<p>My son is seeking advice as to whether going with "a topic of your choice" is a good idea. He would be discussing a personal interest and an unusual hobby. He is a little bit nervous about doing this, especially since the short essay is already about an EC or work experience. His short essay would be on a completely different topic, but an EC. Thanks for in advance for your replies.</p>
<p>Both my kids went with “topic of your choice” with great results. IMO it’s more important to be able to write with passion, insight, and specificity than to speak to any specific prompt.</p>
<p>Mine thought it was “topic of your choice” til he was done then realized it was an important event. Totally agree with MM–go with his gut on what he wants to write: what makes him unique, what he loves. Give them an opportunity to get to know him at a much deeper level than the boxes he’s checked. The category is irrelevant.</p>
<p>My D had two essays–one that spotlighted what she wanted to study at college and what she wanted to achieve. The other essay had to do with her major EC. Rather than try to make an essay fit the topic, she just chose topic of your choice.</p>
<p>The thing that you need to keep in mind–the point of the application is to put forward to the admissions committee information you think they should know in making a decision about whether to accept you or not. I wouldn’t write 2 essays about the same thing, that’s all.</p>
<p>Well, what if he writes a short essay about an EC at school, but his longer essay is about an outside interest that has nothing to do with school, but is more of a hobby/passion (ie: stamp collecting, or yodeling)? Are yodeling or stamp collecting reasons to be accepted to a school? Well, those hobbies can create diverse interests, but how much are those interests contributing to campus life? Is it silly to write about a topic like stamp collecting, when you can write about ECs like your volunteer work, performance in the school’s play, or playing football for your high school? The schools would already see those ECs as they would be listed on the application.</p>
<p>All three of mine wrote on “topic of their choice” for the common app. (Two of them actually also applied to Stanford before it started accepting the common app, so their Stanford essay became “topic of their choice” for the common app.) Worked very well for all of them.</p>
<p>It really does not matter what the topic is, as long as it is a good essay.</p>
<p>The purpose of the college essay is to show that there is a living breathing person behund the list of numbers, that would be fun to meet and talk to/live with/study with/have on campus. He does not need to tell what he is going to contribute to the college life in his essay. He just needs to come across as someone the reader would be curious to meet and talk to.</p>
<p>nngmm, thanks. I guess I am losing sight of purpose of the essay. He has been on several interviews where there was a bit of pressure to tell adcoms if he’d like to continue with xyz ECs (not for scholarship purposes, but just to know if he will continue doing xyz).</p>
<p>If you can spin a yarn about stamp collecting or yodeling that would hold the interest of an admissions officer who reads thousands of essays, I think it would help immensely. It may seem a little riskier than going with the tried and true volunteer, sport, performance EC, but it could pay dividends.</p>
<p>The adcoms are trying to get a handle on who you are, beyond the GPA, Sat scores and list of extra curriculars. If this essay puts a personality to the record, it would make a great topic. I hope that after reading the essay, the adcom would say–I’d like to meet this kid in the flesh.</p>
<p>I take it that he wants to write about “stamp collecting” and you don’t think it’s a great idea?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the prompts; Only use them if you need help getting started. Your goal should be to write the best essay possible. After it’s written, if it fits one of the prompts then great, but if it doesn’t, don’t worry about it. Choosing “Topic of Your Choice” will not hurt you.</p>
<p>ellemenope, actually I like the topic that my son wants to write about. My son was questioning whether the schools really don’t want a topic of your choice, even though it is listed as an option. Then I began second guessing myself, and thinking that he should write that “safe essay” rather than something that is unrelated to school ECs, community service, how he would contribute to the diversity of the campus, or other usual topics for college admission essays.</p>
<p>I think they love “topic of your choice” for the way it breaks up the monotony of reading stacks of similar essays.</p>
<p>my s1 chose topic of his own whenever he was allowed to do so. given he got an EA form a prestigious school, it obviously did not hurt him.</p>
<p>Tell him to put his mind at rest–schools don’t mind if you write on a topic of your choice. Two D’s who wrote on topic of their choice and both got into super selective schools.</p>
<p>Just so it tells them something about you, the admissions people do not care what that Common App essay is about.</p>
<p>My d also chose “topic of choice” for her essay. In her essay she discussed - as your son is considering - “a personal interest and an unusual hobby” with her short essay pertaining to another ec. Great admission results, including some comments about her essay. One university called and asked permission to keep and use her essay for college admission sessions and writing seminars. The university commented that it captured perfectly “the voice of the applicant.” Anyway a good essay can introduce the student in a way that gpa/test/resume doesn’t.</p>
<p>FWIW - If my daughter’s essay had been dropped in a pile of 100, I would have been able to pick it out after the first sentence or two.</p>
<p>I have posted my thoughts about how I view the components of an application…</p>
<p>Scores provide a baseline that can be compared locally, regionally and nationally</p>
<p>Grades and class mix then provide a measurement against the applicant’s tested abilities … consistent? Better than ability or worse than the test scores. This helps identify effort needed to succeed… and or the interest in really learning. Is the applicant challenging themselves with the toughest courseload? </p>
<p>References and Guidance letters help to firm up the view of the candidate… do they participate, lead or hinder and distract from teaching. </p>
<p>EC’s help flesh out who the applicant is… is there consistency or depth to their interests? Do they understand commitment and passion… leadership again can be evaluated from EC’s…</p>
<p>Interviews are rarely used to accept or eliminate applicants… I view them as able to provide the schools with a last chance red flag warning… from a consistent voice since most alums that do interviews do them annually…</p>
<p>Finally, the essay is the applicants final way to say “Hey, choose me!!” That is why something as mundane as a morning shower which kickstarts one’s day or how stamp collecting provides a connection with a grandparent or an outlet for one’s organizational or travel instincts… it is the chance for the kid’s voice to be heard… how they can add to the mix on campus or why they would be a great roommate… topic of your own choice is a wonderful option if that is what your kid wants… it is okay to not go with the significant event or person blah blah blah…</p>
<p>Look at some of the different applications… look at Univ of Chicago and their essay choices… one year they asked “what is your favorite food?” which we all know can be an easy conversation starter… Columbia has some great aspects to their application too if I remember correctly… </p>
<p>one of my son’s wrote about being first in line for the early chair lift on Saturday mornings to get first tracks and the folks he befriended week after week… another wrote about learning how to knit from a school intersession event (a 3 day experiential learning period in-between first and second semesters, held in January and needed by kids and faculty alike!!) He found knitting to be very calming… which surprised him because he was still learning and mistakes were not as frustrating as he expected… blah blah blah… </p>
<p>As a parent, I personally learned that their voice is not our voice… the only thing I try to advise any more is to stay away from writing about death, tragedy etc… this is always a challenge because it can be so traumatic and vivid in the short life of the applicant, but keeping the reader in mind helps veer kids away from these topics, I hope!!</p>
<p>If a school only wanted essays on specific topics, “topic of your choice” would not be an option so don’t worry about that aspect. The purpose of the essay is to give life to the numbers and list of activities already mentioned in the app. The “safe essay” is not usually the way to go. Stamp collecting or yodeling would make a far better topic than volunteer work (read it a million times) or, the big game(never a good topic). But dig deeper to keep it from becoming a report on stamp collecting. He should write what he feels, not what he thinks they want to hear. Safe essays are generally flat.</p>
<p>RE: Interviews asking about continuing with “XYZ” activity:</p>
<p>There are a couple of reasons why interviewers will ask for this information (may or may not relate to why it should be put in an essay)</p>
<p>1) Kid has talked about this EC, our school doesn’t offer it.
a) Does kid know we don’t offer it (school is looking for kids to “show the love”…but…if we don’t offer what they love, how much do they really love us?)
b) Kid knows we don’t offer it, but tells us about how happy they will be here ,anyway (or…even better…kid knows we don’t offer it, but will try to start an organization for it.)</p>
<p>2) Kid has talked about this EC, it’s a possible hook, but does kid really care about it, or are they just using it for a hook?</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>An update: My son has to had to produce an essay because one school has an early bird app deal and it is due in 12 days. This is a blessing because because it got him working on a college essay ;). Well, my son decided to stick with writing about a topic of his own choice. His passion and his personality definitely shines through. I really had no idea that he could write an interesting essay about this topic, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is still a very rough first draft, but it won’t take much more time for him to make some minor changes. Yay! I think that he can use this essay for his long commonapp essay as well.</p>