General question about Personal Statements. Everyone read!

College Essays
1

<p>General question I guess:
Do colleges tend to accept cliche essays like:
1. OH IM AN IMMIGRANT. I HAD A HARD TIME. yadayadayada
2. I DID THIS SPORT. GOT INJURED. PERSERVERED/DETERMINED TO DO SOMETHING yadayadayada
3. MY FAMILY IS STRICT. HIGH STANDARDS BLAH BLAH BLAH. </p>

<p>I'm really curious, because I see a CRAP TON of essays like this. In my opinion, they were very generic... almost like putting an essay in a cookie cutter... </p>

<p>I mean... is it a plus on your app if you DIDN'T write something like that? something actually well thought out/creative? </p>

<p>Please let me know what you guys think.</p>

2

<p>Interesting questions… I am a 2012 applicant myself so I wouldn’t know much about this, but I am glad I didn’t write about any of that. I also have a question… don’t people know that almost EVERYONE writes about that stuff? I guess it increases other people’s chances.</p>

3

<p>this first and third are really abundant. Colleges doesn’t want to hear your pity-party. Its good to just sprinkle it in and build upon it tying into what you aspire to do, but don’t let them be the main focus of the entire essay. To answer your question, yes they are very cliche. Althought I didn’t see much of #2. </p>

<p>-12’ applicant as well-</p>

4

<p>You forgot the “traveled to a foreign country and learned that we are all the same” flavor.</p>

<p>Not sure why people overlook the real goal of an essay: to make the reader LIKE you and want to see you as part of the class of ‘20XX.’</p>

5

<p>I really hope so… I’ve read tons of essays and 99% of them are cliche. Here are more examples to add to your list…</p>

<ol>
<li>I MADE THE WINNING SHOT OF MY TEAM’S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ■■■■</li>
<li>I WAS STANDING ON STAGE, ABOUT TO ***** MY PANTS AS EVERYONE STARED AT ME. HOWEVER, I PERSEVERED AND FINISHED MY PERFORMANCE AWESOMEZORZ</li>
<li>EVER SINCE I WAS 2, I HAVE BEEN IN LOVE WITH MATH/SCIENCE/PIANO/TENNIS/ETC</li>
<li>MY DAD, GRANDMA, OR FAMILY MEMBER IS THE MOST AWESOMEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!</li>
<li>I WANT TO BE A DOCTOR/LAWYER/ENGINEER BECAUSE OF SOME SINGLE EVENT</li>
</ol>

6

<p>Even cliche topics can work if done well. Here is an essay with the topic number 5 above (want to be a doctor because of some single event):

</p>

<p>NOTE: For those who have seen this several times from me, apologies, but I think it applies here.</p>

7

<p>^It’s not really the topic that’s cliche; it’s the execution and style. Pretty much all of the essays I’ve read are like this:</p>

<ol>
<li>Describe a life-changing event in great detail</li>
<li>Narrow the focus on the main idea of the essay: Passion, new insight, future job inspiration, etc.</li>
<li>Emphasize the significance of the life-changing event and talk about how it changed the writer’s life or mindset.</li>
</ol>