<p>I mean, one that isn't a "typical" five paragraph essay with copious amounts of SAT lingo and all that jazz? I'm thinking of writing moreso a Dr. Seuss type essay... would colleges be turned off by that?</p>
<p>It's probably going to depend a LOT on which colleges you're talking about.</p>
<p>I think they probably get bored by five-paragraph essays, and a change of pace might make your application stand out.</p>
<p>A friend of mine got into his top choice college with an essay that was anything but five-paragraph and standardized.</p>
<p>No, not at all--if anything, try to interest them in something new. Mine was definitely not conventional--I had one about not being a math genius, and another written about <em>knitting</em>.</p>
<p>Yeah my main essay was about meditation, and from what I can remember my supplement to Harvey Mudd had a poem as my essay (though that's not completely original)</p>
<p>For advice from UVa on how to write a college essay, see:</p>
<p>Make certain that you avoid ostentatiously using "SAT lingo".</p>
<p>Beyond that, the approach you take is less important than what you actually have to say.</p>
<p>A "Doctor Seuss" approach could work, but it would depend on what you have to say. The mere fact that you took this unconventional approach will mean little if the thoughts themselves turn out to be inadequate.</p>
<p>I wanted to write a completely wild one, but I chickened out.</p>
<p>Writing a Dr. Suess one would be great...if you can write like Dr. Suess. BAD Dr. Suess is just...bad.</p>
<p>My main essay was about thoughts going through my head while listening to a particular song, so it was broken up into four fragments along the way (three discriptions of things that were important to me, one being the conclusion). I met after the application process with one of the admissions rep at the school I now go to in passing, and she still remembered it. :)</p>
<p>stargirl's post has an important idea: the form you use should suit your message. It is no wonder that the Admissions Rep remembered it! :)</p>
<p>So, if you have in mind a lighthearted essay with a meaningful core point or message, then Dr Seuss could work--though much much easier said than done. But if you are writing about a topic where anything at all lighthearted just won't work--then Dr Seuss would be a disaster. And if you don't have a meaningful core, then Dr Seuss would just seem juvenile.</p>
<p>The Dr Seuss idea is like many risky ideas in essays, or indeed in life generally:
strongly beneficial if successful, but very hard to pull off.</p>
<p>Whichever way you write it, just make sure it sounds like you. Make sure it's something that when someone reads, they'd know straight away you wrote it. That makes a huge impression.</p>
<p>it would probably work for Dartmouth...since he is an alum</p>
<p>My essay was sort of out there. Kind of like stargirl's... I wrote about how my favorite song effected a particluar moment in my life. I incorporated the words of the song into the essay and they fit together pretty well. The few people I had read it thought it was great and I got into 13 of 14 schools I applied to, didn't stay on the waitlist for that last one.</p>
<p>My opinion: Only take a risk if you can do it well. Don't try being different just to be different. Make sure that "you" stand out. Write an essay that only you and no one else can write.</p>
<p>What is that? "SAT lingo"?</p>
<p>SAT words, basically. You know, the long, obscure words you need to know for sentence completions?</p>
<p>haha, ok thanks : )</p>
<p>if anyone wants to give me their essay that they wrote that was "nonstandard" feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>To be overly concerned about other people's essays is to be heading down the wrong path.</p>
<p>Your essay should be about you, and arise from you. What other people did does not matter. </p>
<p>AdComs want your own voice.</p>
<p>i agree with ADad... it is all about your own voice.</p>
<p>1235813- i was thinking the same thing. i wonder if they've gotten anything like that before.</p>