<p>so for the common application, i think i got mixed up on writing about an issue of personal importance. i got carried away and ended up writing about my families' (sp?) struggle with mental illness and how i felt "doomed" because of this genetic predisposition. as soon as i finished, i realized that this might give the wrong impression that i'm mentally unstable (don't worry, i'm not!). so...thoughts?</p>
<p>on a different note, how formal/story-like are the essays supposed to be? i'm naturally a very formal writer, but all of the really good example essays i've read are more like a story or prose. i know that i should stick to my personal writing style, but i'm afraid that it will be incredibly boring!</p>
<p>Too personal is:
a) you wouldn’t like to talk about this topic during an interview
b) you wouldn’t feel comfortable to tell it to someone you just met</p>
<p>The application is a marketing effort; its purpose is to gain admittance. The point of the essay is to reveal the applicant in a favorable yet honest manner, to give a sense of the kind of presence that (s)he will bring to the campus. </p>
<p>So to me the question is not “Is this essay too personal?” but rather “Does this essay strengthen my application?” One’s innermost thoughts, other highly personal details may or may not strengthen the application, depending on what they are and how they are presented in the essay.</p>
<p>haha ive been wondering the same thing as dancemuse5.
the most interesting thing about me i feel is my mothers and fathers struggle with mental illness and their intense divorce… shoot.</p>
<p>dancemuse, I don’t know how you approached the topic, but if the essay is more about you and the way you have changed as a result of your family situation, it could work. Of course, you don’t want to wallow in self-pity either.</p>
<p>The personal statement is a personal statement. In that it should be about you. </p>
<p>This means that regardless of the subject you are writing about and the events that are occurring, what is important to the schools is to know what happened to you in the whole mess. </p>
<p>If you feel that your experiences with mental illness within your family did the most to develop a particular unique character trait, well then its a good topic. If you feel that these experiences did a lot to develop a negative character trait, well then it might not be in your self interest to talk about that. </p>
<p>Formality is bad, your not writing a science paper, your goal is to capture emotion, not necessarily concrete facts. Embellishment with the intent of clarity usually makes the essay stronger. The other problem with formality is that people often “tell” and don’t “show”. I.e. they say,“…and then my grandmother passed away, and I was extremely distraught”, which conveys facts, but contains no information about what you actually did when you were upset.</p>
<p>For the second part of your question: write naturally. Do not write in the way you would chat online or use slang you would use around your friends. Write a style that reflects you as a writer and person. </p>
<p>thank you for all the input! i think i’ll try to make the essay topic work. i’m trying to focus more on how this experience made me a stronger and more positive person, not just on the sad times. </p>
<p>and thefool, you guessed right. i’m normally really good at writing science papers :P</p>