<p>Great advice. I think I have a pretty unique angle at this semi common topic. MarinMom, congrats to your daughter for wrestling. It takes a lot of pride and confidence for a girl to wrestle in a dominantly boy arena. So I will definately write about wrestling and how it ties into my specific academic passion and my future goals that associate with my passion. I'll use some physical imagery also, to really stand out and not look like a dumb jock. Two questions- what kind of overall mood should the essay portray and how do I further seperate myself from the "jock essay"?</p>
<p>The thread summary basically says it all: tie the two together. Also, try using this as a platform for what you want to accomplish for the future.</p>
<p>Chances are you'll need to write more than one essay anyway. S. decided to use his sport as topic for one of the short ones. It made no mention of any event, record, championship, etc. They're going to get that information from your application anyhow. He kept it pretty personal, but "light"-- sort of what the sport meant to him. Wrestling is a pretty intense sport, and could make for a really interesting essay topic.</p>
<p>He found the Harry Bauld book helpful, because it made him realize that admissions people read TONS of essays, and the ones that give them a personal, human impression of an applicant are going to be a lot more interesting to read than the ones that are just a rehash of accomplishments.
Good luck!</p>
<p>DD participated in 2 sports while in high school. For one of her essays she compared selecting a college to selecting an athletic shoe : size, color (diversity), price (affordability), style (area of interest) and overall fit.</p>
<p>Well for me, I will be mentioning one game(not the whole essay but that one game was an epiphany in my life. I don't really care how many times they have seen it, because it truly did change who I am today. It was just a normal game, no Championship game or anything.</p>
<p>I think that essay readers are looking for "emotional intelligence" and positive energy in your essays. Do your best to not have any sentence that does not say something about your current world. You have three minutes to show your hometown, home school and yourself as a member of your past world.
How you inhabit your current world and the community values you bring with you to College X is what they are looking for. So let them know who you are and what your upbringing brings to the table.
If your essay about an athletic commitment demonstrates relationships to others, communitiy, sacrifice for a greater good, and most of all wit and joy in living, then you have three minutes to demonstrate that you are someone who is in fact going to be one of the reasons your class "gels" and pulls together. It doesn't really matter if this is for the college newspaper or club sports or varsity sports or volunteer enterprises. Adcoms are building a class. Be as lucid as possible in your essay about where you come from and what you are looking for at College X to take you to the next chapter of life.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters that much what your topic is, but how you write your essay. If your wrestling essay turns into a typical "jock" essay, that's not human at all, and if your academic essay makes you sound like someone who doesn't get out much, that's not good either.</p>
<p>Personally, regardless of what you choose to talk about, make sure you get the same important points across -- that is, passion. Don't worry too much about the stereotypes surrounding a particular type of essay, b/c if you're truly passionate about something, you'll be able to make it different.</p>
<p>Just for the record, I wrote about a sport and how it helped me overcome obstacles in my life, and I'm going to Princeton. It's all in the presentation. Good luck :)</p>
<p>Lol...the plural of thesis is theses....just had to say it :)</p>
<p>There is a very simple answer to this query. College is about academics. End of discussion. The essay should discuss two things, You (the applicant) and your intellectual curiosities that shed light on your personality. Very simple. That is what admissions committees want.</p>
<p>college is about academics, getting in is about winning a beauty contest. Write about wrestling</p>
<p>you could write about how you made great friendships through wrestling and helped your teammates when they had problems</p>
<p>I have a similar problem regarding my college essay. I know we are suppose to write an essay that shows admissons officers who we are. But i do not know to either write about track and how it made me feel like i have a home, my religion and wht it means to me (Sikhism) or about academics.</p>