<p>Ok, well...now I'm just getting very very scared (The countdown is somewhere around 11 days...)</p>
<p>Anyways, I was reading through collegeconfidential.com and noticed a forum about Personal Statements and one of them said "Absolutely, do not write about your volunteering experience in a third world country and how you are a better person and how you changed..." (that was a paraphrase)
Well, guess what? That's what I wrote about...I wrote about how I volunteered for six weeks in a foreign country and how I met this girl (I volunteered at an orphanage) and how I learned from her...etc etc....
Is this WAYY to cliche and common? (I mean, the whole volunteering thing in general) Did I kinda screw myself over my writing an essay about that? Any input would be greatly appreciated...</p>
<p>Let's assume that your essay was so well written and offered such positive insights about you that even though the topic was cliched, you are going to be FINE!</p>
<p>I wrote about how I helped North Korean refugees while in China hiding from the Communist police and how one of our members got caught and executed publicly and how one of the North Korean refugees whom we were helping stuffed himself with pills when he got caught on the train to Mongolia, on the way to the freedom. I feel it's too cliche...but my anticipated school is the School of Social Work so I had to write something like that...</p>
<p>and also, I wrote briefly how this motivated me to pursue my days in helping others and how I found this organization to counsel North Korean teenage refugees who sucessfully escaped to South Korea but still facing discriminations at their schools.</p>
<p>and that I have a passion for Social Work and I would like to better prepare myself for the future career at NYU-the School of Social Work</p>
<p>yea I think so, especially big schools don't really count essays as much as the smaller ones do. But I applied to the School of Social Work, I bet no more than 5 people applied to that school as early decision applicants. ha-ha</p>
<p>I dont understand how going to a third world country and risking your life and wasting your summer can ever be too cliche.... i mean sure you can come up with a witty original essay, but that only shows you can write well, not that you did anything important. I think they care about what's in the essay, not whether its "cliche" or not.</p>
<p>I wrote about my first trip to the opera.......I don't know whether that's cliche or not but it was honest and well written so I'm happy with it.</p>
<p>Ive always felt colleges care about what your essay reveals about who you are and what you have done; not how its written nor how cliche nor how original and creative it is,but maybe im wrong.</p>
<p>A super creative original essay that says nothing about what you have done or who you are, should be worse than an essay saying you spen4 summers helping people in a third world country, even if its cliche to write about that.... i doubt admission officers think else wise, unless your going to be an english teacher or journalist or something esoteric like that</p>
<p>Well, I am a bit biased...but I would hope that (as stated earlier by a few people) they look at what the essay reveals about the applicant rather than saying "Ok, well this essay is too cliche...let's reject them from NYU"
I am applying for International Relations as well..and hopefully my "third world essay" will show them I am interested in the world around me...who knows...
Thanks again for all of your input, I really appreciate that you guys are honest and said
"well, I think it's cliche" rather than "Oh, no you're gonna get accepted to NYU, I'm positive!" (hopefully that makes sense...)</p>
<p>Anyways...11 days! We're almost into the single digits!</p>
<p>NYU will definitely not throw your application out of the running for writing a cliche essay, but you have to understand that NYU weights the personal statement a lot heavier than other top tier schools; that said an admissions officer who reads the same type of "cliche" essay over and over again is liable to be biased when making a decision. In the end NYU attempts to get a grasp of who the person is and what they can offer the student body before they make a decision. Is your essay going to hurt you maybe, but with solid stats you still have a good shot.</p>
<p>" C. New York is a city full of people from other places. Everyone brings with them a story of where they are from. Tell us something about where youre from and what single facet of your hometown experience has shaped you into the person you are today."</p>
<p>if you don't mind me asking, what kind of things did you all talk about?</p>
<p>kjayson, yes it is one of the choices on the NYU application. It's the third choice listed. I'm curious, but how do you manage to post here so much at all times of the day? Why aren't you in school?</p>