The New York Times has just released this year’s standout essays by graduating seniors.

The essays are a testimony to how the simplest or most mundane thing about your life could become a compelling story. I often tell my students that I could write an essay about brushing my teeth and make you want to read it. [Email me if you’d like assistance with writing your essay: winningcollegeessay@gmail.com.]

Each of these essays has something in common. Notice how each one begins in the middle of an action or a thought. That’s an important aspect of the college essay because space is limited. Knowing how to begin is the key to your success.

Here are the opening paragraphs of each of the essays published in the NY Times on May 11 [Click here to read the complete essays]:

“My grandmother hovers over the stove flame, fanning it as she melodically hums Kikuyu spirituals. She kneads the dough and places it on the stove, her veins throbbing with every movement: a living masterpiece painted by a life of poverty and motherhood. The air becomes thick with smoke and I am soon forced out of the walls of the mud-brick house while she laughs.” —  Eric Ngugi Muthondu

“I always assumed my father wished I had been born a boy.” — Alison Hess

“Not all sons of doctors raise baby ducks and chickens in their kitchen. But I do. My dad taught me.” — Jeffrey C. Yu

“’Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ Not only do Benjamin Franklin’s words still resonate today, but, if you are like most, filing income taxes is simply unpleasant.”     – Caroline S. Beit

Seniors, if you’d like to share the essay you wrote for college admission, send it to winningcollegeessay@gmail.com and, if it’s a standout, I’ll post it here. [The editor reserves the right to reject essays deemed inappropriate in any way — including language, content, and grammar .]