I’m currently doing the UC application, and am on the optional essay prompt “If you wish, you may use this space to tell us anything else you want us to know about you that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in the application”. My school counselor suggested that I write about a community service trip to Africa that I participated in 2 years ago and talk about how that “changed me”. Do admissions representatives really want to hear about those things? Does it come off as pretentious or corny?
It is a very common topic… too common.
Tread carefully. Essays about poverty tours can be trite, at best, and offensive at worst.
It sounds like you think it would come off as pretentious and corny. Go with your gut. Find something else interesting to put there.
(Also, not to be a jerk (okay, to be a jerk), but where did your counselor go to school? I bet at a much lower-ranked institution than you’re applying to. Take his/her advice accordingly. Jerkiness done.)
Corny can also be sincere. It is something a lot of HS students have trouble being. Snark rules these days. Sincere is good in a college essay. But as stated above, this particular topic is overdone.
Thanks.