Can a cliche essay work?

College Essays
1

<p>Okay, here's the story:</p>

<p>In ninth grade, I flipped over a broken tennis net at my school. It was a freak accident, and I wound up hitting my elbow. I was pretty sure I broke it, but we didn't have health insurance so I kept quiet about it. I went to a doctor and a radiologist and they both said it was fine, so I put a sling on it for two weeks and went right back to school and my violin quartet.</p>

<p>Finally, while playing my violin at a holiday benefit, I said I was in excruciating pain. An orthopedic from my synagogue took a look at my X-rays and said that I had shattered my capitellum, a very rare and serious elbow injury. It's so rare that I had to go to a special surgeon and he did a documentary on me and everything. Anyway, despite the fears that the bone had died due to lack of blood, three surgeries and months of physical therapy later I regained about 75% of the use of my arm. </p>

<p>The summer, I couldn't sleep and was stretching my arm late at night. Miraculously, it straightened out entirely! I continued to work at stretching it out and against the medical odds I've regained pretty much the full use of my arm. </p>

<p>The thing is, my dad wants me to write my college essay on this experience and how I continued working despite my injury, didn't sue the school, kept stretching my arm and how it sparked my interest in medicine (I want to be a neurologist).</p>

<p>I say it sounds like every other 'I hurt myself playing sports and nursed myself back to health and it taught me perseverance'. Thoughts? Could this work?</p>

2

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<p>Being a little corny is good; colleges love that stuff. However, be sure the essay is still very well written, or else you’re not doing yourself a favor. There are only so many topics that college applicants are going to write about, so don’t worry so much about the topic than about the actual writing.</p>

<p>Writing “and that event is what inspired to become a neurologist,” as the last sentence of your essay, for example, is probably not a good idea. But if you can put together something really nice and interesting, the topic doesn’t matter.</p>

3

<p>Wow, that’s not really all that cliche!</p>

4

<p>Good! Hopefully it won’t sound that way! It was a big event in my life, and I suppose if I write about it in an upbeat style and strenuously avoid sounding whiny, it’ll be okay.</p>

5

<p>Haha I dont think its really cliche, either! The experience is very unique, and it also gives you a chance to talk about the activities you liked/participated in. Good luck :)</p>

6

<p>a cliche essay can work if you do it well. not every essay has to be a trip to zambia or some place exotic and maybe those essays can become cliche. write about the idea/topic well and a cliche can take on new life.</p>