<p>For one of my school supplements, I'm writing about the effects of self-observation, and the essay is undeniably meta (self-referencing). Now, I think I'm capable of creating a thoughtful piece of writing on this subject, and I'm having a lot of fun writing my essay, but I've read lots of advice against writing meta essays.</p>
<p>So, is this acceptable, or should I steer toward a safer topic?</p>
<p>Is your ENTIRE essay meta, or just part of it? If it’s continually meta, it could be annoying. If it just has a tinge at a point though, it could work, as long as that’s kind of how you are.</p>
<p>I wrote my essay on my switch from a STEM person to a humanities person and showed it to the main essay reader (a teacher) at my school. He said I needed to write not just contrasting my former self with my current self, but talking about what caused the change. I responded, frustrated because I had spent months trying t think of the thing that made me change, and I honestly didn’t know… I said that I know that the adcoms are expecting a solid “thesis,” one overarching reason, but that I didn’t have that. And he told me to write that. I wrote about my former self, a bit about my transition, then about my current self, and then for the last part (I don’t want to put the exact sentence in here, but here’s how it essentially was) I wrote something like “Now is the part where you probably expect me to sum up all of my reasons into one pat thesis - but I can’t. Here’s why: …” I think if you write a genuine, serious essay for most of it and have just one meta part, it can work. (BTW, not necessarily saying mine will work, but in the end I was really proud of it and all of my readers loved it).</p>
<p>Ultimately, the colleges want to read you. If someone you know reads your meta essay and says “Wow, that’s SO DiscipulusBonus!”, then I say go for it. While I would caution against writing an entirely meta essay, I think that ultimately, you need to write who you are - as you said, you’re having fun writing it. I think that’s important. Colleges should be admitting YOU, not who you pretend to be.</p>
<p>I hope that helps a bit? Sorry for my mini essay there haha</p>