Essay: what to focus on??

[yunmoonc]

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I recently read in an article that college admissions officers don't want redundant apps and the example they gave was if you play soccer, listed that on your resume and then got a letter of rec from your athletic director, DON'T write an essay on soccer.</p>

<p>I've always been told to emphasize the main things about you, especially if it's really important to you. </p>

<p>So, do you think I should write my essay about something else, or re-emphasize the thing that I am good at but obviously credentials have been shown on my resume and rec letter.</p>

<p>Thanks!!!</p>

[RK2011]

<p>The college essay has to be personal. My college counselor tells me that it’s like writing a mini autobiography. Write about what makes you unique and different from the other applicants.
I think it is okay to write about something thats on your resume. If you do community service, you can write about a community service project that was important to you.
Hope this helps!</p>

[glassesarechic]

<p>The essay forum has some great advice.</p>

[thefool]

<p>If you have a bunch of awesome stories to tell, you should differentiate. </p>

<p>If you really focused on one thing in high school, it doesn’t hurt to talk about it. </p>

<p>Remember, the purpose is to show the college what you care about. It is helpful to have someone that has gone through the process to help with the essay. If you have a teacher, or friends that got into good schools to look over the essays that is the best. If you have difficulty finding someone who you trust look over your essay, there are plenty of people (college counselors or essay editors) that might be able to help for a fee. I am affiliated with one such company (GuruFi) which might be useful to you if you can’t find anyone else. </p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

<p>Ultimately the best thing to write about is the thing that makes the best story that is the most revealing about what you are like as a person.</p>

[yunmoonc]

<p>thanks guys! Your advice is much appreciated.</p>

[yunmoonc]

<p>bumpppppppppppp</p>

[digmedia]

<p>

When the crowd started yelling my name - over and over - it was not a good thing. I was swimming the 400 meter freestyle in a meet with a rival school, and I was second-to-last. Each repeat of my name seared the event deeper and deeper into my memory: the smell of chlorine, the echo of the chants from the roof of the pool building, the seeming increasing viscosity of the water as I turned for my last two laps. I swam more and more slowly, but amazingly, the rival swimmer in the next lane would not pass me. I was almost at a standstill, making the motions with my arms and legs just enough to stay afloat. Everyone else had finished the race except me and this other person who was almost insisting on drowning in front of spectators from both schools. I had tried hard to follow my coach’s instructions: “Come in last, no matter what you have to do or how foolish it makes you look.” I finally touched the pad at the end of the last lap, certainly a record - the wrong kind of record - for our school. Maybe even a state record, except for the other kid, who was being fished from the pool utterly exhausted. I climbed out of the water to massive cheers: “You made it! Hooray!” Horrible.</p>

<p>Our team had the state champion butterflyer - a V-shaped sculpture of a person who must have had genes rearranged just for that particular stroke. He was so fast that when a competitor false-started, our guy was beyond the rope they dropped to keep the swimmers from doing a whole lap before they found out they had to start again. After delaying as long as he could with arguments with the meet officials, the coach came toward me with a conspiratorial look. “Bob,” he said, “we’ve got to get Barry rested. I got them to delay the butterfly and insert the 400-freestyle in first. I need you to swim in this, but come in last, no matter what you have to do or how foolish it makes you look. Do whatever you can to delay this.”</p>

<p>When I got up for the event, I intentionally false-started. The Starter came over to me and said, “I know what you’re doing. One more false-start by anyone on your team, and you’re disqualified.” When the starting gun sounded and we all splashed into the pool, I began my quest to finish last.</p>

<p>Teamwork is not always about winning an individual event, but about the way strategies can be employed to maximize outcomes. We had plenty of freestylers, and had no trouble winning the 400 meter swim. But butterfly specialists are a rare breed, and our coach wanted not just the win, but a new state record. And I was the one chosen to embarass myself to make that happen. But of course, no one else knew that, and I knew that I would be the butt of jokes for the rest of the week. But handle it I did, even starting to enjoy the attention that came my way. </p>

<p>Telling others it was intentional would have spoiled the fun, but since I had that secret, I felt stronger in laughing along with others as they prodded me with funny catcalls. I took that secret to graduation, revealing it only when I spoke for the graduating class. I really enjoyed the looks of those who finally understood why I had been trying to come in last.

The above is not a great essay - just scribbled out, but what I wanted to show is that you do not TELL in an essay what kind of a person you are - you SHOW it, with personal anecdotes. It will never look like someone else’s, because that is YOUR personal experience, and you are letting the reader draw conclusions about you from the story.</p>

[digmedia]

<p>^— true story, btw</p>

[yunmoonc]

<p>bumpppppppppppp</p>

[MajorQuest]

<p>I am ROFLing at the ■■■■■ essay!</p>

<p>@OP: If you have more than one strong side then exhibit them all in your app! If ‘soccer’ is the only thing that is unique and major about you then just focus on that but DO NOT REPEAT YOURSELF! EACH ESSAY MUST TELL SOMETHING DIFFERENT!</p>

[yunmoonc]

<p>bump bumpppp</p>