college essay on costco

Read the College Essay About Costco That Got This Senior Into 5 Ivy League Schools

(And Stanford.)

Meet Brittany Stinson, an 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, who just last week found out she got into Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, and Stanford. What is so special about Stinson, you might ask? Besides the fact she's undoubtedly an excellent student, she wrote her college essay on Costco. Yes, Costco.

The Common Application prompt was: "Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story." Stinson felt her background as a "Costco veteran" was meaningful enough to share and she was right.

It takes a brilliant creature to elevate stuffing your face with free samples to a metaphor about having an appetite for life and approaching obstacles with curiosity instead of fear, but that's exactly what she did. You can read her essay in full below ... and spend the rest of the day thinking about what you plan to accomplish with the rest of your life.

Managing to break free from my mother's grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother's eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon sugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrial-sized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco. Notorious for its oversized portions and dollar-fifty hot dog combo, Costco is the apex of consumerism. From the days spent being toted around in a shopping cart to when I was finally tall enough to reach lofty sample trays, Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life. As a veteran Costco shopper, I navigate the aisles of foodstuffs, thrusting the majority of my weight upon a generously filled shopping cart whose enormity juxtaposes my small frame. Over time, I've developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weight-loss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well-mannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity. While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the 'all beef' goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirty-three ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia's workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52" plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson's controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory's dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits – qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likeable–and tender. I adopted my exploratory skills, fine tuned by Costco, towards my intellectual endeavors. Just as I sampled buffalo chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart–one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, cross country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest. My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the "what"; I want to hunt for the "whys" and dissect the "hows". In essence, I subsist on discovery.

Follow Tess on Twitter .

Tess Koman covers breaking (food) news, opinion pieces, and features on larger happenings in the food world. She oversees editorial content on Delish. Her work has appeared on Cosmopolitan.com, Elle.com, and Esquire.com.

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The Costco Essay Deconstructed

Article updated on November 15, 2019

Students searching for exemplary examples of college admissions essays may already be familiar with what has come to be known as The Costco Essay , but it is worth digging a little deeper to understand how this essay that “ got a high school senior in to 5 Ivy League colleges ” actually works.

Many people have noted that the essay alone did not get the student admitted to all these schools, rather it was the totality of her application. This is of course true! We have ourselves written extensively about the 11 distinct criteria colleges use to evaluate applicants, but the fact remains that when so many students have great grades and test scores, your college essays are clearly an important opportunity to stand out.

I caution all my students not to read an excessive amount of examples, because it can become overwhelming to compare too many glowing finished essays to one’s own blank page or early draft in progress. But if you read in the right spirit, I believe a few examples can be both instructive and inspiring. I have tried to explain some of what I find compelling about the Costco Essay.

Prompt 1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Now more than ever, colleges are affirming the weight given to a student’s character as it comes through across all elements of an application. So have no illusions that grades and test scores make one applicant more qualified or deserving of admission to college than another. We are not looking at the whole application, but in addition to being well written, this essay demonstrates of the kind of character that Ivy League and all colleges want on their campus.

Thanks for reading!

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If you’re looking for more personalized 1-to-1 counseling through the college admission process, PCC is here for you. To learn about our comprehensive packages click here .

If you’re not already receiving The Savvy Applicant (our weekly newsletter where we share important college admissions news and actionable guidance) you can subscribe at the top right of this page.

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Essay About Love for Costco Wins Student Admission to Five Ivies

Brittany Stinson got accepted to five Ivies plus Stanford after writing her college essay about Costco.

A college essay about one teen's drive to explore life — as well as her deep and abiding love for Costco — has won over admissions counselors at six of the most prestigious schools in the U.S.

Brittany Stinson, an 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, found out last week that she got into five Ivy League universities — Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell — as well as the similarly competitive Stanford.

Stinson, the only child of Terry and Joe Stinson, neither of whom are Ivy League nor Stanford graduates themselves, wants to be a doctor, and her mother says she has always been a strong student.

Special section: Get tips and advice about college at College Game Plan

“She’s always gotten straight As, takes the most rigorous courses she can, and is first in her class,” Terry Stinson, a Brazilian immigrant who became an American citizen only a few years ago, told NBC News.

Aside from her academics, Stinson's unusual essay made her college application stand out.

In response to the essay question, which asks students to share a "background, identity, interest or talent that is so meaningful," their application would be incomplete without it, Stinson described her admiration for America's largest wholesale warehouse — and how "the kingdom of Costco" was symbolic of so much more in her life.

“Just as I sampled buffalo chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart–one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious,” she wrote. “I sampled calculus, cross-country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world.”

Writing about Costco felt natural to her, she told NBC News.

“I had always gone to Costco while growing up. It was a constant part of my childhood. I Iooked forward to trips on the weekends, and I had always treated it as a Disneyland of sorts. I was always curious about the place. The same attitude carried over to everything I tried in life,” she said.

While it was risky to write about something so outlandish, Stinson felt like she needed something to stand out amid other applicants with similar grades, extracurriculars, and SAT scores.

“I couldn’t afford to go via the traditional route. I would actually be more worried about taking a traditional route at the risk of blending in with other applicants,” Stinson said. “I knew that writing about my experiences at Costco would at least make for a memorable essay, whether [admissions committees] loved or hated it. On another hand, I felt that the essay ended up being such an accurate representation of me and my personality.”

Related: After Bouncing Between Foster Homes, Golf Caddie Gets Full Ride to College

Stinson’s father, Joe, said he believes his daughter’s greatest strengths are “her fortitude and tenacity, to choose among many.” Her English teacher for the past two years, Leslie Wagner of Concord High School, says writing is one of those strengths too.

“Brittany has always had a knack for finding just the right phrase. She has a quiet demeanor overall, but in her writing her wit and her skill with language is quite apparent,” Wagner told NBC News.

Now, Stinson has a tough choice ahead of her. She said she has “no clue” which of the universities that admitted her she will choose.

“Admitted student day visits are going to be so vital. We’ll also be comparing financial aid packages,” she said.

Read Brittany Stinson's full essay below, reprinted with her permission:

Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother’s eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon-sugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrialsized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco.

Notorious for its oversized portions and dollar-fifty hot dog combo, Costco is the apex of consumerism. From the days spent being toted around in a shopping cart to when I was finally tall enough to reach lofty sample trays, Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life. As a veteran Costco shopper, I navigate the aisles of foodstuffs, thrusting the majority of my weight upon a generously filled shopping cart whose enormity juxtaposes my small frame. Over time, I’ve developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weight-loss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well-mannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity.

While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the ‘all beef’ goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirty-three ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia's workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52” plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson’s controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory’s dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits – qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likeable–and tender.

I adopted my exploratory skills, fine tuned by Costco, towards my intellectual endeavors. Just as I sampled buffalo-chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart–one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, cross-country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest.

My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the “what”; I want to hunt for the “whys” and dissect the “hows”. In essence, I subsist on discovery.

Costco College Essay: An Analysis

Yep, that’s right: it’s the famous Costco college essay that got Brittany Stinson into five Ivy League schools. Said schools include Columbia, Yale, UPenn, Cornell, and Dartmouth.

Now, this application essay was considered one of the “quintessential college essays” that every student was expected to strive for. It had a lot of positive attributes to it, notably its creativity, that made the college essay so strong in the application.

But here’s the thing: there are also mistakes in this essay that future applicants should be wary of.

It’s okay though. Here at PenningPapers, we try not to be a Negative Nancy. In fact, we just want to provide the most value from our admissions advice so that our clients and readers get the most useful analysis.

It just so happens that the Costco College essay covers a wide range of topics that could be useful for our readers to know.

We want our readers to be well-equipped to face their own college applications; thusly so, we have compiled a list of both the primary positive and negative attributes of the Costco college essay.

The Costco College Essay

Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother’s eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamonsugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrialsized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco. Notorious for its oversized portions and dollarfifty hot dog combo, Costco is the apex of consumerism. From the days spent being toted around in a shopping cart to when I was finally tall enough to reach lofty sample trays, Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life. As a veteran Costco shopper, I navigate the aisles of foodstuffs, thrusting the majority of my weight upon a generously filled shopping cart whose enormity juxtaposes my small frame. Over time, I’ve developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weightloss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more wellmannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity. While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the ‘all beef’ goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirtythree ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia’s workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52″ plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson’s controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory’s dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits – qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likeable-and tender. I adopted my exploratory skills, fine tuned by Costco, towards my intellectual endeavors. Just as I sampled buffalochicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart-one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, crosscountry running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest. My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the “what”; I want to hunt for the “whys” and dissect the “hows”. In essence, I subsist on discovery.

The Costco College Essay: Critique

Unique Topic: This seems to be an underrated one. There are plenty of essays about serving as a camp counselor, and plenty more about playing the violin. The value of a unique topic like Costco is that it provides admissions officers with something different to read from the hundreds of thousands of similar essays. Having a unique topic in your college essay will make admissions officers love your story more than others who have less special ones.

Interesting Narrative: a strong narrative is arguably one of the most vital parts of the college admissions process. If you can capture the attention of the admissions officers with your words, you can put yourself in a much more positive light than the rest of the competition. Take this one for example: “. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirtythree ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will?”

Now, we do want to clarify that writing this well correctly and effectively so that the admissions officers DON’T find your essay ostentatious and overbearing is hard. There is a fine line between having capturing language and having pretentious language.

We recommend that if you feel uncomfortable with writing in this style but would still like to beat out the rest of the competition in the admissions pool, you should speak to our admissions experts to talk about how you can get your college essay edited.

Outdated subject: Whichever subject you talk about, make sure that it is not too far from your current year. The farther away your experience is from high school, the more irrelevant it becomes. It is very hard for people to believe that a child’s characteristics have transferred to their adult selves.

More importantly, admissions officers would like to know more about how you changed in the current time; there is little use in knowing what positive changes or character traits you’ve had in the past.

Cliché “thirst for knowledge”: There’s not much else to say about this section other than the fact that writing that you have a “thirst for knowledge” has been overdone. There are plenty of students who write that they are curious and are always learning. Unfortunately, this has become so saturated that it is sometimes even mocked in not just the admissions process but in job applications too. Even business gurus have been mocked for it: take Tai Lopez and his regrettable “knowledge” video.

Corny ending: Here at Penningpapers, the intro paragraph is the most important paragraph of all, but that doesn’t mean the ending paragraph should be neglected. A bad ending paragraph will still leave a bad taste in the admissions officer’s mouth. So, what’s wrong with the ending? Well, it’s the mention of the “whys” “hows” and the “in essence.” These are famous lines that parallel Nietzsche’s quote “He who has a why can bear any how”. The “whys” and “hows” have been overplayed, and in STEM related college essays, we’ve found that the words “in essense” more times than we could count. The essay in all wasn’t particularly bad, but hearing the last paragraph made us want to puke.

In short, Brittany Stinson’s Costco college essay wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly a piece that stood out amongst the rest of the admissions essays. Perhaps you, dear reader, would like to make your admissions essay perfect. Perhaps you would like to make it as good as possible to remove any doubt of college acceptance, or even make up for poor scores. Perhaps it is too difficult to compete in the admissions process because your dream school is far too prestigious and competitive.

For that, we recommend you shoot us a call or send us a message so we can take a look at your application because remember: even the best application essays have critical flaws without editing!

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A high schooler was accepted to five Ivy League colleges with an essay about Costco

It took just a few short hours on Apr. 1 for Concord High School senior Brittany Stinson to go viral. Not because she staged an epic prank—though more than a few skeptics assumed that her sudden notoriety was an April Fool’s Day fakeout—but for her very real, decidedly eccentric college applications essay that helped garner her admission to five Ivy League colleges and Stanford University.

The essay isn’t your typical exercise in academic humblebragging or lofty save-the-world aspiration: It’s a nostalgic, free-form musing on the joys of shopping at Costco with her mom . And while it shows a young essayist’s tendency to overwrite (the Achilles heel of some of us older wordsmiths as well), it also provides insight into a mind that takes creative risks and thinks with expansive originality.

Coming as it does in the thick of a heated debate over “holistic” evaluation standards at elite colleges—admissions practices that extend beyond comparing grades and scores to include assessments of character and the impact of background and cultural identity on a student’s academic journey—Stinson’s essay has generated a whirling array of reactions. After being posted on Business Insider last week, her essay was read over a million times and shared many thousands more on social media.

Brittany Stinson, in the store that started it all.

Many have found it charming and compelling, while others have attacked it as an example of the antics holistic admissions practices encourage among applicants hoping to stand out. The truth is, these two opinions aren’t mutually exclusive. Stinson’s SAT scores were in the high 90-something percentile (she wouldn’t say exactly her score) and she’s on track to graduate as her class’s valedictorian. Meanwhile, she participated in highly competitive STEM programs, loaded up on AP classes, was a competitive cross-country runner, and an active participant in her local community.

“I’d definitely fit in with the nerds, although the kids at our school would probably categorize us as the overachievers, instead,” Stinson says. “I’d like to study neuroscience in college. I volunteered in a research lab working on a genetics project at the University of Delaware. This was one of my favorite extracurriculars. I’m definitely pursuing research in college.”

All of these factors mark her as a strong candidate for an elite university. Of course, tens of thousands of other applicants had similarly outstanding academic and extracurricular profiles this year. Stinson’s essay, however, must have suggested to schools that she would bring with her a unique and interesting point of view.

Stinson acknowledges that her status as the daughter of a Brazilian immigrant mother who identifies as black, and a white US-born father, likely gave her admissions case a boost.

“I did declare my race and ethnicity on my applications. I think my background likely made my application stand out and impacted it positively,” she says, noting that she is also a proponent of affirmative action policies. “Many who criticize affirmative action think that nearly all minority admitted students are somehow less qualified, undeserving, or that ‘they took a spot’ from a more deserving non-minority student. I think that affirmative action makes a well-qualified minority student stand out, but it will never cause an unqualified student to be admitted. Non-minorities are still benefiting from a system built in their favor.”

At the same time, as clearly evidenced by Stinson, striving for diversity isn’t just about redress for past and present inequities. It’s also about bringing together a group of people with different ways of looking at the world—people who will spend four or more years side by side, learning from and being shaped by fresh and unique perspectives.

”College is a place where we learn just as much outside the classroom as we do inside,” says Stinson. “By being exposed to people of different races, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, and religions, we can learn from their experiences. Diversity enriches an education.”

While surprised that her essay has received so much attention, Stinson said she thinks it may have resonated because of the universality of its thesis.

“I’ve seen negative comments online from people who weren’t familiar with the literary devices I was trying to use. I’ve seen people say that it’s ‘ridiculous’ that my essay involved Costco, but I don’t think they’ve even scratched the surface,” she says. “They think that in order for an essay to have depth, it needs to involve tragedy, inspiration, or overcoming adversity. I don’t know if many applicants usually explore the mundane in their essays—that seems to have taken a lot of people by surprise. I thought that this essay was a genuine representation of myself: I’m a sarcastic, dorky weirdo with a passion for science and I tried to demonstrate that I’m the kind of person who finds meaning in seemingly ordinary things.”

Which might well be the perfect summary of the college experience: It’s a chapter in life during which young people go off to find meaning in seemingly ordinary things—most particularly, in other people.

For universities, this means recruiting student bodies that represent the best and brightest of a world of worlds: Diversity of heritage and faith, of nationality and culture, of class and familial background, and yes, of race and ethnicity.

Evaluating students by scores and grades alone can’t deliver on that promise. Only by understanding the person behind the scholarly achievements, and the context in which they were earned, can universities build a student body that reflects the kaleidoscopic array of ideas, traditions, and perspectives of our increasingly global society. Which means that those who attack holistic admissions fail to recognize that diversity isn’t an irrelevant factor in the making of an elite college education—it is, as Stinson points out, the very thing that makes these schools worth attending.

Here is Stinson’s essay, republished below with her permission:

Prompt 1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother’s eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon-sugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrial sized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco. Notorious for its oversized portions and dollar-fifty hot dog combo, Costco is the apex of consumerism. From the days spent being toted around in a shopping cart to when I was finally tall enough to reach lofty sample trays, Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life. As a veteran Costco shopper, I navigate the aisles of foodstuffs, thrusting the majority of my weight upon a generously filled shopping cart whose enormity juxtaposes my small frame. Over time, I’ve developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weight-loss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more wellmannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity.

While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the “all beef” goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirty-three ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia’s workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52-inch plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson’s controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory’s dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits—qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likable–and tender. I adopted my exploratory skills, fine-tuned by Costco, towards my intellectual endeavors. Just as I sampled buffalo-chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart–one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, cross-country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest. My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the “what”; I want to hunt for the “whys” and dissect the “hows”. In essence, I subsist on discovery.

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[Updated] A Teen Got Into 5 Ivy League Schools With This College Essay About Costco

" If there exists a 33 ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will."

High school senior Brittany Stinson wrote about her passion in her college essay, and it got her into five Ivy League schools.

Her passion just happens to be wholesale warehouse Costco.

The prompt instructed applicants to write about "a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it." So, Brittany wrote about trips to Costco with her family, and now her essay is going viral.

Brittany, who in addition to being a great writer is also a straight-A student, told NBC News she doesn't know yet which school she'll attend but that she wants to be a doctor. Brittany was accepted to Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell — as well as Stanford.

"I had always gone to Costco while growing up. It was a constant part of my childhood. I Iooked forward to trips on the weekends, and I had always treated it as a Disneyland of sorts," she told the outlet. "I was always curious about the place. The same attitude carried over to everything I tried in life."

We'll leave you with this deep nugget from the essay:

" If there exists a thirtythree ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will."

Update 4:25 p.m.: A Costco spokesperson tells Seventeen.com: "We are flattered that Brittany would choose Costco as the backdrop for her entrance essay and wish her the very best as she considers these exceptional universities."

Kate Storey is the author of White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port and the senior features editor at Rolling Stone . She was previously a staff writer at Esquire , where she covered culture and politics, and has written long-form profiles and narrative features for Vanity Fair , Marie Claire , Town & Country , and other publications.

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This Senior's Essay On The Philosophy Of Costco Helped Get Her Into 5 Ivy League Schools

Getty / Costco

College admissions essays: How does one set out to write 500-1000 words that could change his or her life forever? Just being the most unapologetic you that you can be is the best route, IMHO -- and it's a good bet one extremely happy Delaware student would offer the same advice.

Delaware teen Brittany Stinson got accepted to 10 colleges, half of them Ivy League schools. The high school senior now gets to decide between Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth and Cornell — not to mention Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, New York University, Boston University, and Stanford. 😮🎓

Stinson shared her college admissions essay with Business Insider , and it -- along with stellar academics and extracurriculars, of course -- has been lauded as a big reason she was accepted to such spectacular schools.

Her essay was, literally, about big box wholesale store Costco, home of 5 pound tubs of Country Crock margarine . Metaphorically, it was a rumination on life, growing up, and having a real hunger for knowledge.

"I just did something that was me," Stinson told BI. "I knew I was capable of weaving in humor into the essay, and I knew that with kids that have similar extracurriculars and scores you need to stand out when it comes to the essay."

Stinson's essay is replete with such literary gems as, "If there exists a 33 ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will?" and "Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well-mannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity."

But, it's the ending of her essay that brings home her thesis that Costco is just a metaphor of her thirst for life.

"My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the 'what'; I want to hunt for the 'whys' and dissect the 'hows'. In essence, I subsist on discovery."

Read Stinson's fire college essay in full on BI .

H/T Mashable

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A Teen Got Into 5 Ivy League Schools With This College Essay About Costco

From Seventeen

High school senior Brittany Stinson wrote about her passion in her college essay, and it got her into five Ivy League schools.

Her passion just happens to be wholesale warehouse Costco.

"Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life ... I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco," she writes in the essay , reprinted with her permission on Business Insider . " Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more wellmannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity."

We'll leave you with this deep nugget from the essay:

" If there exists a thirtythree ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will."

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ICYMI- Why The Costco College Essay Is Crucial Reading for Future College Applicants

At this point, it’s almost been impossible to avoid reading about the amazing Costco college essay that secured one lucky applicant admission to several Ivies and Stanford. It’s a great essay, but not everyone seems to understand why, so CEA Founder Stacey Brook broke it down and offered some lessons that everyone can take away from this well-executed piece of prose:

By now you have probably heard about or read the college essay by high schooler Brittany Stinson detailing how her routine trips to Costco shaped her life and world. In the piece, now officially at viral status , Stinson paints a vivid picture of how wandering up and down the aisles at her favorite big box store inspired her to ponder the addictive nature of Nutella, imagine physics experiments involving 3-pound tubs of sour cream and converse with her father about historical figures who share their aliases with giant hams . The essay is clever, warm and highly observant and introspective. If Costco is a kingdom, as Brittany claims, she is currently its reigning Queen. […]

The Business Insider piece that originally introduced Stinson’s essay to the world framed her success in their title: “This Essay Got a High School Senior Into 5 Ivy League Schools and Stanford.” As a college essay expert and advisor, I would love to be able to tell you that a college essay can get you into the school of your dreams. But the truth is, a wide array of factors are considered in admissions decisions and the essay is just one of them. And media attention that focuses exclusively on students who gain admission to multiple Ivy League Institutions sends the wrong message to students (and parents) about what is important and why they should pay attention to Stinson’s writing.

Stinson’s essay was not her ticket to admission. It was a thoughtfully crafted, brilliantly executed piece of a very complex puzzle. Still, the college essay is a highly significant piece of the puzzle in that it is one of the only opportunities students have to speak to admissions officers in their own voices and highlight something about their personalities or passions that allows them to stand our from other, similarly qualified candidates.

So what should students and parents take away from the Costco essay?

Read the rest at Huffington Post .

About Thea Hogarth

View all posts by Thea Hogarth »

Written by Thea Hogarth

Category: College Admissions , Essay Tips

Tags: advice , college acceptance , college applications , college essay , costco , huffington post , tips

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Smart Living

This High School Student Got Into 5 Ivy Leagues With a Brilliant Essay About . . . Costco?

Updated on 5/16/2016 at 8:00 PM

The popular saying-turned-cliché "write what you know" has long been used as the steadfast rule for high school students and novelists alike. Well, for her college admissions essay, one high school senior did just that — and it turns out that she knows Costco . She knows Costco really well.

A current senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, DE, Brittany Stinson has garnered attention for her brilliant essay (since shared with Business Insider ) about the beloved wholesale store that ended up getting her into five Ivy League universities: Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania. Stinson was also admitted to Stanford — which is known for its notoriously low acceptance rate.

In her essay, Stinson recognized Costco as the invariable "apex of consumerism" that it is but also as the sprawling space that nurtured her curiosity at a young age. Below, you can read her full essay, which continues to delight readers and prove that those acceptance letters were well-deserved.

Managing to break free from my mother's grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother's eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon sugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrial-sized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco. Notorious for its oversized portions and dollarfifty hot dog combo, Costco is the apex of consumerism. From the days spent being toted around in a shopping cart to when I was finally tall enough to reach lofty sample trays, Costco has endured a steady presence throughout my life. As a veteran Costco shopper, I navigate the aisles of foodstuffs, thrusting the majority of my weight upon a generously filled shopping cart whose enormity juxtaposes my small frame. Over time, I've developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weightloss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well-mannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity. While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the 'all beef' goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirty-three ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia's workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52" plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson's controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory's dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits — qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likeable — and tender. I adopted my exploratory skills, fine tuned by Costco, towards my intellectual endeavors. Just as I sampled buffalo chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart — one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, cross country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest. My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the "what"; I want to hunt for the "whys" and dissect the "hows". In essence, I subsist on discovery.

Why The Costco Essay Is Crucial Reading for Future College Applicants (And Also Why It's Not)

Founder and Chief Advisor at College Essay Advisors and Creator of College Essay Academy

A backlit shopping trolley. 3D render with HDRI lighting and raytraced textures.

Every year around acceptance time college essays of successful applicants are published (and then shared and reshared) for both the admiration and dissection of students, parents, journalists and admissions experts. Publications like USA Today , Refinery29 and even People latched onto this year's acceptance story, most of them acknowledging Stinson's writing prowess, and many focusing even more on the accomplishments purportedly made possible by such a stellar submission .

The Business Insider piece that originally introduced Stinson's essay to the world framed her success in their title: "This Essay Got a High School Senior Into 5 Ivy League Schools and Stanford." As a college essay expert and advisor, I would love to be able to tell you that a college essay can get you into the school of your dreams. But the truth is, a wide array of factors are considered in admissions decisions and the essay is just one of them. And media attention that focuses exclusively on students who gain admission to multiple Ivy League Institutions sends the wrong message to students (and parents) about what is important and why they should pay attention to Stinson's writing.

Stinson's essay was not her ticket to admission. It was a thoughtfully crafted, brilliantly executed piece of a very complex puzzle. Still, the college essay is a highly significant piece of the puzzle in that it is one of the only opportunities students have to speak to admissions officers in their own voices and highlight something about their personalities or passions that allows them to stand our from other, similarly qualified candidates.

So what should students and parents take away from the Costco essay? Here are a few things Stinson did right that you want to try and emulate in your own essay:

Be specific . The lively scene Stinson paints is so compelling because of the incredible number of details she includes about her Costco experience. She contemplates other patrons' selections, describing "carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weight ¬loss supplements." She recounts the tale of a shopper "losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52" plasma screen TV and all." Even the opening portrait of Stinson as a two year-old losing her churro (it "gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree") in her race to explore the aisles piques the reader's interest and establishes Stinson as an energized explorer of an exciting world we might have once viewed as mundane. The inclusion of these observations also substantiates the claims the writer ultimately makes about herself. They're the key component of the "show, don't tell" approach and are much more powerful, concrete demonstrations of her character than a sentence that simply says, "I have always been curious." Connect your topic to your larger personality qualities and characteristics. This essay about Costco is not really about Costco. It is about Stinson's intellectual curiosity, her untamable imagination and her ability to link these qualities back to one place in her life where those qualities revealed themselves. She writes:

"Just as I sampled buffalo¬ chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart-one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious. I sampled calculus, cross¬ country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites."

Stinson's desire to taste all life had to offer is clearly not relegated to formerly-frozen food served up in tiny Solo cups.

Lean into your voice. Just like a seventeen year-old leans into a fully-stacked Costco shopping cart. By the time admissions reads your essay they know many things about you, but they don't know what it would be like to sit in a room and have a conversation with you. Reading Stinson's essay, you get a sense of her lightness and humor. She isn't stiff or fake. She seems both genuine and genuinely like a person you want to be around. This is accomplished by trusting your instincts and writing in a way that feels natural to you. Maybe the following lines, amusing as they are, do not sound like things you would say or write: "Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well ¬mannered than its uncultured counterpart?"

Fret not and trust yourself. You will find the words that sound like you.

Notice how none of this advice suggests you "write in metaphors" or "search for weird topics." For all the good that can come out of combing through Stinson's carefully crafted words, there is a danger in leaning too heavily on essay examples of former applicants.

Students can be easily spooked by stellar admissions essays, especially when these applicants are in the vulnerable position of trying to get their own personal perspectives out of their subconscious and onto the page. It can be discouraging to compare your earliest ideas and drafts to final, edited masterpieces. "What if I'm boring?" they tend to ask themselves. "What if I can't figure out how to write about why I am just like a toaster oven or how my trips to Costco changed my life and worldview?"

This is why it is crucial to internalize that this Costco essay represents just one example of an approach that might work in a winning admissions essay. It worked for Stinson because this style allowed her to honestly and creatively represent her passions, thought processes, quick wit and blooming imagination. Put the strategies in your shopping cart and keep moving down the aisles. After a lot of brainstorming, some careful contemplation, and maybe even a Costco ice cream cone or two (to fuel brainpower, obviously), you'll know when you've found the right combination of topic, voice and style, be they oversized or a bit more subdued. Then it's time to hit the checkout counter and bring it all home.

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From our partner, more in college.

Student writes college essay about Costco, accepted into five Ivies

If a superstore has impacted your life, you might want to write about it.

It seems 18-year-old high school senior Brittany Stinson submitted an essay about her love for Costco and got some pretty good responses, specifically, a big "yes" from the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Dartmouth College, Columbia University and Cornell University, according to NBCnews.com .

Oh, and she also got in to Stanford.

RELATED New York teen accepted to all eight Ivy League schools

When asked why she chose Costco as her essay topic, Stinson told NBC that Costco has always been a part of her childhood and that going to Costco was like going to Disneyland.

Read Stinson’s amazing essay here .

Sam Lisker is a student at Ithaca College and a USA TODAY College digital producer.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.

This essay got a high-school senior into 5 Ivy League schools and Stanford

High-school senior Brittany Stinson was accepted into five Ivy League schools — Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell.

She also got into Stanford, which has an acceptance rate of 4.69% — a lower rate than any of the Ivy League schools.

"I'm sort of still in shock. I don't think I've processed everything yet," she excitedly told Business Insider.

The Ivy League is notoriously hard to get into, as the hundreds of thousands of other applicants to the eight elite schools are well aware.

Watch: Here's what Costco looked like when it opened in 1983 and the annual membership was $25

Main content

Student Gets Into 5 Ivies With College Essay About Love for Costco

Published april 6, 2016 • updated on april 6, 2016 at 2:39 pm.

An 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, was accepted into five Ivy League schools and another prestigious university after writing a "memorable essay" describing her admiration for America's largest wholesale warehouse, NBC News reported.

Brittany Stinson got into Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Cornell and Stanford. The straight-A student tells NBC News that writing about Costco felt natural to her.

"I had always gone to Costco while growing up. It was a constant part of my childhood. I looked forward to trips on the weekends, and I had always treated it as a Disneyland of sorts. I was always curious about the place. The same attitude carried over to everything I tried in life," Stinson said.

Free Consultation

Ok Fine. I’ll Write About the Awe-inspiring Costco Essay

by Mattie Culkin

First thoughts: It’s aight. I see why she got in places. My biggest negative towards the whole thing was actually how calculated and polished the piece was. Yes, it’s a wacky Costco essay. But to a trained eye, it’s the work of a professional writer expertly crafting a work that will make a student come off well. One of the greatest magic tricks we as consultants play is making it seem like we were never there at all. The much rougher version of this type of essay is the essay I can tell a parent wrote. Those tend to be calculated as hell but never polished and usually really bad. This is a much higher level of touch-up.

Or maybe it wasn’t! I don’t know; perhaps she’s just both extraordinarily talented and knows how to professionally craft college work. And hey, she got in. Maybe I should take this as a bit of advice for myself.

Because of that, I’m less interested in giving this piece a grade (8.5. Needs more believable substance in the middle. See notes.) and more diving into what kind of thought process went into making the piece in the first place. I also start doing that editor thing halfway through where I say an essay is good only to then tear it to shreds line by line. Sorry. The doctor says it’s incurable.

Take this as an analysis of what I think goes into a top-tier college essay. As well as the type of feedback and advice I tend to give when doing my editing. Spoiler: It’s a lot more about strategy than talent.

https://www.businessinsider.com/high-school-senior-who-got-into-5-ivy-league-schools-shares-her-admissions-essay-2016-4

Managing to break free from my mother’s grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning.

This, students, is what we call a “hook.” A hook is a way of starting a piece of writing by presenting ongoing events immediately, live, as if the reader were an onlooker in the store themselves. The goal is to create intrigue and excitement by jumping right into the action before explaining the context. In a more general sense, the concept being used here is “en media res.”

I tend not to like hooks because everyone does hooks. College essays aren’t a zero-sum game, and it’s essential to realize that your essay will be read alongside hundreds of others. By using “best practices” to a tee, you end up with a problem that your “excellent” writing is excellent in the same way as everyone else’s. Gotta be two steps ahead, ya know?

I also don’t like hooks because they’re hard and I’m bad at them. I’m bad at intros in general. I will say that for a hook, this one is good. You want your reader to be intrigued by your info: not confused. There’s not too much going on here before the story opens up. Girl is excited about something. Oh, hey, I like Costco, too.

My mother’s eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon-sugar rocket gracefully sliced its way through the air while I continued my spree. I sprinted through the aisles, looking up in awe at the massive bulk products that towered over me. Overcome with wonder, I wanted to touch and taste, to stick my head into industrial-sized freezers, to explore every crevice. I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples. Before inevitably being whisked away into a shopping cart, I scaled a mountain of plush toys and surveyed the expanse that lay before me: the kingdom of Costco.

OK, shoutout to this girl. I’d pretty much been coming to this conclusion on my own, but this is an excellent paragraph to explain what “show don’t tell means.” Reread this paragraph, but this time, focus less on the content and more on what you learn about the author through what she writes. Make a list. Here’s mine:

– She’s high-energy and a bit impulsive

– She emphasizes tangible experiences. She wants to see, taste, smell everything life has to offer

– She has an eye for gravitas and seeks wonder in everything she does

– She’s imaginative and likes to fancy her situation as more important than it probably is

– She can be extra

Even if you’re not trying to psychoanalyze her, anyone reading this paragraph will get a sense of this girl’s personality. Excitable and adventurous. Because this is well written, it doesn’t feel forced.

The “tell” version of this paragraph would be like, “I’ve always seen places I’ve gone to as fairytale lands to explore. When I’m in Cosco, I’m the queen of the market, and every overstocked shelf is my liege.”

I did the thing again, where I wrote an example trying to make it sound bad, only for it also to be fine. This is why I don’t think telling is necessarily that bad. But she did show, and she did it well.

I wouldn’t have kept the “apex of consumerism” line. Like, it is. But that’s not what this Costco essay is about. That implies her favorite thing about Costco is supporting free-market capitalism.

I think I would have cut this entire paragraph. It doesn’t add much, and I think we as readers already know what Costco is and why someone might like it. It’s not bad on its own, but there’s space lower where I’d like something more tangible, and cutting this would have saved 77 words for later.

Over time, I’ve developed a habit of observing fellow patrons tote their carts piled with frozen burritos, cheese puffs, tubs of ice cream, and weightloss supplements. Perusing the aisles gave me time to ponder. Who needs three pounds of sour cream? Was cultured yogurt any more well mannered than its uncultured counterpart? Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity.

This is a fun college admissions essay. Unfettered curiosity is probably my favorite line in this Costco essay. I will be stealing that.

I don’t like “Finitudes and infinitudes.” Finitudes and infinitudes of what? She goes on to address individual ones, but the clause as a whole means absolutely nothing without context. I would probably want something as verbose. “Finitudes and infinitudes of the wholesale galaxy but a foodcourt away.” I’ll write someday about using big-kid writer words and phrasing. I’m not the guy to tell you to put down the thesaurus. But I will tell you only to use words that make sense and enhance the sentence. When you use big words just to use them, they tend to come off as forced or inauthentic. I discourage forced or inauthentic writing.

This is probably the right place to ask a question I have with the piece: is she ironic? My answer is “no.” But maybe? I would want to ask her and get a straight answer. Then we lean harder into one direction or the other. This essay reads like 80% legit power fantasy and 20% “lol Costco am I right?” I feel like the former is the right angle and why this piece popped as it did instead of falling into “le quirky teen” camp. But I would have wanted to make it 100% sincere.

I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirtythree ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia’s workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52″ plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson’s controversiality. There was no questioning Old Hickory’s dedication; he was steadfast in his beliefs and pursuits – qualities I am compelled to admire, yet his morals were crooked. We both found the ham to be more likeable-and tender.

I would have shortened the part about the lady crashing into one sentence. Too much content, not about her. I might have her change it entirely to a third story just about her. I think there’s a clash where it goes story about her/nutella, a different person wiping out, her/father/ham. In trios like this, it helps to theme them, so the reader doesn’t have to reorient their understanding for each story.

I get to this more in my final notes, but this paragraph ain’t it. One hundred thirty-four words, and I just don’t like it that much.

With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world. Whether it be through attempting aerial yoga, learning how to chart blackbody radiation using astronomical software, or dancing in front of hundreds of people, I am compelled to try any activity that interests me in the slightest.

This section is what I like to call the “getting my shit in” paragraph. I laughed because I’ve done paragraphs precisely like it in essays precisely like this one. And those paragraphs always fall in this exact spot: right before the big dramatic ending.

There are two types of common apps essay:

A cool thing you did
What makes you tick

I’m sure you’ll be able to find me ones that are out of those realms, but I’ve done a lot of these, and those are the two themes that get hit 95% of the time. More and more, “what makes you tick” seems to make for a more powerful essay. That’s what those third UC essays I wrote about last time tended to focus on.

The problem with those types of essays is it’s hard to then also get your shit in. College essays serve a lot of masters, and one of those is making sure the reader knows you’ve worked your ass off and have a damn good reason to have done so. The quick fix is this exact paragraph:

“Yes, I love Costco. JUST AS I LOVE YOGA AND DEVELOPING SOFTWARE IN MY SPARE TIME.”

I think I’m inching closer and closer to just dropping this paragraph from my student’s works. Seeing someone else do the same thing makes me realize how forced it feels. But I also want them to get their shit in…

Do you know what my actual takeaway is after reading through this whole thing again? This essay didn’t need to be about Costco. There is another, near-identical essay in which this girl is at an amusement park, or playground, or ice cream shop, or anywhere else with lots of exciting things that you can interact with. Finding wonderment in the only somewhat-extraordinary is a thematic device that extends well past a particular big-box store.

It could also be set at a Walmart or Sams Club. But she went with Costco. And that’s why it worked, and she became a meme. Everyone likes Costco. Everyone knows what Costco is . But no one likes Costco as much as this girl. Or at least that’s what she wants you to think.

All Costco is in this essay is a vehicle for her to explain how she thinks and feels. I covered it in the “Show don’t tell” section after the second paragraph. And that is by far the most compelling paragraph in the essay. I found myself less enamored with what came after, simply because I don’t think I got that same sense of discovery or interest about either the store or her.

If I were to touch this draft up, I would want her to talk more about why this sense of wonderment is only possible at Costco and/or connect Costco to herself more directly. I think too much of her work was based upon “Costco has a lot of stuff.” And it does! But that’s only a part of what makes Costco Costco. Walmart has giant TVs and people watching galore, too.

Where were the free samples? The frozen meat room to hang out in on a hot day? The guy spending seven seconds at the exit to make sure all $543 worth of stuff you bought you paid for? Where were the free samples?

Then I would have wanted those free samples to link back to her life in more believable, more explanatory ways. I mention that the piece started to wander into parody territory for me, and that was because her rationales stopped being believable for what she was describing. I’m fine suspending my disbelief that Costco is her mecca. Totally cool. But if I start getting confused or losing the logic behind what she says, it all turns into word soup.

She also could have bailed on Costco sooner and opened things up more naturally. Instead of the “getting my shit in” section, the entire second half could have been a more natural explanation of how her wonderment at Costco matches her wonderment in life. I just didn’t find what she wrote in the final third credible.

(I FOUND THE FREE SAMPLES! THEY WERE IN THE PARAGRAPH I LIKED!)

But they’re mentioned briefly and then tossed aside. I think that was a huge mistake. That stuff is the gold in this essay. I would have had her cut a couple of lines from paragraph two and bring them back in as their own paragraphs. “ I was a conquistador, but rather than searching the land for El Dorado, I scoured aisles for free samples.” has way more juice in it than just that one line. It’s such a good line, tho.

I legit think what happened is she got 300 words into this piece and went, “wait, what else does Costco have?” That’s why she started to have to reach for more generic and less important stuff to her.

That second paragraph is fantastic. And it’s why I liked the essay so much more the first time I read it then when I delved deeper. That paragraph was so good that my takeaway was “PRO WRITER DID IT.” I’m not so sure anymore. I think a pro would have guided her better to hit a lot of the same notes I wanted to see in the second half.

I figure a lot of people will like that second paragraph and then kind of skim the rest. Maybe that works. Reminds me of those 80-classic-rock-hits collections you can buy where the first song is Freebird and you’re like Oh shit Freebird but then you buy it and there’s also Life in the Fastlane and that’s not bad but then songs 3-80 you’ve never heard of except for Whiskey in the Jar which you only know because you got really into Thin Lizzy when you were 14.

I still give it like a 7.5. It seems a lot of people are split between new paradigm and actually bad. I see a good essay with an ingenious framing device that overshoots its load early and could have used structural changes to make it truly pop.

What do you think?

Want more? Check out my FREE strategy guide on the “Why College” essay.

Like this? You might also like:

(This piece won the 2020 r/applyingtocollege acorn award for most helpful post! It’s probably the most important thing I’ve ever written. Half-ideas is such fire omg.)

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Love of Costco makes for a winning college-entrance essay

For the life of me, I can't recall needing to write an essay about why I wanted to attend a particular college or university. It was the early '70s, education was in its experimental stage, and it's quite possible they were just taking any old Bob who applied.

But it's a requirement for many college now. How do you choose what to write about?

Brittany Stinson, an 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, wants to be a doctor. She also wanted to get into some Ivy League schools.

So, of course, she wrote about her love of Costco, NBC reports. And that impressed Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell.

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The assignment was to write about a "background, identity, interest or talent that is so meaningful."

Again, Costco, of course.

"Just as I sampled buffalo chicken dip or chocolate truffles, I probed the realms of history, dance and biology, all in pursuit of the ideal cart-one overflowing with theoretical situations and notions both silly and serious," she wrote. "I sampled calculus, cross-country running, scientific research, all of which are now household favorites. With cart in hand, I do what scares me; I absorb the warehouse that is the world."

She tells NBC she needed to write about something that would make her stand out from all the other applicants.

"I couldn't afford to go via the traditional route. I would actually be more worried about taking a traditional route at the risk of blending in with other applicants," Stinson said. "I knew that writing about my experiences at Costco would at least make for a memorable essay, whether [admissions committees] loved or hated it. On another hand, I felt that the essay ended up being such an accurate representation of me and my personality."

She said she has no clue which institution she'll pick.

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How to write costco essay that gets you into ivy league.

November 6, 2019

Is your child applying to go to college?

If your answer is yes, then you probably know what a common app essay or personal statement is and why universities like Yale and Dartmouth demand it before they can accept your child.

If your answer is no, then you need to read on to find out how Brittany Stinson wrote the Costco essay that got her accepted into all Ivy League schools so you can help your son or daughter to do the same too.

What is Costco Essay?

Costco essay is a personal statement or a college essay that a student by the name of Brittany Stinson wrote in 2016 that got her accepted into all 5 Ivy League schools. She wrote about her love for the Costco stores. She highlighted all the different aspects of the store that helped build her character and interest in her studies. So what was special about her Costco common app essay that made it so successful?

The Topic . People write about their personal experiences every day. But, until this time, no one had written about how a store shaped the person they are; this made the Costco essay theme outstanding. So, when writing your personal statement, ensure to make it stand out by disclosing parts of who you are that make you unique. And, remember to be creative too.
Dig Deep. Brittany could have focused on how her family shopped at Costco. But to make her essay worth reading, she went deep by sharing her experiences there and how those experiences affected her personality growth. Brittany narrated how she would explore the store, against her mother’s wish, and learn more about free samples, sales, and goods. She connected each experience with her desire to achieve success in fields that interest her.
Elegance and Clarity . Brittany wrote the Costco essay with so much elegance and clarity that anyone would have put everything aside just to read through each prose.
The Tone. In her Costco essay, Brittany describes herself as “an unruly child with chubby legs blinded by her greed for knowledge” this must have sparked laughter. She then goes ahead to explain what interests her and how her determination got her to where she is at the moment. Not only was that smart, but it was the glaze that made her personal statement outstanding.

How can you help your child compose such a paper without writing about Costco or using the same format Brittany used?

Start here. Read the Costco college essay; it can be a great writing help if you do not know where to start. It shows you what’s unique about it, the language and tone, and how each story and sentence connect seamlessly. It’s ideal for sparking your own inspiration if you feel lost with your own personal statement.
Brainstorm . After reading that, sit down and brainstorm your own unique ideas that can make your Costco Ivy League essay stand out. As you brainstorm, listen to yourself and concentrate on your creativity. Next, shift through your ideas and arrange them in the correct order.
Originality. You do not want to submit a common app essay that someone else has already presented. Instead, you want to imagine your experience from a different perspective and present it in a format that is unique to you. For example, if you were addicted to Sabrina The Teenage Witch , find a way to show how it helped develop your character or interest in something. Did you ever imagine yourself flying on a broom or casting spells? Explain how that impacted your academics; simply find an original perspective.
Keep it stupid simple . In the Costco college essay, Brittany cleverly explains how her adventures in the store affected her interests in different subjects at school. So, find a simple way to connect your experience to your academic performance.
Confidence. People can sniff insecurities even through your writing; because of this, you must be bold and brave with your words. It goes a long way in showing your confidence to the rest of the world.
The Truth Will Set You Free . You may want to make your essay interesting by adding a few elements to it, make sure that everything you include in the Costco college essay is truthful. If you lie, and you are accepted into your school of choice, your true self will eventually come to light. So, don’t lie.
Edit. Make sure to edit your work to ensure all the loose ends tie together. You can also ask friends and family to read it and then provide feedback on what they think you should improve or change.

In conclusion, now that you know what made Brittany Stinson’s Costco essay stand out and what to do to help your kid write their own, there is nothing stopping him or her from getting into the Ivy League school of their choice.

Take a break from writing.

Top academic experts are here for you.

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IMAGES

Costco Case Study Narrative Essay
The Costco Essay: What Makes It So Good?
Read the College Essay About Costco That Got This Senior Into 5 Ivy
Costco Essay Writing Help
Costco Case Study Argumentative Essay Example
Costco: Analysis of Value Chain and IT Impact Free Essay Example

COMMENTS

Read the College Essay About Costco That Got This Senior Into 5 Ivy
Read the College Essay About Costco That Got This Senior Into 5 Ivy League Schools. (And Stanford.) Meet Brittany Stinson, an 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, who ...
The Costco Essay Deconstructed
Article updated on November 15, 2019. Students searching for exemplary examples of college admissions essays may already be familiar with what has come to be known as The Costco Essay, but it is worth digging a little deeper to understand how this essay that "got a high school senior in to 5 Ivy League colleges" actually works.. Many people have noted that the essay alone did not get the ...
The Costco Essay: What Makes It So Good?
It's also worth noting that Costco wasn't really the focal point of the essay, but rather the framework for it. She mentions many other interests, including scientific research, cross country, and dance—all of these could have made for a more typical college essay. But Costco is an unexpected and humble route into those topics. While ...
Essay About Love for Costco Wins Student Admission to Five Ivies
A college essay about one teen's drive to explore life — as well as her deep and abiding love for Costco — has won over admissions counselors at six of the most prestigious schools in the U.S ...
Costco College Essay: An Analysis
The Costco College Essay: Critique. Pros: Unique Topic: This seems to be an underrated one. There are plenty of essays about serving as a camp counselor, and plenty more about playing the violin. The value of a unique topic like Costco is that it provides admissions officers with something different to read from the hundreds of thousands of ...
A high schooler was accepted to five Ivy League colleges with an essay
The essay isn't your typical exercise in academic humblebragging or lofty save-the-world aspiration: It's a nostalgic, free-form musing on the joys of shopping at Costco with her mom. And ...
PDF Lessons from a Winning Ivy League Essay on Costco
Here's Brittany's Ivy League essay that she submitted to the Common Application (from. Business Insider. Prompt 1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Costco College Essay
[Updated] A Teen Got Into 5 Ivy League Schools With This College Essay About Costco "If there exists a 33 ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will." By Kate Storey Published: Apr 7, 2016.
Brittany Stinson's Costco Essay Got Her into 5 Ivy League Schools
High school senior Brittany Stinson's college application essay about Costco got her into five Ivy League schools -- Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, and University of Pennsylvania.
This Senior's Essay On The Philosophy Of Costco Helped Get Her ...
Her essay was, literally, about big box wholesale store Costco, home of 5 pound tubs of Country Crock margarine. Metaphorically, it was a rumination on life, growing up, and having a real hunger ...
Read the College Essay About Costco That Got This Senior Into 5 ...
Read the College Essay About Costco That Got This Senior Into 5 Ivy League Schools. Tess Koman. Updated April 8, 2016. From Cosmopolitan. Meet Brittany Stinson, an 18-year-old senior at Concord ...
A Teen Got Into 5 Ivy League Schools With This College Essay About Costco
Updated April 8, 2016. From Seventeen. High school senior Brittany Stinson wrote about her passion in her college essay, and it got her into five Ivy League schools. Her passion just happens to be ...
Why The Costco College Essay Is Crucial Reading
ICYMI- Why The Costco College Essay Is Crucial Reading for Future College Applicants. At this point, it's almost been impossible to avoid reading about the amazing Costco college essay that secured one lucky applicant admission to several Ivies and Stanford. It's a great essay, but not everyone seems to understand why, so CEA Founder Stacey ...
College Essay About Costco
In her essay, Stinson recognized Costco as the invariable "apex of consumerism" that it is but also as the sprawling space that nurtured her curiosity at a young age. Below, you can read her full ...
Why The Costco Essay Is Crucial Reading for Future College ...
Stinson's essay was not her ticket to admission. It was a thoughtfully crafted, brilliantly executed piece of a very complex puzzle. Still, the college essay is a highly significant piece of the puzzle in that it is one of the only opportunities students have to speak to admissions officers in their own voices and highlight something about their personalities or passions that allows them to ...
How a High School Senior Wrote an Essay That Got Her Into 5 Ivies
Editor's note: A high school senior named Brittany Stinson earned the education world's attention in April 2016 with a unique college application essay set at Costco. Advertisement
student-writes-college-essay-about-costco-accepted-into-five-ivies
It seems 18-year-old high school senior Brittany Stinson submitted an essay about her love for Costco and got some pretty good responses, specifically, a big "yes" from the University of ...
This essay got a high-school senior into 5 Ivy League schools and Stanford
Brittany Stinson. High-school senior Brittany Stinson was accepted into five Ivy League schools — Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell. Advertisement. She also got ...
Student Gets Into 5 Ivies With College Essay About Love for Costco
An 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, was accepted into five Ivy League schools and another prestigious university after writing a "memorable essay" describing ...
Ok Fine. I'll Write About the Awe-inspiring Costco Essay
Costco gave birth to my unfettered curiosity. This is a fun college admissions essay. Unfettered curiosity is probably my favorite line in this Costco essay. I will be stealing that. While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the 'all beef' goodness that Costco boasted.
Love of Costco makes for a winning college-entrance essay
Brittany Stinson, an 18-year-old senior at Concord High School in Wilmington, wants to be a doctor. She also wanted to get into some Ivy League schools. So, of course, she wrote about her love of ...
Costco Essay Analysis and Writing Tips
Costco Essay in a Nutshell. Costco personal statement is a college essay about Costco stores that a school student Brittany Stinson submitted in response to her application prompt in 2016. She had to describe some meaningful experience that defined her in some way, and chose to write about her life-long relationship with Costco shops.
Costco Essay Writing Tips
Keep it stupid simple. In the Costco college essay, Brittany cleverly explains how her adventures in the store affected her interests in different subjects at school. So, find a simple way to connect your experience to your academic performance. Confidence. People can sniff insecurities even through your writing; because of this, you must be ...
PDF before me: the kingdom of Costco
Sample College Essay 2 FINAL.docx. Managing to break free from my mother's grasp, I charged. With arms flailing and chubby legs fluttering beneath me, I was the ferocious two year old rampaging through Costco on a Saturday morning. My mother's eyes widened in horror as I jettisoned my churro; the cinnamon-sugar rocket gracefully sliced its ...