<p>I'm thinking of writing one of my essays on how it was for me, a homosexual, to grow up in the South (specifically, Georgia). I'm not sure how this will be taken by colleges. What do you think?</p>
<p>^that isn't controversial at columbia, it might even be a little cliche (homosexuals growing up in unfriendly environments). make it personal and meaningful and not too emphatic, otherwise it'll just sound like everything else.</p>
<p>cry me a river </p>
<p>its been done to death</p>
<p>definitely a topic to avoid. you don't want adcom to squirm in their seats while reading your essay.</p>
<p>I disagree that it's been done to death - well, it may have, but there is still some room for personalization. Remember, what you're trying to do is show a side of you that is uniquely "you" and describes something memorable and specific about your background that informs why you would be a good student. That's the goal here.</p>
<p>To that end, if you can talk about specific situations and how you learned to deal with the category of (say) homophobia in the South, and perhaps changed some people's minds and got them to support you, then you probably have something meaningful to say about yourself. If the essay boils down to "there are lots of rednecks here and it sucks for me!", then obviously it's not going to fly at all. But the same could be said about many other styles of content-free essays.</p>
<p>I doubt any adcom would be squirming. These are diverse universities, not back country barbeque shacks. This is by no means a controversial topic.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, I knew some students in college who came from a similar background and their entire lives they were "the gay guy". When they got to college and realized nobody really cared, their whole sense of identity got thrown out and it really caused an identity crisis. They had to figure out who they actually were. So, make sure you don't present yourself as "the gay guy" in your essay because there will probably be a lot if you go to any sizable institution. Rather, maybe explore how being homosexual in that environment influenced your passion for writing, physics, math, whatever...</p>
<p>OP: Why did you post this on Columbia 2011?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I doubt any adcom would be squirming. These are diverse universities, not back country barbeque shacks. This is by no means a controversial topic.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yup, they've heard it a million times. There are tons of gays at Columbia.</p>
<p>They've heard a lot of things a million times, but that doesn't stop you from being the rare person who can write a killer essay even with a trite topic.</p>
<p>Columbia, I don't think I realized that there was a general forum that I could post things on until I had already finished this one. I'm new to this site.</p>