<p>Okay so I know that for the common app you're supposed to talk about yourself, but honestly, I'm having a little trouble with that. Because everyone I've talked to wrote about either a tragic event or a major event in their life. But NOTHING EVER HAPPENS TO ME. I'm from a small town in NJ, I moved from a small town to another when I was 5, 3/4 of my grandparents died from cancer, and we travel a lot. But I can't write about moving because I don't remember any of it, the death of my grandparents didn't really affect me, and I didn't learn anything from traveling. The only interesting things that happen to me are negative: my sister abandoned me in Lake George when I was 10 for 20 min before realizing she left me alone, and like a month ago a man was following me around a bookstore and my parents were too busy to pick me up. And I can't really think of a way to show that in a positive light because I was too busy being hysterical in the bathroom for the bookstore incident, and on the verge of panicking for the Lake George incident.
So if someone could give me some ideas that would be great.</p>
<p>Also, for the bookstore incident, I tried writing about that, but I went 600 words over the limit and was stressing out really badly the entire time and starting crying and I had to stop like 20 times for 5 hours to get it out. And I still didn’t include everything.</p>
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You do not have write about these topics (unless the prompt requires it). My oldest wrote about her goals in her life and what motivated the desire. My second wrote about someone he admires greatly and how that role model has influenced who he wants to be when he grows up and what he wants to do. I have no idea if their the essays helped or hurt their admissions outcomes … but I do know their admissions results were very good.</p>
<p>This thread might help you narrow down your choices and select an appropriate topic: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1526461-pitfalls-traps-new-common-application-essay.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1526461-pitfalls-traps-new-common-application-essay.html</a></p>
<p>I have found that some of the best essays I’ve read are not about big life events, but the small things that make someone an individual. You can write about your passion for cherry icees at 7-11 if it is done with humor and illustrates something about you and your personality.</p>
<p>My D is stressing out about this now, exactly like you are. I feel for you guys. It’s tossed out there: Just write about yourself, just be natural, show who you are. How hard can that be? Well, it can actually be very hard. It can be like cutting a vein and writing the essay in blood. </p>
<p>School teaches kids how to write structured essays. Too structured. Essays are graded on a rubric: How well has the student stuck to the outline we told him or her to use? And then all of a sudden a student is supposed to know how to write a personal essay. Not only a personal essay, an intriguing personal essay, on which one’s character is based, which decides whether or not this student is suited to go to a particular college. </p>
<p>This is very hard stuff for some. Overwhelming. Don’t beat yourself up over it. My suggestion to my daughter is to write lots of drafts, and give yourself permission to write badly. If she writes a lot, and tries out different ideas, eventually one will be worth using. </p>
<p>I tell her to write everyday. The best time is as soon as you wake up. Just write. Later on you can edit, pick and choose. (that doesn’t mean she actually takes my advice.)</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck!</p>
<p>Do not write about isolated incidents, especially things that happened when you were small. You want to focus on yourself as you are now. You do not need to write about large life changing events either. Sit down and brainstorm some things like interest you, things that you have experience with as a high school student, and your academic and extracurricular activities. As you do that, think about framing an essay that you can express yourself in. To create a picture of you and how you look at the world and what you do in the world. It is a very good thing to brainstorm a bit and try different prompts to see what comes to mind. Try to create a little portrait of yourself.</p>
<p>If it makes you feel any better, I am having a similar struggle, and I’m sure thousands of other seniors are too. I hate every topic I’ve brainstormed lol. Best of luck.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat. All my drafts suck and feel like I’m not creative enough, but I keep writing, and you should too. If you don’t write, you’ll have a zero chance of writing anything brilliant.</p>
<p>Okay so thanks for all your replies, but I think some of my main issues is that I come off too flippant (like I’m talking to someone face to face), and that I tend to write about the negative things (like how im depressed, easily distracted, easily entertained, etc.).</p>
<p>why is easily entertained a negative? my advice would be to try to turn negatives into positives or highlight how you learned from negative experiences.</p>
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<p>That is EXACTLY how your essay should come across – as if you are standing in front of an Admissions Committee reading it out loud. The trick, if you will, is to ask yourself “Who am I talking to?” If you are talking to your friends (17-18 year olds) – well, yes your essay might come off as flippant. If you imagine you are talking to your grandfather, your essay might come across a bit stilted. If you imagine you are taking to your mom when she grounded you, your essay is going to come across as angry.</p>
<p>The vast majority of college admissions staff are in the 22 to 35 age range, and there are probably more women in admissions than men. You are writing for an adult, someone who probably graduated from the college you want to attend, someone who may be married or not, or someone who may have young children. </p>
<p>One of Yale’s Senior Admissions Directors is featured in a video on Yale’s website. If you write your essay with someone like her in mind, you might not come across as flippant. (<a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/advice-putting-together-your-application#essay[/url]”>http://admissions.yale.edu/advice-putting-together-your-application#essay</a>) </p>
<p>I can’t help you with the negativity part other than to suggest you are either (a) choosing inappropriate topics for your college essay, or (b) thinking of someone that you share your negative thoughts with – someone like a therapist. </p>
<p>If you change the person that you are writing for, you will find that the “tone” of your writing changes!</p>
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<p>And a lot of those essays are going to be really contrived, because a lot of affluent kids applying to top colleges haven’t really experienced suffering (though I certainly don’t intend to trivialize the experiences of those who have). The idea of these people sitting around going “I’m trying to think of what my hardship was so I can write my essay about it” seems kind of disgusting to me. </p>
<p>I don’t think you should write about a major event either. We’re seventeen (?) years old. We don’t have the perspective to philosophize about the significance of major events in our lives as a whole, especially in under 650 words. There’s a lot of meaning in small things.</p>