<p>I've read from several websites that in order to get your admissions essay noticed, you have to talk about something really OUTSTANDING in your life. </p>
<p>I followed this up by reading successful essays of students accepted into Princeton. Most essays discussed very significant experiences such as being held at gunpoint or terminal illnesses etc...</p>
<p>The problem is, nothing that extreme has happened to me.
Any suggestions on how I can still write a kickass essay?</p>
<p>Style, not substance. It doesn't matter so much what you write about as how you write about it. I wrote about being a foreign service brat and moving often and growing up feeling like a self-contained culture clash, which I realize isn't "ordinary" as such, but it hardly compares to terminal illness or being held at gunpoint. There are many ways to capture the reader's attention; I used provocative imagery, but it really depends on your individual style. The worst you can do is write a dry, uninteresting, impersonal essay that sounds like what you think a college essay is "supposed" to sound like ("[Activity] has taught me strength, perseverance, and determination...") and that really doesn't tell the reader anything about YOU.</p>
<p>My first paragraph:
I'll tell you in April whether I got into Princeton (oh, who am I kidding). :p</p>
<p>i think those essays are lame.. they all follow the same format</p>
<p>"suddenly, (something to catch the reader's attention)
i was scared. i never went through that before.
i now know i'm thankful for these experiences.
this is why i should get into princeton. aren't i interesting? don't you want to know more?"</p>
<p>just dont do that.
haven't you ever experienced something profound?</p>
<p>It doesn't have to be extreme. Some of the best essays are written about small things. Think of a moment in your life, however small, that has shaped you in some way. It doesn't have to be a drastic, completely life changing moment, but you have to be able to show it's importance in the rest of your essay. It all has to do with how you present it. </p>
<p>For my common app essay I tried to relate two of my passions in an interesting way. I used "uncommon" language but it made sense in the whole sceme of my essay. For my supp essay, I wrote about one tiny nonconsequential event and how it related to my whole life in a funny, light hearted way. My advice: you dont need ot have a life treatening incdent happen to you, just write about some small specific event or idea and it's relation to you. Basically dont write the boring I overcame or blah blah, if you did overcome something, write in a way that is unique to you. ou want them to rember your essay (for being unique and creative). </p>
<p>I'm assuming since you posted this now, you're applying next year? If so, just think about ideas for the next 8 months (pad of paper on your bedstand - thats what I did) and it will come to you. Believe me, one day something will just click and you'l get an ingenious idea.</p>
<p>Good luck. I know how you feel though, the essays are the hardest part. And hey, if they dont turn out great, it's just one part of the application.</p>
<p>I got into an ivy and wrote my essay about a walk in the park. No joke.</p>
<p>A good writer will take any experience and find some universal meaning in it. Perhaps you won't find the meaning of life in your tea kettle, but try making something everyday, or semingly everyday, into something that changed you as a person. If you write a specific essay on a gradual change that's occured within you during your life, you can easily pack the power of an epiphany into your application.</p>