation – 50%
• Class participation & in class assessment – 20%
• Graded short writing assignments – 30%

 Class participation will be assessed based on your active engagement in live sessions, contributions to discussion forums, and involvement in Teaching Fellow-led activities. 

Achieve More…with Horizons:

• Successful Course Completion Certificate
• Letters of Academic Achievement to top 3 students based on exceptional performance 
• Potential extended opportunity to a mentorship for crafting custom submission-ready college essays* 

 *For select students, subject to discretion of the faculty

IT Requirements

This programme  is administered through an online platform. Students are expected to have a foundational understanding of computer usage, including but not limited to sending emails and conducting Internet searches. Consistent access to the Internet and a computer that aligns with the recommended minimum specifications are also requisite for participation in the programme.

Have a question about Ashoka Horizons Achievers Programme? Write to us on horizons@ashoka.edu.in.