Barnard Supplemental Essay? Woman to converse with?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

<p>I was thinking about using a fiction character from a movie like Mia Thermopolis from Princess Diaries, Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, or Cher from Clueless. Is it okay to use fictional movie characters for this essay? Have people had success using characters for this essay in the past? I don’t want to come across as vapid because I picked a woman from a feel good teen girl flick and not history or a book. I could just as easily choose to write about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O’Connor, Alice Paul, etc. </p>

<p>Would a movie character be okay if I address the influence the fictional character had on me as a child and how the lessons from that movie still continue to influence me? Is it safer to do history, assuming that it is more widely known because I would be screwed if the person revising my application has never seen the movie?</p>

2

<p>Pick one woman in history or fiction to converse with for an hour and explain your choice. What would you talk about?</p>

3

<p>I think you can write about a movie character if you believe she has taught you valuable lessons. Just remember to summarize the movie in case the reader is not familiar with the it.</p>