This article is adapted from The 500 Best Ways for Teens to Spend the Summer  by Neill Seltzer

If the greatest summer in the world falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it, it won't help you get into college. You have to tell your story. And if your summer experience was so unusual or so central to your application that you need more than a paragraph or two to explain it, then you've got yourself an essay topic.

Here are the three golden rules for putting your experience into context:

Keep it real. What was the first story you told your parents? How about your friends? When you close your eyes and picture your summer, what is the first thing to come to mind? This is where you start. What did it mean to you? What made it special for you? Forget about what you are supposed to have learned. Forget about trying to make it sound more dramatic or more essay-worthy than it actually was. The admissions people reading the essay want to know about you; they're not interested in hearing what you think they want to hear. Talk about the aspects of your summer that you think you will never forget. It could be the best thing about the summer, the worst, or the scariest. Your essay will be unique and believable because it's true and there's no one quite like you.

Do not talk about how privileged you are to have had the opportunity to do whatever it is that you did. Admissions committees don't care. They don't reward privilege. They read twenty essays every day about how lucky we are here in America, and how we don't realize how much we have, and how you have learned to appreciate the SUV in your driveway since seeing how people live elsewhere. They won't buy it. They're not children or the culture police. Talk about you.

Find a way to relate your experiences over the summer to your day-to-day life. History seems a lot more interesting since you worked on some building originally built by the Romans. You now can appreciate how advanced they were. You had to hike over a ridge for fifteen miles with a full pack. You didn't think that you could do it, but you had no choice. Now you'll think twice about complaining when you are faced with a challenge like writing a ten-page paper. Or your favorite word used to be "awesome." But ever since seeing a glacier up close, you now know what it really means (that great outfit in the store doesn't even come close to qualifying as awesome). You get the picture. Talk about you, your daily life, and the impact of your summer experience.

A Note on Explaining Programs
If your summer was significant, whether you write your essay about it or not, admissions folks need to know about it. If it is a large mainstream program, they are probably familiar with it and you don't have to worry. Just say that you completed the program, when and where, and that should be enough. If the program was smaller or more out of the way, however, they may need more information.

Be careful, however. These folks are very busy and have a lot to read. We're talking hundreds of essays, hundreds of recommendations, and hundreds of applications. The last thing they need is more reading material. If they will accept a brochure, send them that. If not, it is okay to include a brief description of the program, but keep it to one or two paragraphs, nothing more.