Are my topics too stereotypical?

The clock is ticking fast and college admissions are coming or already here for most places. As a first generation Asian American, I am really scared of fulfilling that Asian stereotype for colleges. I don’t want someone reading my essays and being like wow… another one… what a surprise!

  1. My entire life my family’s perception of success is whether or not someone is a doctor. Up until high school, I thought that I was going to be a doctor until I took my first biology and computer class. I learned if I can’t stand to stomach basic biology that I would hate being a doctor, and I learned that I have had a passion for computers but have just been denying it because I want to fulfill my parent’s American dreams. So, the rest of it would be explaining me entrance into the computer field (starting clubs, doing computer classes, winning computer related awards, etc.) and how I have been trying to change my parent’s and my own perception that success is measured in a job when it should be examined by happiness and how much your enjoying what you are doing.

A) I am not sure about doing this because I think it sounds really cliche.
B) I am sure that someone is probably going to do something like this, and I want to be different.

  1. Another topic that I am thinking about is my experience for running for senior class president and breaking out my shell/shark suit. I wanted to talk about just being known as the only Asian in my grade and feeling like I did not belong. I wanted my senior year to be great, and I wanted to leave an impact and be known more for than that girl that does wins math and computer stuff. So, I ran for senior class president. Knowing that I probably wasn’t going to win because people didn’t know me and my school would not let us campaign other than our speech, I decided to wear a shark suit for a month to people’s attention. I ended up winning against someone who has won every year. (Not sure if I want to mention this, but I used Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up song and did a kart wheel for speech video).

A) If I do end up doing this topic, I am not sure if I want to add the storyline of how I gave up being valedictorian (My school requests that student government positions take that student government course which counts as a regular class rather than an AP or honors bump) because I rather make a lasting mark on my community as well as encourage other minorities in my community to stand up and be leaders. (idk if I should mention that I am the first female and Asian President).
B) I might want to mention that I learned to interact with other students and relate to others.
B) I am not sure if this prompt paints me in a good light or shows what makes me different.
C) I am thinking that I could combine these topics? This topic seems a bit stereotypical in that I ran for ___ type deal.

Should I go back to the drawing board? Thank you for your help!

Either topic could make a compelling essay if it’s well done. I have a collection of essays written by accepted students to top colleges and the common denominator is the applicants reveal themselves in a very personal way. For example, one wrote about overcoming the attitude that “men don’t cry,” by detailing his own struggles and giving himself permission to cry. He was accepted at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT. Another applicant wrote about her first debate competition and how she failed miserably. She detailed her emotions and feelings of failure and then illustrated how she moved on to become successful. She was accepted at Yale, Penn, Amherst, Swarthmore and Wellesley. I could go on but you get the picture. Both of your potential topics would work. The second one seems to offer more opportunity to get personal. You could describe how you felt wearing the shark suit, talk about how your heart was pounding at your grand finale and so on. Hope this helps!

Thank you again! I really appreciate the time and help! :)! Do you have any advice on how to get personal without being too personal? I want to be able to express myself, but I am not all to sure how. My words are typically straight forward when it comes to touchy feels type stuff.

I think the second topic has the potential to showcase your personality and also entertain. Remember to “show, not tell” as you craft your essay.

Just reading your description of each essay, I found the second topic more interesting.