Are these horrible essay topics? (for the main common app essay)

<p>I feel like I can't write a personal essay without talking about either my religious views or my introversion/overcoming shyness, but I also know that these topics can be bad to write about. Would these two topics be harmful to my application? (I plan on applying to the most selective schools, such as MIT and Cornell, since my stats are very good)</p>

<p>1.) I could talk about how I was a very confused kid because of my parents’ differing views on religion (my dad is an atheist and my mom is catholic). I would relate anecdotes about being forced by my mom to go to Bible school, and then coming home and my dad telling me how wrong religion is and about how evolution and science are the only right things to ‘believe’ in. (I remember him telling me about black holes, galaxies, how nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, and other cool physics stuff when I was only 6 years old.) I would then describe how that experience gave me the opportunity to see both sides, which lead to my decision to choose atheism. I would then talk about the discrimination I faced when I told people I was atheist (my relationships with my friends changed when they found out, and my neighbors’ mother wouldn’t let her kids play with me because I didn’t believe in God – I vividly remember these events). But then my other experiences with religion caused me to become agnostic because I realized that no one can ever know for sure and that it’s not good to discount ideas, although I still think that science and empirical observation are the best. I have little faith in what cannot be proven, but don’t count the unproven as false. This would tie in with my love of science and aspirations to have a career in research because I would be helping humankind learn more about the universe (I plan on applying to engineering schools).
2.) I could also talk about how shy I was as a kid, but how I came to overcome my shyness and appreciate my introverted personality type, mostly through academics, athletics, and my job. I actually have this essay mostly written out (does anyone want to read it? I’ll PM you). The essay basically goes like this: I recount, in detail, a middle school basketball game (students vs teachers), in which I embarrassed myself in front of the whole school. I was too shy to opt out of the basketball game when I was mistakenly signed up for it, and, being extremely uncoordinated and shy, I made a complete fool out of myself. This represented a low point in my life when I sought to escape reality through books and computers, but I grew immensely since then. I describe how my love of academics and success in school gave me more confidence: my first success at public speaking was presenting my 8th grade science fair project. Then, I was able to go out and try soccer and tennis, which I fell in love with and which gave me more self-confidence. I got much better at tennis, and played #1 singles on my high school tennis team in 10th and 11th grades, and became captain in 11th grade. That taught me how to interact with people more, and I recount a particular experience trying (and somewhat failing) to teach a bunch of loud freshman how to play a tiebreaker. I then got a job at a pizza place. I was extremely and absurdly nervous answering the phones and talking to complete strangers at first, but after forcing myself to do this day after day, I grew accustomed to it. I am now comfortable going up to complete strangers and talking to them, which would have been unimaginable in middle school. The essay ends on a very positive and optimistic note. </p>

<p>My main concern for essay option #1 is that it could offend very religious people, and my concern for essay option #2 is that it highlights my negative characteristics because it basically recounts my main struggle in my life. Here are alternate essay topics that I could write about, but they are vaguer and could easily be cliche:
3.) I could talk about how I was a major tomboy when I was younger, and how that affects me today as a female hoping to become an engineer. I sometimes wished I was a guy so that people would stop giving me dolls and girly stuff – I was much more into sports and video games. I remember getting a barbie doll for Christmas while my twin brother got a remote control airplane, which made me very upset (I threw a temper tantrum). I also remember hating when people gave me pink things or typical ‘girly’ things (like stuff with flowers on them), and how I refused to wear anything with pink on it. All throughout elementary school, I was the only girl that played soccer with all the boys at recess and one of only two girls who like to play video games. I never brushed my hair: my teacher once acted like an airplane and put his hands in my hair and jiggled them around in front of everyone and asked why my hair looked like a plane crash, but I wasn’t the least bit embarrassed; I couldn’t understand WHY anyone would waste time on their appearance (this was back when I was very naïve – I understand now the importance of appearances, but I still don’t wear makeup or dresses or straighten my hair or anything like that). I basically didn’t fit the mold of a typical girl then, and I still didn’t in middle school and high school because of my decision to pursue science and computer science. I remember taking my first official programming class in 7th grade and, as one of the only girls there, the teacher pointed it out and asked each of us (but none of the guys) why we wanted to learn how to code. I was startled and blurted out “what difference does it make that we were girls?”
4.) For the “describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content” question, I would describe being able to access the internet and all the wealth of information: I constantly watch documentaries (about science, space exploration, Afghanistan, history, Femen, communism, GMOs, Mali Jihadists, 9/11, etc.), lecture series (MIT Open Courseware, Standford’s intro to chemical engineering, etc.), and general informative videos (Ted Talks, numberPhile, Periodic Videos, Scishow, Vsauce, etc.) online, and read tons of online articles, books, etc. So the place ‘where I am perfectly content’ would be right in front of my computer, but I wouldn’t come out and blatantly say this; I would more describe all the things I can see and read about and it would be implied. [yeah, this idea is really bad]
5.) I could show my enthusiasm for science and problem solving by describing specific events in my day-to-day life: racing my friends in calc class to see who could solve the hardest integrals by hand first, racing my friends in math team to see who could solve the problems first, thinking about coding a particular solution or solving a problem encountered while coding all day until I figured it out, explaining to my friends why water from the water fountain looked white and why the acetone feels cold and evaporates quickly, looking forward to working on my month-long AP Chem lab, doing extra problems in my physics textbook for fun, working very hard on building a linguini bridge for physics class, reading about molecular machines and other scientific topics for fun, etc……
6.) I could do a mock “lab report” that is sort of like a write-up of an experiment to analyze me. [This idea is hard to explain].</p>

<p>I have other ideas, but I am getting tired of writing... So what topic seems the best? Should I definitely not write about 1 or 2?</p>

<p>Topics 4 and 5 are the best ones to write about. Topic 3 is fine. Topic 2 is not as bad as you make it out to be. It is essentially a survival story that shows how you out grew your shyness and find solace in doing what you love. Topic 1 is the most risky, but also the most interesting. There are a few things worth mentioning, such as: The times when your dad told you all about the science stuff at 6 years old (black holes, physics, etc) & how that opened your scientific perception of things, etc. The part about “having faith in what cannot be proven, but don’t count the unproven” is interesting. You can tie that up with your hopes for scientific advancement (etc. biotechnology) & how you plan to do research to help humankind. Of course you can mention how significant advancements have happened during a time when many people did not imagine they could ever be possible. For example, the creation of an artificial heart or robots being able to conduct surgery, etc.</p>

<p>Let’s discuss topic #4. It says either place OR environment. It doesn’t mean you have to put down “being in front of a computer” as a place in which you are most content. You can talk about the learning environment instead. For example, you’re most comfortable in a setting where you are learning something new about science or working on something scientific related. This is where topic 5 comes in. So, it does not have to be a time when you are just observing things. It really isn’t a bad idea. Have a little faith in yourself.
:)</p>

<p>omg I hope you are able to fit your essay into the allotted space! I wouldn’t put all my ideas out there on the internet. They could be copied or used by someone and essays would sound even more repetitive than they already are.</p>

<p>1 is not very interesting to me and seems to center on stuff from when you were very young. It might be my personal bias because I am an atheist and I don’t care if someone is religious or not or why. But it seems just a plain vanilla story I have heard recounted here before. Admissions officers will not at all be offended by such discussion.</p>

<p>2 seems like an interesting story, because you have things to say, it is honest and your recap tell it with humor that I find engaging. But what prompt is this for?</p>

<p>3 is not interesting because much of it is about when you were a little kid. The only interesting thing was your question and I wonder what the answer was.</p>

<p>4 Maybe. I wouldn’t normally say to highlight sitting on the internet, but the variety of interests shown is interesting. But this is just a variation of ‘the library’ in the end, albeit a more interesting version. For this essay, it might be important to show elsewhere ability to interact with people, maybe it is apparent from other EC’s or maybe you are putting that in a short prompt or supplemental essay.</p>

<p>5 What is the prompt?</p>

<p>6 I dunno, what is the prompt? Might be too cutesy. depends if you can pull it off.</p>

<p>Ok so I’m a long time CC reader but just got an account so I could respond to this.
I’m applying to schools this fall also and having ridiculously similar dilemmas-
I think the only worthwhile advice I can give you right now, is to take each topic in which you have confidence and apply an event, moment, or backstory that will serve as your hook. </p>

<p>I know the religion topic has some potential to be offensive …but I’m feeling it, so I’ll use it as an example. I know the whole idea has a general transformation over several years, but you should definitely pick a scene that you can recollect well. Your dad teaching you about the universe or learning that you weren’t allowed to play with your neighbor as a kid are both key memories–they need to be brought to life. I’m sure there are a thousand kids out there with similar religion-grappling stories, but what makes it YOURS is a specific memory, and how you took that memory and let it shape your perception of the world.</p>

<p>Last year my english teacher stressed every day how crucial it was to bring a scene into our essays. Nothing says boring like an essay that drones on through a series of self-descriptions without any concrete events you could use to describe your reactions.
Try to start off with a short story, then pepper it with the consequences of that story’s little moments.</p>

<p>Hope that helps?? I’m totally in the same boat as well.
(PS since I am a new user I can’t PM yet, but would like to figure out how, because like you I’m really science driven and would like to pick your brain on my essay ideas)</p>

<ol>
<li>Religion should be avoided. </li>
<li>U wanna highlight the good stuff, not the bad</li>
<li>Doesnt seem like a good idea</li>
<li>This could be done</li>
<li>If u write it well, sure</li>
<li>No, just no</li>
</ol>

<p>bump! I still don’t know which ideas to use…</p>

<p>Pick which one you’d feel most comfortable writing about, and that you think would have the most positive impression on a stranger. You want them to want you to go to their school, so try to express why they should admit you in your essay. The topic isn’t as important as how you apply it and make it relevant. Good luck!</p>

<p>It doesn’t matter which idea to use. It only matters if you end up with a good essay. So start writing and see if you can produce a good essay. Then the topic all of a sudden becomes unimportant. I said the first topic wasn’t interesting to me but I could easily change my mind with a good essay.</p>

<p>For someone who just had verbal diarrhea all over your first post it is funny that you haven’t started already. Pick 2 topics that you like the best and get draft written.</p>

<p>muhammad, religion does not need to be avoided. As long as it is about you it is fine.</p>