<p><code>Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story</code></p>
<p>So the story i want to tell is about visiting a hospital in Pakistan and realizing that my dream is to be a doctor and how a doctor makes you feel safe but the doctor in Pakistan is all about money and so basically writing about my passion for people not the money. I`m having issues with a good topic, so please help!</p>
<p>Experiences that fit into this prompt tend to occur kind of early (I’d say nothing within a year of today at least), last over a period of time, and/or have an impact on a person’s beliefs, values, identity, etc. in a way that extends outwards to career goals, ECs, etc. So your idea could work, but it depends on how you write it. Writing about a single hospital visit as central to your identity will be a hard sell, and you don’t want to put down others and their motives to exalt yourself.</p>
<p>This might be the most cliché topic of them all. Studying abroad (where the underlying point of the essay is stepping outside your comfort zone, a point made by this essay also) and attending some kind of summer academic program (be it governor’s school, Boys’ or Girls’ State, a National Youth Leadership Conference or something similar) run a close second and third. Again I can dictate to you the rest of these essays from their opening lines. You’ll describe the deplorable conditions in which those you served lived or the place you traveled to or the program you attended. You’ll discuss how attached you became to the individuals you worked with and those you worked for (you’ll do this regardless of which of the three topics you’re addressing). You’ll be sure to tell us that you had no idea that those who are less fortunate can still be happy/loving/content with life or that you gained a new worldview based on interacting with those from different cultures. And you’ll be sure to let us know that you can wait to do it again. I know that all of that may sound a bit cynical; it’s not intended as such. It just underscores the point I’ve made multiple times that there’s really only one way to write these types of essays, and you will be far from the only person writing them (in fact I usually see at least 20-30 such essays each week). The point of the essay is to tell me something unique about you; something I don’t already know and something that helps distinguish you from the other highly-qualified applicants. This essay fails to accomplish any of these tasks. The lessons you learned from a service trip or studying abroad or a summer program are certainly valuable but they’re not the stuff college admission officers dream of reading.</p>
<p>Relevant excerpt from William&Mary admissions blog. </p>
<p>thanks so much i know that this topic is so cliche but im having troubles coming up with a good topic </p>
<p>Find something that, like @OnMyWay2013 said, is central to your identity. It doesn’t matter if it’s some profound event or not, as long as you write it to make it seem like one. In her book, “A is for Admission”, Michele Hernandez recounts one of the most memorable essays she had read as an admissions officer in which the boy applying was just 9 and extremely ecstatic about the idea of being able to hunt. After begging and begging, his parents gave him a rifle and he went out for his first hunt. He found and shot a squirrel, but was horrified by its moribund and twitching body. He had no choice but to put it out of its misery by shooting it in the head; his family was one without waste, and so his mother had skinned, gutted, and cooked the squirrel for him while the rest of his family ate spaghetti. In the middle of the night, he cried out, and his parents came just in time to see him vomit out the meal that he had eaten that night.</p>
<p>I remember even this DESCRIPTION of an essay quite vividly because of how memorable its nature is. This was what the applicant presented as a part of his identity. In a way, he lost his innocence, and never touched a rifle again. I don’t want to sound like an English teacher, but seriously. He made a simple event of shooting a squirrel when he was a boy into an amazing and memorable essay that was somewhat of an emotional roller coaster. That’s what you want to do. Find something that made up who you are today as a person and turn it into something incredible.</p>
<p>would this be a good idea? Writing about being celiac & switching to gluten free food ? I dont know how i’d relate it to my identity though</p>
<p>Maybe think about your identity first and go from there… What are your convictions? What do you care about? What do you absolutely hate? “Passion for people” is too generic and cliched. What do you want people to experience through your efforts? What do you want to spare them from? When you die, what do you want people to say about you?</p>
<p>And then from there, think about how you developed those mindsets. Remember, it ideally should be a mindset that you’ve had long enough to bear fruit (the activities you do in school, the experiences you’ve pursued, career aspirations, etc.)</p>
<p>Thank you so much @onmyway2013 !</p>