<p>For my common app essay, I really like the prompt about the place/environment I feel most content with. I decided to write about my bathroom because ever since I was a kid, I would stay in the bathroom after my shower and dress up in drag (I'm a male by the way) using my mother's hairstyling wigs and my mom's and sister's makeup. I personally think drag is very liberating. Do you think this topic is unique and would make me stand out? I thought so, but I don't know...might be clich</p>
<p>definitely unique, maybe a bit risky depending on the college. i would go for a lighthearted approach on this one.</p>
<p>Haha yeah, I definitely thought about that. All of the colleges I’m applying to are gay-friendly, thankfully.</p>
<p>:) then go for it! I think with a healthy dose of humor it could be great</p>
<p>It’ll make you memorable, but I’m not sure it’ll make you memorable in a way that’s helpful. As long as you’re not applying to Liberty or Grove City or BYU, I don’t think it’ll be particularly harmful, but how does the fact that you hang out in the bathroom and dress in drag convey to the admissions committee that you are a person they want on campus? I mean, they’re not all going to be in the bathroom with you after you shower, right? So how does this essay make them think, “We really want alittlescared to come here”?</p>
<p>@Sikorsky you have a really good point. I guess I’ll have to display my dedication to drag in a way that impresses them and shows them that I have a passion for something and work hard at something. And I think I’ll close my essay with what I hope to explore in college…doing drag more openly and publicly.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be contrary, but I’m not sure I see how even that is helpful. You don’t need to be in college to explore being more open about cross-dressing. Lots of people cross-dress without being in college.</p>
<p>I get that you may see college as a setting where you can get away from the fairly restrictive constraints of home and middle school and high school, and have greater latitude to explore your own sexuality. But most colleges and universities see themselves as educational institutions first and foremost. By and large, wanting to get away from the repressive atmosphere of home and high school, and to take advantage of your new personal freedom is, I would guess, more likely to lead to academic difficulties than to academic success. So how will you connect your dressing in drag to what colleges and universities see as their main mission?</p>
<p>My common app essay last year was about my hair and how I like to torture it with heat, streak it, straighten, bleach it. My parents thought I was crazy for writing it but it worked out. </p>
<p>Caltech’s admission officer sent me a handwritten letter telling me how he used to be hair-crazy in high school and got how my hair can define my personality. I’m going to Stanford in the fall. </p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to stand out and be unique. Admission officers will appreciate it - just make sure you link it back to how it reflects your personality and how it’s a personality they would want on their campus. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCKK :D</p>
<p>Although you should look at your school’s atmosphere on those sort of subjects, don’t be afraid to write uniquely! It’s refreshing to read an essay that isn’t about a service trip.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it would hurt you, but it wouldn’t help either. As mentioned previously, you’d have to convey this experience in terms of how it affected you personally to the admission board. At the end of each essay you should be able to say “… and this is why I should get into your college.” (Wise words of a Upenn admissions board member)</p>