Newb with some ideas... Need Help!

[tekman327]

<p>I'm a junior in high school and am not pressed for time, but I have little or no knowledge in this area. Information about essays is sparse and not condensed, so I don't know much. My first instincts in writing this paper were to write about my background (born in norway, came here at 5, live with stepdad and a 7-kid family). </p>

<p>Then I thought of a novel and unusual idea (At least to me). Most people write about their accomplishments and things they are interested in. Would it be a good idea to write about something like the following?: </p>

<p>I've always been into sports and loved soccer, baseball, and basketball. But as time passed, i was only able to maintain a spot on the soccer team, getting cut from the other two. Wouldn't it be cool if I wrote about my failures and how I learned from them and got through them? Just a thought.</p>

<p>Thanks for any and all replies as I'm completely lost in the world of application essays and I need all the help I can get.</p>

[ADad]

<p>A good place to start is with this essay from UVa:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Note that the topic of an essay is not the main thing. Any topic can make for a great essay, any topic can make for terrible essay.</p>

<p>The main thing is that your essay should be highly personal, specific, honest, revealing. Ideally, even enlightening. Whatever topic can elicit that degree of personal authenticity and meaningfulness in your writing is a topic you should use.</p>

<p>Writing about learning from specific failures could work, I've seen it done extremely well. Make sure that, overall, the essay presents you in a favorable light.</p>