<p>My application feels repetitive. Most of my essays are either about or sometimes mention my job as an cashier... it's my primary EC (low-income family/paying for my own school) and I spend waaaaay too much time at the grocery store. So it's made its way into some of my supplementary essays, briefly in my personal statement, etc. Should I try to avoid this? How can it be avoided? Does anyone else have the same problem? Is it okay because it's such a big part of my life (between work and school, there isn't much else...)?</p>
<p>Remember it’s not the essay topic but your “voice” that comes from it. Read this for help</p>
<p>[Essays</a>, Admission Information, Undergraduate Admission, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html]Essays”>http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html)</p>
<p>You mention “most of my essays”. Aren’t you just recycling the same essay for multiple schools? Why are you writing so many versions?</p>
<p>For one of my essays, I wrote about the shame I felt after “outing” one of my best friends and what I undertook to repair our friendship. It wasn’t world-altering but sincere and very meaningful for me when I was seventeen. I’ve re-read it since and it still holds up…</p>
<p>Get someone else to read each of your essays. Then ask them if at any point during the reading they thought to themselves, “Talking about the job…again?” If the answer is yes, then try to mix it up a bit. If they thought it felt natural you should be fine.</p>