<p>The Common App essay is for colleges to get to know an applicant better as a person.
I know I should talk about my experiences and personality, but will it also help if I talk about my academic interests? I intend to major in engineering, and some people have told me that I should include my academic pursuits specifically in the common app essay. Or should I keep the essay strictly about my social aspects, etc? What do you think of this?</p>
<p>Depends. There aren’t any rules, per se, about what you can and can’t talk about. Whatever you write, it has to be important to you, personal, and well-written. If you think that your passion for engineering is something that would help adcoms understand you better, then include it. If you don’t feel like engineering is very important to who you are (which is totally fine), then don’t include it.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, it would ideally talk about something not otherwise reflected in your app. If you want to talk about your future career, that’s fine, but try to stay away from writing an all-academics type essay, if that makes sense. My career goal is a major part of who I am, so that’s what a large part of my essay talks/will talk about.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>