<p>Hey, I'm an international applicant from the UK (where our college essays are TOTALLY different), and I'm having trouble knowing if something would be a cliché topic or not. I was going to use the "Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family" prompt, and talk about an internship I had for a month in Spain this year. I've heard like those 'i went to ecuador and helped poor people' essays are really overdone but I was wondering whether this was too close? Idk though, I think it's maybe a bit different, because I was also living alone in Madrid, and working among university grads - so it wasn't like a prepackaged thing. </p>
<p>That sounds like a fine way to address the prompt. The cliche of those “international mission trip” essays are that they imply some life-altering power to a brief contact with the “less fortunate” and they suggest that the author is over-privileged. Your topic sounds more like a transition to living like an adult - not cliche and not hitting on the usual sore spots.</p>