<p>I am at a total loss as to what to write for my essays--I must be the most boring person on Earth. </p>
<p>I'm applying to the University of Texas at Austin, and they require two essays. The questions are:</p>
<p>1.) Describe a significant setback, challenge or opportunity in your life and the impact that it has had on you.
2.) Considering your lifetime goals, discuss how your current and future academic and extra-curricular activities might help you achieve your goals.</p>
<p>Basically, I've lived a pretty privileged life and have not had any significant setbacks (other than this essay)...also my current academic and extra-curricular activities are doing NOTHING to help me achieve my goals. Should I just write about that or should I focus on the possibilities that Austin might offer me?? I feel like that's so boring and something they've heard before....</p>
<p>Returning to the aforementioned question 1, the only challenge I've overcome is depression and anxiety, but I heard that you shouldn't talk about that in your essay...</p>
<p>What do you want to do in the future? What do you plan on majoring in? What are your primary ECs? (if you tell me a bit I may be able to help)</p>
<p>The first one is tricky. It can be an illustrative essay topic if the student has something interesting to write about, otherwise it’s an exercise in torture. I’ve never liked these sorts of essays, even though I was good at them. That said, you must have something! Some questions:</p>
<p>You’ve never tried out for something/wanted to do something but didn’t get in/make the team/get the position you wanted?
Gotten a bad grade/failed an assignment?
Had something unexpected happen/happen against plans and had to regroup?
Had a unique or extraordinary opportunity that affected your life?</p>
<p>That last one is actually a gift for privileged students–this essay doesn’t have to cover setbacks/problems if you’ve not had any–opportunity can have a broad meaning. It could be a unique program you got into/experienced, a study abroad trip, a volunteer opportunity… We all have something. You just have to latch onto the tiniest something and then find a creative way to write about it. Execution is a huge part of these. You could find a way to write about your anxiety/depression and apply it to a challenge/set-back/opportunity without making it An Essay About Depression.</p>
<p>@proudterrier I plan on majoring in film & television. My primary EC’s are all academic, such as national honor society, student council, key club etc. I did do swimming for my first two years of high school.</p>
<p>In regard to your questions…
I hate to say this, but I’m pretty athletic so I’ve always made a team…
I have gotten bad grades, but nothing that really effected me. I got those grades because of my anxiety lol.
When something happens that isn’t according to plans, it’s almost always social and at 5 in the morning.
My life is so average that I haven’t had a unique/extraordinary opportunity.</p>
<p>Once I did take a film course at Ringling College of Art and Design, though! Didn’t really affect my life…sorry if I’m being difficult!!</p>
<p>Have you struggled with any technical things when making films, had trouble getting the results you wanted? Do you spend time outside school now making films (that could definitely be useful for the second question)?</p>
<p>@qwc123 OK, time to bullsh*t, then! You could write about that film course and then extrapolate how you will apply things you learned there at UT. If you write it in an interesting, narrative style you might catch someone’s eye. You could also ■■■■■■■■ something about how you want to explore a diverse campus so you can expand your worldview to make you a better filmmaker, blah blah. Or your ■■■■■■■■ about your teamwork/ability to work well with others and how that will serve you in film. If you plan on being a director, talk about how you’ve contributed to your sport teams and how you’d be a collaborative director, etc. </p>
<p>On the first one… why don’t you write an essay about your anxiety, how you struggled in your classes, and how you made it out the other side. Doesn’t have to be your final essay, but write it so you have something, even if it is cliche. Something else may come to you. Worst case, one of your essays is a bit trite but the other one is some good bullsh*tting!</p>
<p>@proudterrier okay thank you so much!! I’ve just been reading sample essays online, and every single one of them starts with something average but they somehow make it super interesting and I’m sitting here like uhh…right. That’s helpful though!</p>
<p>I actually agree that BS on the film course might be your best course for that essay. I really don’t agree about the anxiety essay, though. You want admissions officers to see reasons to bring you to campus… hints of past mental health struggles aren’t always the best for that.</p>
<p>Seriously… you never struggled with anything else? Never ran for officer in a club and didn’t get it? Got cut from the newspaper staff for gluing on headlines upside down? Made the team, but had to learn a new position you hadn’t played before? Took a golf lesson and it messed up your swing, and it took six months to get it back again? Wanted to move something forward on student council, but were frustrated by politics or school rules or administration roadblocks?</p>
<p>@intparent Well…the entire senior class struggled against the administration this year because of the lack of freedom and expression that we had in our learning community, but I doubt that they would like to hear about that…mainly because the set of rules were put into place for our safety, and we were just coming down with a bad case of senioritis.</p>
<p>Lol… well, I suppose a willingness to admit that might score a few points… but you had better keep looking. I think the problem with not being able to come up with anything is a sign that you don’t move out of your comfort zone and don’t challenge yourself. And colleges like to see people who are willing to do that.</p>
<p>@1939er I’m going to college because I want to succeed in my future career, seeing as it is near impossible to get a job today without a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>@1939er Film. Because it’s fun. I already know these things but I know that to successfully write a well-rounded college essay, I need to find a topic that admission counselors haven’t read 20000 times. Film, they’ve read; they’re #10 in the rankings for top film schools. I was just trying to get the ball rolling on here.</p>
<p>Just had to reply as I was going through threads. I laughed at how straightforward you are.
“Never had any problems except at 5 am” says something great about a person without having to spell it out. No need to say more.
That is what film making is about. No problem is too big to ignore and keep on plugging.
The best stories are always about the average guy that nothing spectacular happens to (and then it does). Go from there.</p>
You could write about that film course and then extrapolate how you will apply things you learned there at UT. If you write it in an interesting, narrative style you might catch someone’s eye. You could also ■■■■■■■■ something about how you want to explore a diverse campus so you can expand your worldview to make you a better filmmaker, blah blah. Or your ■■■■■■■■ about your teamwork/ability to work well with others and how that will serve you in film. If you plan on being a director, talk about how you’ve contributed to your sport teams and how you’d be a collaborative director, etc. </p>