<p>Sammy2-</p>
<p>danas is so right! He shouldn't write a travelogue. The travel, itself, isn't the point. The perspective and insight he had gained can/will inform the essay he does write. If it fits, and if it is important, he can briefly say something to the effect that he knows he is fortunate to have had the opportunity to benefit from extensive travel because of his parent's job.</p>
<p>sammy2: I also know the anxiety you must be feeling, but why do you feel this is such a reach? He sounds more than qualified. I think I can guess what school you're talking about, and they love ED there. And he has two bites at the apple (so he really gets to apply to two schools ED). If common app. is done, you can encourage him to write any additional essays, telling him it's just for your own peace of mind. If everything is ready to go, it just takes clicks on the common app. site to send as many as you want, should things not go according to plan.</p>
<p>I think mafool takes the right approach about essay. Or choose one destination and describe it meticulously, full of detail and richness and make it clear that Dad's job gave him the wonderful opportunity, as mafool said. </p>
<p>I told my son to write about what was most meaningful to him, and he chose, wait for it, STAR WARS. I told him to go right ahead, because anyone who knows him, knows that that is him. Balanced his Bach and Latin nicely. His passions: Bach, Beatles, Dylan, Latin and SW. He chose SW and wrote a great essay and was accepted to his first choice school and an Ivy that I thought was a super reach.</p>
<p>You should have seen the shocked look on his face when I told him to go ahead and write the SW essay. I think he thought he was yanking my chain. At least they knew his mother didn't write it! Haha. I have had to watch all six movies several times, and I do not base my personal philosophy on the wisdom of Joda or the discipline of becoming a Jedi knight.</p>
<p>Oh Gosh, Thank you all... I guess I think of it as a reach for he hasnt found the cure for cancer yet as when the kids post their stats seem to have done. It is truly appreciated to hear advice from those who have been there, and those who too are going thur. Thanks again for supporting words.</p>
<p>With the essay, just encourage him to be real to his experience, and let the chips fall where they may. It's not what he writes but how he writes about it that gives a committee a window onto his soul. How he processes one set of experiences tells them how he'll process new learning and people in college. I've read about people whose topics include surprisingly banal topics as well as uplifting themes. So it must be something they bring to it or through it that appeals to the readers. </p>
<p>Remember, too, committees think of not just one person but how the whole group of applicants might turn into a community of learners. If your kid is widely traveled (and insightful), just imagine him rooming with someone who's barely left his city neighborhood (and is insightful). They would complement each other. </p>
<p>Admission committees have to put together a cohort that will, together, create an exciting class of students. You can't possibly know who else they are looking at, can't control any of that. All he can be is himself, but take heart that someone reading WILL be interested and perhaps perceive him within the context of a class.</p>
<p>So just let him be himself and do not worry or try to game it. After the school you hope for admits the 15 students who are curing cancer, there are still hundreds of other dorm rooms to fill ;)</p>
<p>"travel is the #1 big no no."</p>
<p>Wait... essays about travel are completely verboten? S just finished his essay on having traveled to rural Turkey this summer (and I really thought it was pretty good!)</p>
<p>As posters previously stated, the essay should be about the student. Travel essays, as others have noted, say that student is affluent and can afford this esperience, which some feel is a turn off for adcoms who are not wealthy. They may be some reaction against "privilege." However, one thing is does show is that the student probably won't require financial aid, which is a bous if I read mini correctly.</p>
<p>If the experience profoundly affected your son so that he sees his situation differently, fellow feeling for others, etc. I think it's fine. What adcoms don't want is "Turkey was so cool. I'm glad I went there." If he understands something important about hinmself or the human condition, I think that's fine.
They want to know about him, not Turkey.</p>
<p>For the same reason sports essays are supposed to be verboten because they are so predictable. Nevertheless, I'm sure many kids have written them and been accepted to excellent schools.</p>
<p>D and S's friend both wrote about summer programs in the states. One would think that would also been a trite topic, but they both wrote really interesting essays. D's started "I'm a dork," and she explained that the other kids in the group were the first ones who really shared her interests and that this was the first time she completely felt at home in a social group. She is a funny writer so the essay was peppered with funny details about herself (her first favorite song was Cherubino's aria in Marriage of Figaro) and about program (the rap song her friends wrote about their country, Pakistan, in the mock UN. S's friend wrote that the workshop on warfare turned him away from his previous fascination with the mechanics of war toward an understanding of its human costs. Both got into first choice colleges.</p>
<p>Add this one to improbable essay topics: a Ferrari. Actually, it was in response to a Truth/Beauty essay prompt.</p>
<p>Son is now very happy at his first-choice school, and when I met the dean during an accepted-student weekend, she said, "Oh, your son is the one who wrote about the Ferrari!"</p>
<p>You just never know.....</p>