My buddies and I burned a stuffed animal on a wooden bridge. I know that it may cast a negative image on myself, but I think that the way I handled the situation was mature. We managed to burn a small hole on the abandoned bridge but immediately afterward we contacted the city and paid for and helped repair the damage. Overall if I were to write about the story I think it would be very eye-catching, but I’m still not sure if it would be appropriate or not.
What message would you be trying to convey about yourself? I think the bar for college admission is more than just doing the right thing when you mess up.
I don’t see any college admission officers looking for an arsonist who destroys public property no matter how well he/she handled the aftermath.
Oh, my, don’t go there…
We love our stuffies here so couldn’t imagine putting them to death that way.
No.
Pick another topic.
Google 'hacking the college essay 2017" to get a good idea of how to write the essay only you could write.
Also think about it from a college admissions viewpoint: You and friends decided to burn something on an old wooden bridge. Then something happened. It was good that you stood up and took responsibility…but why do it in the first place?
Pick another topic.
Is this the best example you can think of as a reason that someone would want to say yes to your application? Do you feel this does the best job of inspiring an adcom to take you over someone else?
I’m hoping that both answers are resounding “NO!'s” and that you’ll come up with another essay.
Why were you burning the animal? If you have a good reason, perhaps, but I wouldn’t advise it if it’s your main essay. It could be seen by a range of people- some of whom might be somewhat dismayed.
It depends on where you are applying. If you come from a full-pay-family and are applying to a school that is not need blind, you can probably make this topic work.
Every year there are kids who write about “questionable” essay topics, and some of them write a compelling enough essay to show their personal growth and maturity.
While I wouldn’t suggest this topic, I would like to applaud OP for learning from this experience - there are a lot of teenage kids who do dumb stuff - and this one is far from the very worst of them. OP, be grateful you learned from this experience, and that nobody got seriously hurt.
Of course, there are a lot of ways to make this essay topic work against you. If you wrote about doing this as a nine-year old kid, and how it changed your life, it may come off as positive learning experience, and a memorable stand-out essay. However, if you said you did this last week as high school senior, to your ex-girlfriend’s favorite stuffed animal because she dumped you for someone else, and that you can’t wait to get to college so you can start drinking without your parents knowledge, then while it may be an eye-catching topic, it won’t likely be received favorably.