<p>are the essays suppose to be more like telling stories?!
I have started writing my essay for Georgetown and they have specific questions for each school. the one i am doing is "describe how your experiences or ideas shaped your decision to pursue a health profession and how these will aid your future contribution to you field?"
it seems to me as though that is asking for a culmination and not just a story?
am I going totally astray!</p>
<p>zfox: It can be like telling a story. But it's a matter of style. What you might want to do is put a story within a more serious essay that has a culminatin if that makes any sense. Basically: Write 2 Paragraph Story then link it together to a bit about your future contribution/why g-town. =]</p>
<p>ya that makes sense....that is where i have been going with my essay. It's good to hear that i am not doing it totally wrong. Well...not that there is a wrong way. but more so that i am doing it a good way</p>
<p>I know someone who wrote about the death of a grandparent and got into Pitt with sub-par stats for that school. It was actually a really well-written essay. It's really not what you write, but how you write it.</p>
<p>I'd stay away from cliched topics though. You're setting yourself up for mediocrity. </p>
<p>Oh, and don't write about how much you love to smoke pot. I know somebody who actually did that, thinking it would be edgy and comical.</p>
<p>i'm kind of considering writing about my religious opinions.. how i'm influenced by einstein and baruch spinoza and how it affects how i feel about life and my morals.</p>
<p>does that sound really stupid?</p>
<p>god, i'm never gonna be able to write a thousand essays. bleh.</p>
<p>edit--
haha, i just read a post from earlier that was like DO NOT WRITE ABOUT RELIGION.
so yeah, throw out that idea.</p>
<p>It is unwise imo to write about religion philosophically or contentiously. If your experience of religion, though, allows you to write in a personal, detailed, and revealing manner, to write something so personal that no one else could write it, then religion might be a good topic for you.</p>
<p>i think i am going to have a hard time on the essay....im a very straight to the point factual person (math kid lol) so how will I be able to add all the detail without losing my real voice</p>
<p>I wrote my essay about the time I was visited by aliens that told me to become an electrical engineer so that human fossils would create more exciting museum exhibits millions of years in the future (I was trying to avoid the "typical" essay). </p>
<p>In hindsight that may have been a poor choice.</p>
<p>al6200...i think thats an awesome essay topic. haha
poor choice? did it not work out well>?</p>
<p>Meh, I got waitlisted at my first choice (Hopkins), so the essay might've broken even.</p>
<p>I think it's okay to write about religion as long as it says something significant about you and avoids pushiness, preachiness, or hostility. This goes for everyone anywhere on the religious spectrum. Keep it positive, keep it relevant. So: Essay about how stupid religious people are and why you're glad you're not one of those lemmings? Bad. Essay where you try to convert the reader to your religion? Bad. Essay about your experiences being part of a religion and something you've learned/a way you've grown/whatever? Good.</p>
<p>Also, talking about being gay is the the same: it's okay, just keep it positive and relevant. Make sure it says something significant about you. No hostility or preachiness. But assuming you're keeping that in mind, go for it!</p>
<p>(For the record, I wrote about BOTH being gay AND religion in my personal essay -GASP!-, and I got into every school I applied to and am now attending a top-20 university.)</p>
<p>How you write is MUCH more important:</p>
<p>Use lots of adjectives and descriptors - bring the person in by describing sounds, smells, etc. </p>
<p>Don't be tempted to brag about yourself or list off all of your ECs. </p>
<p>Focus on ONE experience (or a series of closely connected ones with few - but important - differences). Word limits make it too hard to have lots to talk about. For example, don't talk about how your high school changed you. There will probably be way to much. Focus on one specific class, club, or teacher even if there are loads of awesome ones.</p>
<p>Write it in some creative way - DEATH TO 5 PARAGRAPHS! (If you're telling a story, just break paragraphs wherever it feels natural)</p>
<p>Hey liketotally: (belated) Congratulations!</p>
<p>Hey ADad: Thanks! :)</p>
<p>I'm writing a heavily descriptive essay about waking up in the morning....</p>
<p>Really.</p>
<p>"I know a guy who wrote about a camping trip he had and he and his friends were saving a mango for themselves to eat when they got to the top. He ended up reflecting on how things can be so much better when you wait for them. He goes to Brown, so i guess that all worked out. "</p>
<p>i like the mango story lol</p>
<p>read those compilations of successful college application essays. as ironic as it sounds, reading them helped me to be creative :P</p>
<p>Zoom in and out on a person, place, event, or subject of interest. What becomes clear from far away that you cant see up close? What intricate structures appear when you move closer? How is the big view related to the small, the emptiness to the richness?</p>
<p>For a topic like this, would it be bad if I said that people are essentially made of the same thing and generalize (a wrong generalization) that all people are the same, and then talk about what they have to offer, and what I have to offer that makes me stand out?</p>
<p>i wrote about my theory of evolution and the earth .... darwin and religion are overrated .... i win :)</p>
<p>It's funny how most of the topics I wanted to use are here considered cliche. Unfortunately my whole entire life is a perfect cut-out of a would be lifetime movie. Betrayal, hatred, rudy-like moments, drug addiction, anorexia, bulimia, grandparent death, bullying and so on. Hmmmm. It really poses a dilemma. I'm puerto rican, raised in Puerto Rico. So basically my story would mostly resemble a "telenovela" (aka. soap opera) Maybe I should write how terrible cliche my life is. Give it a quirky, whimsical spin lol. Any advice? </p>
<p>;)</p>