Can anyone share experiences with the College Essay Guy Values Exercise?

Absolutely, a lot of students have similar first impressions when they start the College Essay Guy Values Exercise. You end up with things like "honesty," "friendship," or "hard work"—classic values, but they do feel pretty generic at first! The key is not to stop at just the list, but to dig deeper and look for the quirks and stories tied to those values in your actual life.

Here’s what worked for me and for some of my friends: Once you’ve got your top 5-10 values from the exercise, ask yourself when you’ve *struggled* with that value, or when you had to fight for it. Conflict or tension is often what makes an essay unique. For example, instead of writing a broad essay about how you value honesty, you could write about a small, pivotal moment—like the time you admitted to a mistake in a club project, even though your team wanted to gloss over it. What happened next? How did it affect your relationships? What did you do after?

Another tip is to pair values. Sometimes two values in conflict lead to a more interesting story than just focusing on one. For instance, maybe "loyalty" and "independence" both matter to you, but you had to choose between what your family expected and what you wanted for yourself. That situation creates lots of narrative tension and says a lot about who you are.

Personally, I found the exercise helped me get past the pressure to find a flashy "resume story" and instead focus on smaller, more honest moments. For example, I realized "curiosity" was a major value for me, and I wrote about my habit of reading random Wikipedia articles and how that led me to spark unusual conversations with unexpected people, like my neighbor who raises bees. That’s small, but it felt distinctive because it was genuinely *my* brand of curiosity.

My advice: After you choose your values, make a list of 3-4 moments or stories tied to each value, especially any moments you felt challenged. Then look for patterns or overlap. This is where the originality happens—not in the value itself, but in your personal connection to it and how it’s shaped your choices or reactions.

If your values list feels generic, try reframing or combining them. And remember, specificity is your best friend! The more particular your examples, the more your own voice will come through.

Good luck brainstorming!