<p>What I meant was that the idea has already been done.</p>
<p>A guy wrote one just like that a few years ago.</p>
<p>It's a pretty famous essay on the internet. Everyone knows about it. </p>
<p>So admissions officers would immediately notice the concept and discard it for plagerism.</p>
<p>"The idea that you should even consider resorting to lies just to get into college is completly unbelievable to me. Your future lies with you (and your character), not the school that you go to. My boss got a plain old BBA from Mich and now he is worth about $8B (yes, Billion). He is smart and works hard, he didn't even bother to get an MBA. Your future relys on you, not on what school you attend."
---Packers1</p>
<p>Those last few sentences really perturb me because I've heard it time and time again that status doesn't affect your outcome. Jobs and occupations are traditionally more likely to accept you if you say you received a degree from Harvard than let's say you earned the exact same degree from the University Of South Florida. Let's face it, the prestige factor DOES matter.</p>
<p>Dekans6: Zoogles was wrong to say that international applications aren't considered separately. They are, at many, if not most, schools.</p>
<p>it's got a good ending, it's original, it's pretty brave - if I was an admissions officer, I'd take it!>></p>
<p>Before ANY ONE gets the bright idea to "copy" that essay and send it off, you should know that that particular essay has been making the rounds of the internet since the early 1990's. Admissions officers at EVERY school in the country are very familiar with that essay, and would recognize it if you tried to submit it, or something similar, in an instant.</p>
<p>About what was being said earlier, the debate between "truth is boring" and "truth is best"... Well, in my humble opinion, I think that it's safer to stick with the truth because you can accurately describe everything. For instance, if you're writing about learning to ride a bike, you know how that really felt, how upset you were when you fell. If you talk about fundraising to help ferrets return to the wild (or something else like that), all your reactions will be fake, and if you're not the best fiction writer ever, the admissions officers will see right through that.</p>
<p>I agree with what some others said, about how the best, most interesting essays are ones that are about ordinary stuff, looked at in an extraordinary way. I remember one that I read. The topic was to describe something that is important to you, and one applicant described Tuesdays. "Tuesdays are cocky. Tuesday is a tease." This is the sort of thing that catches attention, not a fake Indiana Jones story. Trust your admissions officers to know better than that. Write something honest.</p>
<p>Lying - NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Heightening the drama - ehhhhhhhhhhhh... I'll get back to you on that one.</p>
<p>Seriously, though, I'll give you an example from my own life. I am not a very good writer. To be honest, I hate writing. But here's the first paragraph from the essay I'm going to submit this fall.</p>
<p>"The screams of the passengers grew louder. Their horrified faces grew closer; so close I could see their mouths, hanging open in fright. I saw their eyes, wide with fear. I could smell the peculiar odor of metal against metal. I watched in amazement as the train flipped over. The crowd applauded as the roller coaster passed by."</p>
<p>I go on to tell how I sucked up my courage, aided by my friends, and got on. It's about bravery and the acknowledgement of peer pressure. Not earthshaking, but I feel that it's pretty good.</p>
<p>Carolyn - you're right. I can't tell you how many times I've seen that essay. A top adcom was interviewed as saying about the essay, "We get about 200 applications with that essay every year. They all go straight into the trash can."</p>
<p>i thought the made-up essay was hilarious. i'd let someone who does "full-contact origami" into my school.</p>
<p>the essay doesn't talk specifically about the person but it does reveal a lot about his/her character (aka: smart, funny, creative). plus: there's usually other essays to accompany this one that probably aren't written the same way...</p>
<p>i find it way more entertaining that the 1000's of "this community service trip/my sick grandma changed my life in this way."</p>
<p>not every admission's person is going to like your essay but i'll be the bored ones would like this one...</p>
<p>Trvsdrlng- I love your excerpt from your essay. One thing just leapt out screaming at me though: IMHO, I would change "peculiar odor" to "peculiar tang". I just didn't like the word "odor" there. But that's just me. Take it or leave it, I'm just a simple high school student...</p>
<p>q- Could I write my essay on a movie that had a profound affect on me?( it's kill bill vol 2)</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>I don't recommend writing about Kill Bill unless you found some kind of incredibly deep meaning in it.</p>
<p>Yeah, movie-watching doesn't exactly scream "I am a great addition to your college and I will utilize every resource you have!" if you know what I mean. </p>
<p>Unless you had some totally mind-blowing revelation from watching Kill Bill, I wouldn't recommend it. Just me, though.</p>
<p>Ah yes... kill bill taught me not to **** off a blonde texan</p>
<p>Hmmm, I'm actually interested in this whole kill bill essay, and I think if it's done well that it would be a fine essay. I mean my essay was somewhat about Bizet's Carmen [granted not a movie plus is much more celebrated] but seeing it was just a few hours of my life and it worked out for me, so I really think this could work. Good luck :D</p>
<p>The movie essay could work. How did Kill Bill vol.2 affect you?</p>
<p>I think C.S. Lewis puts it well: "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." </p>
<p>It seems the desire to lie comes from this idea that you need to lie to be interesting/original. But one is SO much more interesting and even original when you talk about your real life! People relate well to it. You could write a great essay about going to the market or riding the subway or drinking tea.</p>
<p>Don't write about Kill Bill unless you actually are Uma Thurman.</p>
<p>I completely disagree with the others.
Adbulk, if the movie actually had a profound effect on you and you can write about it earnestly, then power to you! It may stand out, and as long as it's honest and not forced, it could be perfect.</p>
<p>If you are a great writer - use it. What the hell, there is that thing as fiction - and people love it. I read one college essay printed in numerous newspaper describing a guy who wrote an essay that he did "practically everything in life" including wrestling an alligator and getting a nober price but at the end he said that the only thing he didn't do is go to college. every school took him. Use your creativity bro, the process made uall p**ssies. It's not freakin soviet union 1935, they wont put u against the wall and shoot.</p>
<p>You could just take a mundane experience and dramatize it. Keep the experience true but enhance the things that went through your head during the event so it makes it seem more profound than it really is. I wrote an essay for school about how I got punched in the face (accidently) and analyzed elementary school stereotypes and the nerd psyche :).</p>
<p>Seriously I don't buy that "it's bad ethics to make up stories" on your app stuff. Hell it's creative writing for a reason. I agree with dendankin.</p>