How Unoriginal Is This Topic?

College Essays
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<p>How cliche is an essay about "how the boarding school experience shaped me"? My school college counselors list it as an overdone topic to avoid, but I'm thinking. . .such a small percentage of students go to boarding school that it can't exactly be a common essay, right?</p>

<p>This is the specific topic I'm having difficulty with:
"Describe a meaningful event, experience or accomplishment in your life and how it will affect your college experience or your contribution to the campus community. You may want to reflect on your ideas about student responsibility, academic integrity, campus citizenship or a call to service."</p>

<p>I can't think of any original topics. Boarding school, a community service trip, the death of a loved one; all the overdone things spring to mind. Honestly, nothing that meaningful has occurred in my life.</p>

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This may be a problem. :P</p>

<p>Write about what matters to you, what you value, what can reveal something about yourself.</p>

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<p>Get one of those books from the library that has Winning Essays for college admission. You can turn almost any experience into a great essay. If you must use the BS experience, then pick some little aspect of going away to BS- such as “reflections while doing my laundry”. My daughter did hers on how she accidentally broke her step-grandmother’s plaster cherub statue. </p>

<p>Some of the WORST essays were written by college presidents who were asked to respond to their own school’s essay prompts. BORING. I don’t have the link, but I found it through CC last year. My favorites were from Barnard and Wesleyan.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice guys. If it were just a general “a topic of your choice” essay I wouldn’t have any problem with it, but once they specify it as meaningful and affecting your college experience, I draw a blank. I’ll look for one of those books - thank you for the suggestion.</p>

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<p>Here’s the link: [Holding</a> College Chiefs to Their Words - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155688466088871.html]Holding”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155688466088871.html)</p>

<p>I didn’t like the Barnard one. I liked Wesleyan the best. Other memorable ones were racism one and the one about biking. But I agree, the quality was very surprising.</p>

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<p>There are no overdone topics. There are no cliche topics either. </p>

<p>There are only overdone, cliche treatments of topics.</p>

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<p>One of the perhaps 10 or 15 best college essays I’ve read, out of hundreds, was about a service trip. Actually, it was also about the death of a loved one. The writer is at an Ivy now.</p>

<p>Do you read the New York Times? Look at the sports section–what could be more so-called overdone than writing about sports? Yet those writers manage to be excellent, fresh, uncliche, day after day.</p>

<p>Which reminds me: I read a superb college essay about a sport: the writer is also at an Ivy now.</p>

<p>I’ve read fine college essays about probably every topic that people here carelessly and wrongly dismiss as “cliche”.</p>

<p>It’s not the topic, it’s what you do with the topic.</p>

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<p>Aim to be personal, detailed, and revealing. Try to make the essay so you that only you could have written it. If you do that, you won’t have to worry–it will be original, and it won’t be cliche.</p>

<p>Choose whichever topic allows you to write your most personal, detailed, and revealing essay.</p>

<p>There is good advice here:</p>

<p>[Essays</a>, Admission Information, Undergraduate Admission, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html]Essays”>http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html)</p>

<p>and, ironically, they offer “good” and “bad” examples of essays about death.</p>

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<p>@ ADad- thank you so much for your post, and the link. :slight_smile: Very beneficial, and you brought up a great point. For the OP, I’m sure you could make it an interesting topic. I would also suggest exploring other, more personal life experiences, even though you did say nothing meaningful has ever happened. I’m sure something has…
I was personally wondering, even though this may be hard to explain, I was thinking of writing about a personal experience in my life about how one of my parents is my greatest role model, however; that parent was also abusive… :stuck_out_tongue: (Probably sounds like an odd conundrum, huh?) Ehh, crazy topic?</p>

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<p>@irishtraveler: Thank you for your kind words.</p>

<p>Regarding your possible essay topic, here is a famous quote: </p>

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<p>I’m sorry to hear you were abused.</p>

<p>Secondly, it sounds like a unique and personal topic. If you manage to articulate your feelings well, this essay can be amazing. Go for it! But make sure to convey self-awareness because the subject is quite touchy.</p>

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<p>@ADad- thank you for your input, and the inspirational quote. Amazing other, too :slight_smile:
@ghostt- Thank you too for your input. :slight_smile: You brought up a really good point about awareness, as well. My life is very blessed :)</p>

<p>Good luck to the OP!</p>