"Creative" essay?

College Essays
1

<p>I've started casually brainstorming ideas for my college essay (I plan to write it in the summer when I have the time to focus on it) and I came up with what I think is a fairly original idea. But it's more of a story than an actual essay, so I'm not sure if it's what the colleges are looking for.</p>

<p>In freshman year, I took a double-period course called Humanities that students could take in place of a traditional English course and traditional world history course. Essentially we learned world history through the arts, and my teachers were very dynamic in creating unique lessons. The one that stands out most in my mind was our introduction to the Industrial Revolution. We walked into our classroom, and our desks were lined up in two giant rows. We were divided up into groups and told to line up in front of each row. One of my teachers tacked a drawing of a paper doll onto the wall. Our task was to produce several dozen of them in twenty minutes.</p>

<p>We were each given separate jobs - my responsibility was to draw the collar on the shirt. As we worked, our teachers said nothing and just walked around, observing. When we produced a drawing that they didn't like, they would crumple it up and throw it away. The classroom was very hot, and when one student asked if we could open a window, the teachers refused, saying that the "machines" needed a constant temperature in order to function properly. Needless to say, we were all pretty confused about the whole thing, but we became very engrossed in our task. When twenty minutes were up, our teachers had us put the room back in order, and when we were all seated, they wrote on the blackboard: Welcome to the Industrial Revolution!</p>

<p>I think this is a very original story idea, and I can connect it to how much I enjoy learning in a "non-traditional" environment. But I'm afraid that, since the essay is supposed to tell the adcoms about the person I am, this might not work. On a metaphoric level, it does work; I love hands-on learning and thrive on unique learning experiences like this one. But, again, I'm not entirely sure if this is the right way to go with it.</p>

<p>What do you all think? I've got other ideas for the essay, but I'm actually really excited about this one. The others are all fairly mundane and cliche, whereas I'm pretty sure this essay would make me stand out to an adcom. Unless it'll just make my Humanities teachers look insane and sadistic. :-)</p>

2

<p>
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But I'm afraid that, since the essay is supposed to tell the adcoms about the person I am, this might not work. On a metaphoric level, it does work; I love hands-on learning and thrive on unique learning experiences like this one.

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</p>

<p>Can you make this point in a more personal way, by showing a situation in which just you, not an entire class, have created or participated in a hands-on or in a unique learning experience?</p>

3

<p>I was going to write it in first-person and convey my thoughts during the activity in order to make it more personal. Would that still be too much of a stretch?</p>

4

<p>Why don't you write a draft and see if you feel that it is sufficiently personal, detailed, honest and revealing?</p>

5

<p>It sounds interesting. Just convey everything you want in it. You can trim it down later. =]</p>

6

<p>Best of luck with that, though I will say, that assignment is fairly common. I was actually exhausted of it by the time I got to high school (Every year in elementary school we had to do it through a Junior Achievement course, and then in middle school through our social studies course, finally in high school I had to do it twice for two different teachers).</p>

<p>My old high school used to offer a 'Humanities' course that was double blocked as well, however by the time I got there it was phased out.</p>

<p>Regardless, you can really write an essay about anything or nothing, and as long as you shine through it, and it is written well enough, then all is fine. So go for it. I also suggest that you stylize it in your own fashion (ex. you could fashion a sort of mechanical style when describing the machine, and become delirious and dream like [akin to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest] as the heat goes on)</p>