<p>Examples:
1. The confessional: Thinking that a clever "lessons learned' essay about drinking, drug use, or stealing cars shows how honest you are and how much you've learned and transformed yourself.
2. The Person I Admire Most is Lady Gaga. Nuff said.
3. The free verse poem in place of an essay.
4. What I learned from the death of my dog...
5. I saved the world with (overblown) volunteerism...</p>
<p>Well, I think the author of that article is full of it. The only ones I’d strike off the list are the free verse poem and the “I admire this contemporary pop culture icon” ones (mostly because there’s a chance the person reading the essay won’t know who said pop culture icon is).</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m sure a lot of kids write about learning a hard lesson or how their dog or relative died. That’s because those are iconic rites of passage. It doesn’t matter how many people had a pet die before, when it is YOUR PET and YOUR first personal brush with death, that is important and transformative. It CAN make a great essay–why do you think “Marley & Me” was a best seller? It was the same pet story we’ve read and watched a million times before. But it was told well. That is the key.</p>
<p>That “article” looks like it was dashed out in ten minutes and the style screams “Hey, I would like to work for The Onion but am not witty enough!”</p>
<p>I agree with Naturally - My D wrote her essay about her pet’s death, got a personal note from the Dean of Admission and a full-tuition scholarship offer (gratefully accepted) in return. Probably not the only reason though - if you are a good enough student and the essay is well written, I don’t think the topic would be an issue in the minds of admissions. They might get tired of certain topics, but it is the content and structure of the essay that counts more.</p>
<p>Now, when the next D wants to write about “the goal I scored that won nationals for my team”, I might cringe just a bit…</p>
<p>I personally would like to read the Lady Gaga one. When my daughter was applying to Catholic high schools, she was asked who she would like to meet the most, and instead of saying Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa like the other girls, she said Eminem. Her reasons for choosing him bowled them over.</p>
<p>Agree with Naturally. I think a talented writer can write about watching paint dry and come up with a terrific essay. A lousy writer lacking insight …well, it doesn’t matter what topic you choose because you’ll still be a lousy writer lacking insight.</p>
<p>The main essay to avoid is, “Why I really want to go to XXXXXX University” for the YYYYY University app. Per the admissions talks, those kind of mistakes sadly do happen.</p>
<p>The other real killer is when kids write they want to go to Harvard for the wonderful business school. (To which undergrads have absolutely no access at all.)</p>
<p>So true. My (English major) son wrote one essay about White Castle hamburgers and a burger eating competition he had with a friend. Another was about Tucker Max (ugh). He got several positive comments and did well with admissions.</p>
<p>I’m glad my S applied to schools that asked variations on the question “why I chose my major” for the essay. He wrote about his interests and how he had pursued them. He is not a gifted writer, but anyone who reads it will learn about him and his goals.</p>