Cheesy essay topics

College Essays
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<p>First, I apologize if we had a thread on this recently... haven't been on this forum for a while.</p>

<p>So, what are some cheesy essay topics? Everytime I come up with an essay topic I deem to be good, I find out that it's a overdone. </p>

<p>e.g. having a dead parent (it's not like a lot of applicants have gone through this, so I don't see how this is typical)</p>

<p>winning some sports tournament or losing and learning from your lessons (I don't personally know anyone who has won anything huge)</p>

<p>practicing and winning some other contest? E.g. Science/Math thingys for M.I.T. </p>

<p>What else is overdone?</p>

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<p>You might want to check out “On Writing the College Application Essay”. It’s got a list of some overdone topics. </p>

<p>I know one of them is death of a loved one. Believe it or not, most people have experienced this by the time they apply for college. Unless you can make your essay somewhat uplifting, I wouldn’t write about it, especially if it’s a recent death. My boyfriend died last year and I’m definitely not going to write about it to colleges. However, I did read a really great essay by a girl whose dad had died about collecting bottle caps; the main focus was her hobby and the passion and fun she had doing it, which she’d started at a very young age with her dad, rather than the fact that OH MY DAD IS DEAD. </p>

<p>Another one is getting a sports injury and nursing yourself back to health, showing “persistence” and “overcoming obstacles”.</p>

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<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Wait… so is studying really hard for some contest overdone too? </p>

<p>And do adcoms (from top colleges) only care about big competitions? What if I studied really hard for some small competition (like a local science olympics thing) and didn’t exactly win it (like got Third or something)? Would that look bad? </p>

<p>And what about basing your essay on a role model?</p>