<p>I'm a huge mess. For the past two weeks, I have been trying to decide what to write about for my common app essay. </p>
<p>I have Harry Bauld's book "On Writing the College Application Essay" and a separate book containing "100 essays that work". I keep reading and rereading them and I have no idea what to do. </p>
<p>Info:
1) I've started to write on a bunch of topics, but ALL of them are about what I observe about other people/places instead of me. I've fallen victim to writing list and stream of consciousness essays. They're all about my thoughts about "age" or "nature," inanimate objects or poor people. I'm sure I could write one of these very well, but I have to write about a specific event in my life. Otherwise it's weak.</p>
<p>2) Unfortunately, anything else that I think of sounds like
"I want to help the orphans in third world countries!"
"I helped a disabled man. And he taught me about life. (And I'm a great, giving person!)"
"My tennis team taught me the importance of bonding!"</p>
<p>It's all disgustingly cliche and as much as I genuinely love all of it, I don't want to write about any of it. </p>
<p>Unfortunately most of the things that we genuinely love do sound cliche when we try to write about them. that’s essentially the definition of cliche: things that are done by many people. you’re not the first person to be part of a bonding experience with a team, so it is a cliched topic, but there’s definitely ways to go about making it stand out.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you want people to suggest. Just another way to go about thinking of a topic? Like you said, you need to reference an event in your life to make it strong, so do that. I guess just take an event/action that’s not only meaningful to you and/or the community, but also unique and interesting to read about in an essay. Or at least present it in a unique way by using interesting anecdotes. I feel like many of those could come from when worked with the disabled man, but again, you know your life better than me.</p>
<p>i dont think you really need anyone’s help on here. you have all the tools. you might just be scared that when you land on a topic it turns out bad, you won’t have time to change it. such is the consequence for procrastinating. even so, just do what you know you have to do: pick the thing that’s most meaningful and find interesting ways to present it and discuss it.</p>
<p>I wrote a cliche essay about my lacrosse team, and how it led to growth and development. It’s not the end of the world: just try to show your reader something about YOU in the process, and make sure the rest of your app is pat. Write one of your essays, and get friends/people already at schools to read it over to tell you how to improve. Yes, you can do this in 2 days.</p>
<p>Use a tape recorder and tell an imaginary friend what makes you engaged and engaging. Then transcribe it, use it as a first draft, and polish it up. You can easily do this in an hour or two. 500 words are only as many as you’d say out loud in two or three minutes.</p>
<p>I read the same book (Harry Bauld’s). His advice is fantastic though some of it seems a bit harsh - according to him, basically EVERYTHING is cliche (although when I think about it, he’s kind of right, haha.). My advice for you is to take one thing out of your daily routine (driving your little brother to school, doing the dishes with your mom when you come home, something like that), and make it funny and interesting and show how it affects you, rather than telling, which is where the cliches begin!
Hope I helped. Good luck, work hard! You can do it!</p>