<p>So I've gotten some feedback from friends and teachers, but I want some input from general people. I chose to answer prop 1 from the CommonApp essay, which says:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>I'm planning to apply to Ivy Leagues (including Harvard), so I want to know if religion a fine topic to discuss in this, specifically mine (Islam)? And if so, if this introduction is Ivy-worthy (I'm talking about how religion has been so central to my upbringings): </p>
<p>The low, serene hymn of our voices wafts generously throughout the house. Every bulb inside is burning and suffices before the first light slices the morning sky and pours through the living room window. My siblings and I sit anchored to the mattresses that make for loveseats, each clutching an opened Holy Quran in our hands. We recite verses, imprinting the words into our minds until weve affirmed to familiarizing with them in the likeliness of our own names. Occasionally, a gruff stammer can be heard from my father memorizing in the first living room, his memory withered with age. We beat on against the early hour, as we have since the time we could read. Its a five oclock morning.</p>
<p>First off, NEVER post your essay on the internet, as it just invites plagiarism. </p>
<p>Secondly, any topic is worthy of a great college essay, including religion, but much depends on the “tone” you take with your essay. Be aware that Harvard, and virtually all US colleges are home to a vast number of organized religions ([Harvard</a> College Interfaith Council](<a href=“http://www.nataliejacoby.com/HCIC/atharvard.php]Harvard”>http://www.nataliejacoby.com/HCIC/atharvard.php)) so your essay must tread the line of respect and tolerance for other religions, as well as agnostics and atheists.</p>
<p>Thank you @gibby you pose a point I was tentative of posting this very paragraph for! But I will keep that in mind and it brings a whole light to my writing once you put it that way!</p>
<p>I would add that your opening is very well written and your prose is quite creative, but you should bear in mind that religion is a common topic for application essays. Whatever point you extract from this image and scenery you’re constructing, make sure it’s unique and unexpected - something beyond simply being devoted to X religion.</p>
<p>This is way way overwritten. Are you a native English speaker? Some of it does not even make sense. Sorry, but I think you can keep the creativity but simplify. Write naturally, as if you were having a conversation, in your first tries. “Big” words and descriptive words and phrases should only be used when necessary to convey meaning.</p>
<p>You should not care a straw about how common is your chosen topic. All that matters is your perspective - that must be uncommon. </p>
<p>However, I agree with compmom on some points. I find some of your sentences particularly difficult to understand: "We recite verses, imprinting the words into our minds until we’ve affirmed to familiarizing with them in the likeliness of our own names. " - I think I somehow get the idea, but the way you expressed it is VERY unclear and probably wrong.</p>