Lately, I’ve been pretty stumped when it comes to college application essays. Whenever I am given a prompt, I feel as if it’s a trick question and I have to answer it a certain way to get the admission officers to be drawn to my essay. I do consider myself a pretty talented writer, but I do have areas where I need to improve. In Madison’s application, the prompt question is, “Consider something in your life you think goes unnoticed and write about why it’s important to you.”
I’ve spent weeks debating to myself and writing out rough drafts, but none of them seem to please me. I am a good creative writer and write a lot of my own books, so I want to find a way to incorporate that into my essays. Would you say that it’s good to add my own little twist to my essays, or should I stick to a more traditional essay format?
Also, for the prompt itself: I want to write about how my efforts go unnoticed, but would that be too self centered? I want to talk about growing up Asian has set up unbelievable checkpoints for me by society. But, at the same time, I’m worried that I make the people who read the essays upset that I said that Asians are graded on a harsher scale, even when it comes to applying for colleges.
I personally enjoyed writing about clocks for my essay. I think simple technology is an excellent topic! Most people try to come up with “deeper” topics like effort, or other struggles, and I think it makes you stand out when you do something completely different. It worked out for me! Write about something you genuinely find interesting, don’t just be the same as everyone else.
I would advise against going anywhere near topics that are related to the controversies of affirmative action. You do not want to say or imply in your essay that you think Asians are held to a higher standard in college applications.
To contrast with the poster above me, I wrote about my experience in high school tennis. There’s a large range of topics to choose from that can work well if you write them well from the right angle. If you write it well, even cliche topics can be used.
IMO any essay topics centered around how your efforts go unnoticed or how your race has held you back can very easily cross over into a complaining/bitter tone which is a big no-no. Everyone’s efforts are unnoticed in some way because no one spends 24/7 monitoring another person’s efforts. I’m not saying that you are complaining- just that it’s a very slippery slope to travel along and you need to be mindful of your tone. Also, as an Asian myself, I personally find that writing about what my race means to me is harder than, say, my hobbies. Race exists in a much larger social context than your interests/hobbies, so it can be difficult to properly discuss it in a PERSONAL essay. Broad statements like “society puts checkpoints on me because of my race” are really difficult to support in an essay that should be solely based off of personal anecdotes/experiences. You are writing a personal essay, not a sociology paper or an op-ed.
Obviously I’m not an admissions officer, but from my experience of applying to a bunch of colleges and to scholarships/honors programs, a lot of these application essays are trying to figure out what you value, what kind of personality or attitude you have, what excites or interests you, or what drives you. They want to know who you are as a person, what makes you tick. They are just asking that in a very roundabout way, and are expecting that you have the subtlety to pick up on that and incorporate it in their essay prompt. If you can talk about how your race or culture has helped to shape any of the above, then that’s great. If not, I would recommend refining or changing your topic.
btw- “Asian” encompasses both the privileged and the refugee status families who are Wisconsin residents. I agree with not touching that subject from your posted viewpoint. IF you were Hmong you would be an Asian with an entirely different background and UW recognizes this.
Yeah, I understand, because that was my exact same fear. I didn’t want to sound like I’m complaining about what I was given in life. But, the circumstances I have faced in my life are very unique to me as a person. Thank you very much for the tips! 
Perhaps you can narrow down your topic to focus on a more specific area in which your efforts are unnoticed rather than implying that your overall academic efforts are not appreciated because you are Asian. Like maybe people assume you are naturally good with computers but coding was actually very difficult for you.
So it sounds like they are not Asian-related if they are unique to you only. Maybe you should write about those unique experiences.
“something in your life” does NOT have to mean your efforts. It can be something that YOU notice that no one else does. Like a pattern of leaf growth that hasn’t been captured yet by a mathematical series so you are trying to figure out what that series is. Or the way a certain small animal comes out to feed at a certain time of day which you found fascinating so you looked up why that was and couldn’t find anything on it . . . . sure these are a bit esoteric but hopefully you get the point that it can be something other than about you personally.
My D17 has surprised us with how she is answering these essay prompts. She is shying away from focusing on herself except to say why she thinks the topic is important. She figures they want to see the way she thinks so that’s what she’s giving them.
If there’s a trick to these essay prompts it’s that people tend to interpret them a certain way. Run the opposite direction!
@CheddarcheeseMN My parents don’t speak any English at all so I handle all the bills, translations, doctor visits, and etc. I’ve helped several non-English speaking families get health insurance. I’ve also helped my parents through the entire applying for citizenship process. My mom also had her identity stolen, and I had to deal with all of that as well. By unique, that’s what I meant. I deal with situations that aren’t usually dealt with by teenagers.
@JBStillFlying Thanks for the advice! I really like it! I’ll start to see if I can brainstorm something that goes in the other direction.
Actually, @aimlesswriter what you are saying in post #7 is quite interesting and would fit well into this sort of essay. Not that your efforts are unnoticed . . . believe me, they are! Your parents are probably more than grateful for your help. More that what might go unnoticed by others is something that YOU notice all the time - the difficulty of living where you don’t know the spoken language. And your efforts there to help your parents and local community would make for a great essay! So I amend what I said earlier to include this possibility. Betting there’s a ton you could write about that subject alone and it’s a subject that has been part of America’s history since the first waves of non-English speaking immigrants arrived. A wonderful and fundamentally American story.
Good luck to you - you sound like a great kid!
@JBStillFlying Aww, thank you! I am definitely going to take that advice and put it to good use. Thanks again! 