Applying - is this essay idea bad?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>One of the supplemental app essays for Michigan is about what groups are you apart of and whats your place within it.</p>

<p>I've thought long and hard about what groups I'm a member of, and I realize that none of them really say anything about me as a person or have anything to do with my identity. Would it be that risky to write about the smallest group I'm a member of - myself?</p>

<p>Would it be an autorejection (especially considering my poor stats) if I still analyzed myself according to the question?</p>

<p>I know it sounds dumb, but it's really the only idea I really have.</p>

2

<p>I wouldn’t risk it myself, to be honest. It’s a cool idea, but incredibly risky if you aren’t confident on your stats.</p>

3

<p>Well, I doubt I would sweat it if I didn’t get in to Michigan. I haven’t thought too much about going there, mostly because it’s more of a reach.</p>

4

<p>Are you sure there’s not a new angle you can take on a group? I thought about the groups I belonged to (social, ethnic, religious, local, etc) and couldn’t find a creative thing to say about any of them. Then I suddenly realized that there was a position I could take on an online community with which I was occasionally involved. I tied that into my passion for knowledge, my perfectionist tendencies, and my desire to use the internet to connect with diverse people who shared a common bond. Are you sure there’s not the chance for you to come up with something novel from a group you haven’t considered?</p>

5

<p>Yeah I’ve been wondering about something like this too.
Is the prompt supposed to be a chance to be creative or brag about ECs?</p>

6

<p>The prompt is intended for you to tell the admissions group something about yourself that they can’t get from your stats and to help them understand what contribution you would make the to UMich community. Talking about a community of one doesn’t exactly suggest that you will add anything to the university community.</p>

7

<p>It wouldn’t be an auto-rejetion. It depends how well you write the essay. If you don’t write an essay that offers some interesting perspective of who you are, then it will appear as some weak attempt at being creative. If you can analyze yourself well, however, and make it apparent why you approached the topic the way you did, I think it would be a strong essay.</p>