<p>DS2 is just stumped on the second essay for our state school. The prompt is:</p>
<p>Choose an issue of importance to youthe issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scopeand write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.</p>
<p>The problem, honestly, is that no particular issues are seem important to him. I have to admit I have no ideas to offer either. He read that popular "how to write college essay" book, but he still has no clue. Can you offer any ideas for choosing something that a teenage boy does feel strongly about? Maybe "lower the age for driver's licenses"? But he's gotten his, so that's not a big deal either!</p>
<p>This is an election year, so perhaps something about how we elect people. Health insurance laws have changed; does he know anyone who has been or will be helped by this? Or someone with a pre-existing condition?</p>
<p>Or he can just do a Google search for persuasion. Valencia Community College in Florida has an extensive list of topics with questions that might prompt some idea. </p>
<p>My son could probably argue that he should have unlimited game time because it will help him with his hand-eye coordination.</p>
<p>Can he write about any of his interests or hobbies. For example, if he plays sports, he could discuss the importance of leading a well-balanced life, the value of exercise, and the value of being part of a team. If he is an avid reader, he could write about the value of reading and what it does for people. If he is involved in any extra-curricular activities, he can discuss the value of being part of a group. As well, if he works, he can talk about the value and lessons one can learn outside of school. I think he should try to incorporate his interests into the essay.</p>
<p>just have him write how he wants to end world hunger or stop homelessness. have they seen the essay 1 million times? sure but , you can not go wrong!</p>
<p>How about writing about meaningless, endless essays when you don’t know what to write! And how they can’t possibly know him in 500 words or less.</p>
<p>He has to submit 2 essays??? Yikes-those poor ad comms. </p>
<p>How about raising the interest rate on student loans?</p>
<p>If you are worried about being too political, then why not write an essay about his generation and what they will face. It can be a good future exercise.</p>
<p>I’d steer clear of religion and politics (unless it’s something that more than 98% of the country shares your son’s opinion about). Though admissions counselors are told not to be biased based on differing opinions, they can’t completely help it.</p>
<p>I think education is a good topic to stay on because you can write about its importance on many different scales. Also, he is applying for college, so it would make sense for him to kill two birds with one stone and talk about why college is important to him. if he doesn’t want to do that, he can also talk about why it’s important for the public to have access to high quality education so that the country (and humanity at large) can continue to progress.</p>
<p>Are you going to write it for him also?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but if he read one college essay book and didn’t get any ideas, then perhaps he should read another, or go over to the students’ “college essays” forum and ask for help from his peers. I understand that you want to help. I’m sure I’d feel the same way. But he’s going to have to solve these problems for himself when he gets into college . . . it seems that now might be a good time to start.</p>
<p>There are lots of possiblities - things that have come up in our town or have been discussed at our dinner table:
Global warming initiatives that could work in your community
Fair election systems when there’s more than two candidates (answer according to older son is there isn’t one)
Getting rid of the electoral college - pros and cons
Where should we have bike lanes?
Should dogs have to be on leashes in local parks?
What exactly should count as green in green buildings?
What has a bigger carbon footprint shipping fruit in bulk or local farmers going to a different farmers market every day of the week?
Should kids be required to wear coats at recess?
Should seniors/students be allowed to eat at nearby restaurants instead of the cafeteria for lunch?
Should the local police stop and question teenagers in groups greater than three kids?</p>
<p>If there aren’t local issues he’s heard about, maybe now is the time to get a bit more involved.</p>
<p>Don’t think it has to be Earth-shattering. Ds1 wrote about steroids in baseball. Ugh. Not my choice, but the topic was very in keeping with his interests so it turned out great. I’m glad that I kept my mouth shut. :D</p>
<p>I think that part of the point of these essays is that the student can reveal something about himself, not only in how he writes, but also what he chooses to write about.</p>
<p>Around our house,we certainly discussed possibilities for essay topics, but hard as it was, I tried to keep the ball in my kids’ court, so to speak. When they are paralyzed, this is not always easy, and I think discussion, asking questions, without too many active suggestions, can sometimes draw them out.</p>
<p>I can understand how you feel, and remember once having the thought that perhaps, if one of my kids could not write this essay, maybe he should wait a year to go to college!
But he ended up doing fine.</p>
<p>I would just echo what someone else said, that the topic does not have to be earth shattering, or international in scope. And maybe downgrade the stress level, telling him that there are many components to a successful application and in the grand scheme of things, this one essay may not be that important: but it does have to get done.</p>
<p>When is the deadline?Is it rolling admissions? I don’t know about others but two out of three of my children got their essays done in late December. Maybe he should back off for awhile and let it come naturally. It is possible that when the deadline is closer, something will occur to him, too.</p>
<p>dodgersmom - that wasn’t very nice. I would have asked for help too if my kid was stuck on his essay. What’s the big deal? They’re grown up, but they haven’t left our nests just yet!</p>
<p>While the prompt is “issue of importance”, maybe he could start with what’s important to him. Family? Religion? A Sport? Girlfriend? Having or not having the latest technology? Opening/Closing of a local restaurant? Is there anything he gets “alert” texts about? What’s his homepage when he gets on the computer? (A sports page? A music page? if he hasn’t set a special homepage, but uses MSN or AOL or something else…is there something on that page that usually grabs his attention?)</p>
<p>Don’t focus so much on a life-changing issue. By asking what’s important to him and why, the school is trying to get a sense of him as a person and how he fits into a community.</p>
<p>We talked about possible essay topics a lot the years my kids were applying. Mostly they shot down our ideas, but the process of thinking of dumb ideas did mean they eventually found topics they were happy writing about. Sometimes ideas that didn’t work for one essay did end up getting used elsewhere. I agree that often the best essays really are about little things.</p>
<p>Sometimes surprising things happen. My son decided to take a risk for his Georgetown essay (write about an important issue in the world.) My son was interested in global warming, but wrote it as a first person narrative of an architect showing off his new building. I thought he was nuts, but his reasoning was that his grades and GPA were iffy enough that it was worth taking a risk. He figured they’d either hate it or love it. (They didn’t love it, but then he reused the essay with a twist for Chicago - and got in there - so ultimately that essay did work - just for a different school!)</p>
<p>S is very interested in the status of SOPA and PIPA, the legislation regarding what can be posted on the internet.</p>
<p>D is involved in an anti-bullying initiative.</p>
<p>Look at his FB page and see what he “likes” or disagrees with – it can be very insightful! I’d stay away from anything too controversial though.</p>
<p>My D is similar (fortunately I don’t think she is faced with that prompt :)). Hard to come up with something when you have to. She did actually have a pretty strong opionion on a question she was asked on the ACT exam last spring. It was something about whether the internet improves or detracts from relationships between people. She wrote a great essay (got 12/12, which for her is absolutely astonishing) because she had actually given this issue some thought, and could frame a cohesive argument from several angles. It reminded me that the issues that might be hot buttons for her generation are not the same as for our generation.</p>
<p>@mommydearest, if he bases his essay on what he likes on Facebook, I have a feeling it’s going to be about a tv show, movie, hatred of Justin Bieber, Kim kardashian’s butt, Chipotle, etc.! I know mine would end up being about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, soccer, and Billy Joel if I used that method.</p>
<p>^You could write a pretty good essay about whether it’s a good thing that a lot of people get most of their news from Colbert and Stewart!</p>