<p>I believe the UPenn board had several threads on the essay, generally along the lines of "As I stood on the dais to announce my donation of the single largest amount in the the history of the University of Pennsylvania . . . " LOL</p>
<p>It was even parodied on a 12/21/05 Doonesbury: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20051221/cx_db_uc/db20051221%5B/url%5D">http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20051221/cx_db_uc/db20051221</a></p>
<p>macinaw: I love that, and can, unfortunately, relate to it.</p>
<p>Though I like the page 217 essay, I find the others less inspiring.</p>
<p>Here is a link to Chicago's essay prompts for the past few years. One can see why they call them uncommon.</p>
<p>"As I stood on the dais to announce my donation of the single largest amount in the history of the University of Pennsylvania . . . I started to remember my graduation at Swarthmore and I smiled sheepishly."</p>
<p>ROFLMAO :eek:</p>
<p>I think ANY topic can work but the key is: don't be generic. </p>
<p>If your essay could be written by someone else, it is not a good essay.</p>
<p>When my D was casting around for ideas, I asked her to tell me some of the things she felt made her different from everyone else... This conversation covered a lot of territory and led her to an essay topic that was unusual, yet also very accurate in terms of 'explaining' herself to an anonymous stranger.</p>
<p>For my D it was much easier to write an essay about a beloved EC than it was for her to write about herself.</p>
<p>...I smiled sheepishly and still wished that I had been biologically qualified to graduate instead from Smith. That moment had sparked my lifelong commitment to research with recombinant DNA and cellular manipulation, a commitment whose lucrative rewards U/Penn was about to benefit from."</p>
<p>One of the best pieces of advice my daughter was given when she was writing her essay was "show it rather than tell it". In other words, rather than describing something about yourself, tell a vivid story that shows that quality you are trying to convey. That kind of writing is also so much more interesting.</p>
<p>When my son was thinking about his essay with Harvard in mind, he first read the book of Harvard's collection of essays of accepted students. Those examples completely opened his eyes to the notion of writing about something unconventional that is self revelatory in a more indirect way. He started thinking more "outside the box", and ended up writing an essay that opened with an extremely detailed account of his first experience taking the blood pressure of a rat. It was at once creepy, funny, and vivid. Through this essay, he was not only able to show his dedication to research, but also his values (his conflicts about experiments on animals), and his ability to explore different sides of ethical issues (he is a debater).</p>
<p><<when my="" d="" was="" casting="" around="" for="" ideas,="" i="" asked="" her="" to="" tell="" me="" some="" of="" the="" things="" she="" felt="" made="" different="" from="" everyone="" else...="" this="" conversation="" covered="" a="" lot="" territory="" and="" led="" an="" essay="" topic="" that="" unusual,="" yet="" also="" very="" accurate="" in="" terms="" 'explaining'="" herself="" anonymous="" stranger.="">></when></p>
<p>SBmom,
We had a similar experience with essay writing--I think this is very good advice. And also a conversation well worth having with a child on the verge of leaving for college--who am I and what do I really value about myself?</p>
<p>Donemom,
I agree completely with "thinking small". I had been dreading the essay-writing, as I suspected my D would go through alot of angst and turn out a serious, boring essay. I was wrong. She wrote a charming essay on the fact that she has seven cats. It was well-written, a bit funny, and gave a bit of a window on who she was, what she cares about, and what kind of a home she grew up in. She was accepted to Vassar ED!
She figured, correctly, that other parts of the application could be used to highlight her EC's, interests, etc.</p>
<p>blctmom; so cool...I'm sure the adcoms loved it reading about something that they truly couldn't have known about her from the rest of her ap.</p>