<p>For the Ivys, how important is the essay because I think I really have a good shot with my potential essay. Is there any way that I could write in or tie in my Dad's struggle to come to this country? He risked his life by escaping from Romania, while it was a communist nation and under a dictator, and he spent a year and a half in Europe trying to find a way to America and he finally did. When he came here, he only had $24 to his name and a 16 lb. suitcase. Now he makes enough here to live and has given me the opportunity to get a better education and life, since he did not even finish high school in Romania. But overall his story is crazy, people who hear it tell him he should write a book. One part I distinctly remember is him being caught by the Germans and being taken out into the woods in the middle of the night and having a gun put to the back of his head.</p>
<p>Or I could just write about one of my biggest passions, football. I think the former idea would be a lot more effective, but that's more about my Dad than me, so I don't know if I can do that. Input/feedback?</p>
<p>You should definitely write about your father’s struggles.
Although it’s not directed at YOUR struggles, you can potentially talk about how his struggles affected your life, for good or for worse
It’s definitely a moving topic and if well written, can potentially get you into the top colleges considering you have good grades, standardized test scores, and ECs
Also, writing about a sport is way to overdone, it’s almost like telling the college to reject you</p>
<p>I definitely wouldn’t write about Football unless you can really bring something new and fresh to the topic, as writing about sports is pretty much as cliche as it gets.
However, writing about your father is also VERY tricky.
You don’t want the colleges to want to accept your father, you want them to want YOU, and if you’re writing your essay about your father and all the struggles HE has faced, it doesn’t necessarily tell a lot about you. The point of the essay isn’t just to tell a good, well written story (this isn’t the new york times bestsellers list you’re trying to make) so much as it is to tell the admissions office about YOU and YOUR experiences and make them want you. While it is an opportunity to brag, from what I’ve seen I think they’d rather see your own personal, fresh perspective on perhaps a rather ordinary topic (STILL NOT FOOTBALL PLEASE) than hear you retell someone else’s story.</p>
<p>If your father was the applicant, it would be a great essay topic. Otherwise, not a good idea.</p>
<p>Essays are probably more important at ivies than at any other schools. There are so many applicants with near perfect stats they need ways to differentiate them.</p>
<p>The essay should be all about you and why they should want you on their campus.</p>
<p>What if I were to tie it in to me, and how it makes me appreciative of all I have, and gives me a strong work ethic because I know that many do not have the opportunity I have. I could also talk about how it gives me courage since it demonstrates that there is no reward without risk. Could something like that work?</p>
<p>“What if I were to tie it in to me, and how it makes me appreciative of all I have, and gives me a strong work ethic because I know that many do not have the opportunity I have. I could also talk about how it gives me courage since it demonstrates that there is no reward without risk. Could something like that work?”</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>And thus it becomes like every other kid whose parents overcame some struggle in life. They are going to see many of these essays. Having a more exciting story about what your father has done isn’t going to make them want YOU more, and so that’s probably not going to work too well.</p>