<p>Columbia has been my dream school for as long as I can remember (my dad went to Fu for undergrad, grad, and then got his PhD there, so I practically grew up on campus what with all the times he made us drive into the city to walk around or eat lunch there). Anyway, I'm trying to decide on what topic would be best for my college essay. Right now, I'm considering the following two:</p>
<ol>
<li>My relationship with my autistic older brother and how I've had to grow up faster because of it/what I've learned through our interactions</li>
<li>How, being an Iranian-American, I find it difficult to identify with either group/what I have learned about myself over the years</li>
</ol>
<p>Which do you think is better? Also, what were your college essay topics? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I take it the two topics mentioned above are designated for your commonApp essay? Either will do, provided you’re not counting on the topics as something that will differentiate your work from the other 30K plus essays the adcomms read. It will be your style and quality of writing that will win them over. Also, keep in mind that Columbia also asks for 4 more essays on their supplemental portion of their application, each with a specific question and I’m going to assume those essays carry more weight seeing as my D’s regional admissions officer cited her answers to 2 of the supplemental essays as big pluses to her app standing out. Good Luck to you!</p>
<p>Those look like solid topics provided that you write about them with a distinctive style/sufficient quality. I wrote about my experiences touring a concentration camp as someone with both Nazi-era German and Jewish heritage for my common app essay; the intersection of feminism, knitting, and Batman for one of my supplements; my favorite English class (the question is, what’s your favorite class and why); the Core and why I liked it; and using poetry to communicate queer rights advocacy to local communities. You’ll have space to get fairly personal on two of the supplements, but the other two tend to veer toward the generic (why do you want to go to Columbia and what was your favorite high school class).</p>
<p>For my essay I wrote about being a Nigerian-American and how i didn’t feel like I really fit in either…and i got into Columbia.
But in all honesty, as long as you make either topic personal and unique to you, you should be fine with either one.</p>