<p>I was going to write about my friends that have used overdose on drugs, friends that smoked/got hangovers, etc and the effect of what that had on me. Is this a bad idea? Will colleges reject me cause they might think I will start smoking/doing drugs in college? I'm applying to numerous UC's and will also be using this essay for some privates (they're Catholic/Jesuit colleges though, so that might be a bad idea?)</p>
<p>What would the essay say about you?</p>
<p>It's basically the effect on me and how my more academically achieving peers have derided me cause of these bad influenced friendships. But I talked about how they're not able to see the true loyalty my real friendships had, and even though I didn't condone my friend's actions, I still stuck with them, etc etc lessons learned through them.</p>
<p>I see. Be sure to "Show, Don't Tell", as described further in:</p>
<p>But referring back to my original question, would it be bad to write about having alcohol influenced friends, underage friends that smoked/drank/shopliftted?</p>
<p>Your post #3 describes an essay that focuses on you, that has the potential to "Show, Don't Tell", to be personal, detailed, honest and revealing about yourself. What makes you think that it might be bad to write that essay?</p>
<p>Well I actually mentioned this to someone grading my essay, but he told me that colleges might see this as somewhat bad cause they wouldn't want me to be hanging out with the wrong crowd in college. And especially in college, which is where they would expect me to drink/smoke underage, etc.</p>
<p>Did you specifically choose these friends because they drink/smoke? Do all of your friends drink/smoke? </p>
<p>Or did you have these friends, and they decided to drink/smoke, and you decided not to(?), and yet you stayed with them because you still like them despite some of their choices?</p>
<p>Or how was it exactly?</p>
<p>Ahh no, I chose these friends because of the true loyalty they gave in their friendship, definitely not because they drank/smoke. It just so happened that they started doing these things as we proceeded through high school. Again, I was whiplashed by some of the more academically achieving students (the valedictorians) because I did choose to stay friends with these people. </p>
<p>Risky? :/ Perhaps you would like to read my essay..?</p>
<p>Generally, admissions committees want you to avoid the "three Ds": Death, Divorce, Drugs. They receive a lot of essays about these and most of them are the same.</p>
<p>If you can write very well about it, however, go ahead. But personally, I would pick a different topic.</p>
<p>I have 2 pieces of advice to offer.......
1) No matter what you write about, try to keep it to one experience - i.e. one specific experience you have had with your friends and drugs.
2) Use the bulk of the essay discussing how this experienced has CHANGED you. What did you learn? What have you changed? Did you grow from this experience? Most importantly, how are things going to be different for you in the future?</p>