<p>What would be some good essay topics for an athelete/appplicant?
Since my S's strength will be in the sport that he plays, should his essay be related to that sport? Or will that be too one-tracked?</p>
<p>tennisDad--I'll just throw in a few thoughts--I'm sure you'll get different opinions from different people. It depends to some extent on the essay prompt, and whether it is a short or long essay.</p>
<p>Son was a recruited athlete. He did write about his sport on short essays where the topic had to do with what his non-academic passion was. He did not write about it, except tangentially, on the long essays. The Bauld book on College Essays does specifically say that topics like "The Big Game" tend to be overused and trite, so you have to be careful with those. But still it is more the quality of the writing that is important, so if it is an extremely well-written essay that says something unique about your son and what makes him who he is, then it might be okay. </p>
<p>I would brainstorm a number of different ideas and see what else comes up. It may be that a sports-related essay works with one essay prompt and not another, so he may want to have a couple of different essays for different applications.</p>
<p>The consensus is that one should avoid sports as the subject of the MAIN essay. I have read essays about sports that worked very well, but the subject is prone to contain clichés or the typical "jock-gets-hurt-but-recovers-for-the-winning-point."</p>
<p>There are, however, places where one can discuss sports effectively: the question about the student's most meaningful activity is one of them.</p>
<p>For what is worth, adcoms who read the file of a very competitive athlete--even if not recruited--KNOW that athletes cannot achieve great success without being very committed. It is important to see the essays as an opportunity to unveil something PARTICULAR about the applicant. On the typical application, there are only a couple of such opportunities in a sea of numbers. The key to a powerful essay is to write something you'd be the ONLY one able to write--something truly personal. With sports being omnipresent, there is a high chance that someone did write about every word that could come out of one's pen!</p>
<p>
I tend to agree. I think even if you use sports participation as a lesser essay it needs to be with a twist. D wrote a supplemental about the fact that she found that the basketball court was the most diverse place in our part of Texas and then tied that in with some personal vignettes. I thought it worked nicely.</p>
<p>I am not so sure. My D is a an athlete and she wrote her big essay on "the big game." I suggested (strongly) that she write about something else. Her guidance counselor suggested she find another topic. I called an old friend who works in admissions at an elite school (although not one that my daughter was applying to) and her professional opinion was that my daughter find another topic. The end result of all of these suggestions -- my daughter insisted that she was going to write the essay she wanted to write no matter what we said. The end result of the application process -- acceptances to several ivy league schools.</p>
<p>As hard as it was for for to watch her submit what seemed to me to be a clich</p>
<p>shelf-life:
"my daughter insisted that she was going to write the essay she wanted to write no matter what we said."</p>
<p>Boy does this sound familiar. You're right about the true voice coming through - and you're also 100% right about it sometimes being hard, as a parent, to let them be just who they are. (My D wouldn't let us LOOK at her essay. Said, if I fail, I fail on my own terms. Hard not to respect that...)</p>
<p>Another aspect to this, to be frank--depending on the school, with a highly-recruited or even moderately-recruited athlete whose scores, grades, and recommendations are within the necessary ranges, the essay is going to have to be pretty bad to lead to a rejection.....</p>
<p>A cliche essay like "the big game" does not automatically lead to rejection. IMO, it simply means that the applicant missed an opportunity to strengthen his/her application. Many people are strong enough to be admitted to college XXX without a scintillating essay.</p>
<p>If they are supposed to write about something they are passionate about, then my son absolutely has to write about golf. Nothing else would be genuine. I've suggested he write about what he loves about golf rather than some climax moment. I know it may not be terribly original, but I'm hoping his personality and values come through and he can avoid cliches. Thoughts?</p>
<p>An advantage of writing about sports is that a truly genuine, personal, noncliche essay can stand out all the more for being in such an overworked field.</p>
<p>You are right to urge avoidance of the climatic moment, big-game, high-pressure-putt type of essay. Lots of people can write those.</p>
<p>IMO the target, succinctly and roughly put, is an essay that is clear, meaningful, specific, correct--and so personal, so unique to your son, that no one else on earth could write it. </p>
<p>IMO the topic of that essay is far less important than the personal revelation therein. Pretty much any topic can make for a good essay--just as pretty much any topic can make for a bad one. It's not the topic--it's what one does with the topic.</p>
<p>Here's a good resource from UVa:</p>
<p>I agree with all of the above. </p>
<p>My D was a three varsity sport athlete, though she was very active in other EC pursuits, including several performing arts. She didn't really pick to write about a sport so much. I also think writing about The Big Game is ill advised even if someone did get into college with such an essay because we don't know what got that person in. I think a sport can be the backdrop for an essay but the essay should not be about the sport but should be about some personal characteristic that the applicant wishes to show about him/herself. </p>
<p>My D wrote many app essays. I recall one main one used for a lot of schools wasn't about her sports though dealt with her attribute of well roundedness and many sides to herself and within that context, sports came up. </p>
<p>Another essay about an EC endeavor...she did not opt to pick her "favorite" EC to write about.....I think if push came to shove and she HAD to pick her favorite, she'd say ski racing (and indeed she is ski racing in college now) but her essay wasn't about her favorite EC (that stuff came out clear on her annotated activity resume...no need to drive that point home in an essay). Rather, she told a story with the backdrop of soccer (a sport she had played for 13 years but not necessarily her main or most favored EC) and it wan't about playing soccer but the story revealed some things about herself. I would not say the topic was "soccer". The topic was the points she wanted to show about herself that happened to be told in an anecdote that took place in the soccer realm. </p>
<p>I can think of only one essay she wrote that dealt with ski racing. That was for Tufts which wanted an additional essay with a few options, one of which was to give a recipe for how to do something. Her "recipe" was how to be a ski racer and within explaining the recipe, a lot of things about herself came up. She used that for one other school that wanted something about an activity, I forget. This was not her main essay at all. </p>
<p>She did get into almost all of her schools, many very selective ones and now attends Brown. </p>
<p>The idea is to start with traits and points that you want to reveal about yourself....rather than start with a topic or a sport. Then tell a story that shows those traits. If the story is told in a sports context, fine. The Big Game is overdone and not recommended, however. As well, if the point of the essay is just to show some passion for the activity, that is a waste of the essay as that can be revealed in an effective annotated resume and use the essays for something else. Or use the activity essay for that and the main essay for something else. You don't have to just pick from your "activities". One essay that one of my kids wrote had to do with her older sister leaving home to go to college. She had plenty of essays and resumes that revealed her passion for musical theater. Make sure the entire application has a few "messages" or points you want to get across, NOT just that you are passionate about X sport, etc. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>EDIT, I cross posted with ADad who makes the same points. His post is great as are many of the earlier ones.</p>
<p>ADad--thank you for that link! </p>
<p>I remember an extraordinarily bright and very wise parent/friend gave me the following advice when my S was a HS junior: "Have S write the essay (or 2 or 3). Tape it to the refrigerator. Have everyone who goes by (presumably this is only family & friends considering the location;) ) read it and answer the question, "Does this essay tell me who X really is?" Although we were never organized enough or perhaps even brave enough to follow the advice to the letter, the thought behind it--you are trying to bring your individual self to life through words to a committee or person who will probably never meet you--still helped a lot.</p>
<p>One of my son's essays was about his sport, but it wasn't about the "big game". It was about living by himself in the mountains outside of Taos and training in the early morning up mountain trails. He wrote about his experience on the last run of his summer there and how he felt reaching the top of the mountain. He also had essays about a White Castle burger eating contest with a classmate and about Tucker Max.</p>
<p>TennisDad, going on a limb here because I have no credentials in this area, I just have high emotional intelligence, and I know what interests me in people...</p>
<p>topics could include his routine before a game, why it is important to him...when he realized he had a routine......why he honors it?</p>
<p>that moment where he has to call a ball in or out....how does he decide? the new software that allows for computer tracking of the arc of the ball...human vs artificial judgements!!</p>
<p>the relevation he had when he changed his racquet, his sneakers, his diet... some inner dissatisfaction or quest to improve that forced him to look closer at his choices?</p>
<p>how lucky he is that he loves a sport he can play with parents, siblings, friends, spouse, own children some day....the love of the sport in addition to the need to compete? </p>
<p>if you watched the US Open, the Mass Mutual commercials that had all
the funny uses for used tennis balls....what does your S do with his? there is a lobster company that uses old tennis balls as ballast in lobster shipments!!</p>
<p>the funny things he did with his team while waiting for a match,</p>
<p>the meal at some dive while on a trip for a tournament...favorite foods
served at different establishments....</p>
<p>his ability to remember each and every point, days, weeks, months later...
while those around him (parents, ha ha) can't remember where the keys are!</p>
<p>what is the minuta (sp?) that your S loves and finds fun...... some aspect of what they do all the time that helps define who they are......</p>
<p>love the idea of posting it on the fridge.....interesting......</p>