<p>This reminds me of an essay written by a Harvard student from my country, the essay was published in a newspaper. She wrote about her uncle’s diary in war time, how she felt about it and war, very well-written and impressive. I didn’t remember the essay well. But that’s it.</p>
<p>^^^ I think the concept of the thread (more than a year ago) was to demonstrate how to write a well-received college application essay, not to debate partisan issues in Nepalese politics.</p>
<p>I think we can all agree that it was very well-executed and written. But I also agree with the criticisms in this thread. I will point out, though, that we don’t know that it was the OP’s essay, so you cannot draw conclusions on the effect of the essay by looking at the OP’s posting history. It could be a family friend, relative, or just someone from Nepal who happened to find the essay published in the newspaper. </p>
<p>I don’t think having interesting experiences should make one a better candidate if those experiences aren’t somehow related to the talents or positive qualities of the person. It seemed like one of the points of the essay was to communicate to the admissions committee: “Hey, I’m the child of a Nepalese diplomat, and my whole family is important. So someday I’ll be important too. For that reason, I should be admitted.” Frankly, I think that is a major reason why this person was admitted. The essay might be skillful B.S.ing, but it’s exactly the sort of stuff that admissions committees love.</p>
<p>I’ve read a better essay by a Vassar student. :)</p>
<p>Why are you commenting on a seven year old thread???</p>
<p>I am under the impression that the adcom seems to have a sweet spot for misery stories from international applicants. During my college essay brainstorming I read many essays written by past years’ international applicants who were accepted to top-tier institutions. It wasn’t hard to detect a pattern - a successful one, nonetheless - with those essays: exotic tales about war, conflict, poverty,… Some were sad, some were meh, but, having grown up in a country with a tumultuous past and present, I found them all a little exploitative, a little naive, and very lacking. There wasn’t any level of depth that made me stop and ponder, nothing that couldn’t be found in the local newspaper. Just witnessed social injustice in your neighborhood and thought really hard about it? Congratulations, you are the 40 millionth of my country to do so.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong to write about your country; your experience is an invaluable asset to the colleges where you’re headed. But I believe that if an applicant chooses to do it he might as well do it painstakingly. Novel thoughts. Intellectual reflections. Well-explored passion. Not another recycled pavement story.</p>
<p>Typical neplease</p>
<p>neplease hahahahaha good necro man</p>
<p>Anyways, it’s really quite true that the essays considered “amazing” among the international ones tend to be these super-dramatic and traumatic experiences of war, hardships, etc. I honestly think they are kinda overrated. Besides, a great fiction writer can write this kind of essay with enough knowledge of the local situations (I doubt Harvard would really check if the applicant’s relative is dead).</p>
<p>Still, I’m not against applicants who get accepted with these essays PLUS great stats. They still deserved it.</p>
<p>I loved this essay.</p>