There are infinite reasons to blog. To start with, blogging gives you access to a public forum that you can use to a) broadcast your opinions b) showcase what progress you’ve made in a certain area of your life c) organize your thoughts.

There are many people with limitless intentions, and it just so happens that you can create a blog to display and document such intentions.

But today I’m thinking about why creating a blog for the college admissions process is useful.

Can we just stop pretending that all of our lives are straightforwardly built with integrity? At least, in the community where I grew up, an unreasonable emphasis was placed on competition and ending up at a prestigious university. We all sought to make our applications as reflective of ourselves yet as flashy as possible. Human nature has evolved to this. We all do it in some form, I’m merely acknowledging it!

With that idea in mind, a blog is a useful tool for taking a portion of your life, whether it be a hobby, a volunteer project, or some other passion (or in my case, my life) and contextualizing it.

The Common App barely gives you enough space to list 10 activities as one to explain each activity. That one line is often supposed to summarize what may have been four arduous years of involvement. How can you get that level of commitment across to a college admissions board, especially if an interview isn’t guaranteed?

Enter the blog.

Fun fact: the url of most blogs will fit snugly into the one line or so that applications provide to explain an extracurricular. One click can lead an application reader to your world of cooking, or recycling, or volunteerism at the library.

Not only will they know that you’re a library volunteer, they might be able to read about your experience learning the Dewey Decimal system (is that even still a thing?) or reading Harry Potter to first graders. If you wanted, they could see pictures!

Blogs are a great way to timestamp your involvement, as well as demonstrate your personal development. The first post may reveal a bit of doubt and hesitation, but perhaps the most recent even will be some sort of recap or summary of all of the progress and success you’ve found. And if the first blog post dates back five years…