<p>What are some original essay topics that will "WOW" adcoms? What are considered trite and overused examples?</p>
<p>It’s hard to answer your first question. You shouldn’t be trying to “WOW” admissions officers. You should be honest and genuine. That will produce a much better essay.</p>
<p>Overused examples include family death, excessive praise for a certain family member, talking a lot about how much you changed after so and so program…</p>
<p>I mean, there are lots of exceptions. If the essay’s good, you can certainly talk about these things. I recommend that you get a book on writing the college essay.</p>
<p>Harry Bauld’s “On Writing the College Application Essay” is an excellent resource that is full of good tips, humor, and effective essays.</p>
<p>[U.Va</a>. Office of Admission Essays](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html]U.Va”>http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html)</p>
<p>Well adcoms obviously like it when you convey your personality through your essay but they do like reading some uncommon essay topics. A girl from my country wrote her most significance experience was spraining her ankle one day and another guy wrote about staring at a whitewashed wall. They were both accepted to pretty good colleges.</p>
<p>btw DO NOT WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT DEATH OR ANYTHING RELATED.</p>
<p>Most of the “winning essay” books include a lot of essays that I find really bad. Well-written, but boring. Some are really clever and funny, but most of them…eh.</p>
<p>A lot of good essays can be very “basic” things too. For example, you don’t need something tragic to write a good essay (e.g. death, someone getting cancer, etc.) In fact, some of the best essays are about simple things like family or like tavveer149 said “staring at a whitewashed wall.” It doesn’t need to be overdone- it just needs to convey your personality.</p>
<p>Write about something meaningful to you and try to express your truest feelings in the essay. Don’t try to make it fit what you think someone is looking for. The manufactured essays are easy to spot. My two essays were simple: one about how much I just enjoyed preparing for a regional instrumental band competition and another about how I betrayed the trust of a good friend yet recovered our friendship. Nothing earth-shattering – but truly reflected my view of the world at that time. I was admitted to all schools applied with these. Going back and reading them (after many years), I can see the “genuine” voice of that 17 year old.</p>
<p>You don’t need to strive for “originality” if you’re truly writing about your own life experience.</p>
<p>You could write about an experience that had a very significant impact on you, even if you haven’t experienced anything out of the ordinary. You need to make it SEEM unusually interesting.</p>
<p>I wrote about visiting Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany and the impact it had on me.</p>
<p>I’m a junior in high school, I haven’t read any books on the essay, and I haven’t written any practice essays. With that said, I go to one of the top high schools in the country, and took a class last semester where we talked a lot about writing essays. Make what you will of this.</p>
<p>My take on it is that there are a lot of ways to mess up the essay. If your writing doesn’t flow, it’s going to be bad. If your topic is boring or over-used (“I learned to accept death when my grandmother died,” “I learned what teamwork really went in the last 30 seconds of a crucial lacrosse game,” etc.), it’s going to be bad. Think of it this way: if I’m reading thousands of essays from people applying to my college, what is going to make me think “uch, not another one!”</p>
<p>When I’m really worried about a piece of writing of mine, here’s what I do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Write it.</li>
<li>Leave it alone for at least a day.</li>
<li>Edit it. Oftentimes, if you edit your essay immediately, you’ll know what you meant to say so nonsensical or poorly-written passages will make sense to you even though they still suck. Waiting a day ensures that confusing passages give you a “***” reaction.</li>
<li>Leave it alone again.</li>
<li>Read. It. Out. Loud. Not all good pieces of writing are going to sound brilliant out loud, but if you can’t help but laugh at how pretentious you sound, or if the speaking doesn’t flow together well, you’re probably in trouble. A lot of people here a voice saying the words they read in their head, so if something sounds bad to you out loud, it also may sound bad to college admissions officers.</li>
<li>Avoid confusing grammatical peculiarities. I make it a wrote to avoid using “effect” as a verb that means “cause” unless I know that the teacher who’s grading my essay realizes that. I’ve had countless people proof-reading my work comment on how “affect” was to verb, to which I made a mental note that most people don’t know obscure-yet-cool stuff about grammar.</li>
</ul>
<p>That’s how I write something that I’m really worried about; it’s probably how I’ll write my college app essay.</p>
<p>It’s more about your writing skills than the topic you choose. A good writer can make even the most repetitive topic seem heartfelt and intriguing. Keep that in mind.</p>
<p>
Sorry to pick on you, but I don’t think you mean “writing skills.” I think you mean that it’s more important as to how you approach the topic you choose.</p>
<p>I’m not x90, but I’d say that being able to string words together well is very important. Have you ever actually read something by a sub-par writer? We peer edit at my school, and it can be downright unpleasant.</p>
<p>I read on a certain website that “You know that mental state where you don’t know if you’re awake or dreaming. In this ambiguous mental state write your application essay.” This sounds really silly, but actually, when I was on the computer and was tired, late at night. I kind of wrote out on the Word document a draft essay that in the back of my head said was silly, but actually, it ended up being a rough draft for my essay! </p>
<p>Maybe you should try it. You never know. I think what did it was the fact that I wasn’t really thinking about whether what I was writing sounded good or not. I just spilled it out kind of unconsciously, and I ended up liking it!</p>
<p>
That’s obvious. What’s not so obvious is the idea of approaching a topic that seems to be mundane in a new and creative way, which is what I thought that x90 was getting at. Also, I wanted to point out that all the lyrical, musical, etc. writing devices in the world cannot make a boring topic more interesting to read. It’s sort of like how all the special effects, big name actors and actresses, etc. cannot make a bad movie good.</p>
<p>Also, even if you’re applying to an Ivy school, don’t try to wow the adcoms with super-advanced vocabulary you put in your essay with the help of a thesaurus. They will know if you’re just trying to impress them and you will be seen as a fake. My GC caught me doing this, and had me rewrite my essay with a more natural, though advanced vocabulary.</p>
<p>Basically, if your use of vocabulary would typically only be found in a Shakespearean work, rewrite it.</p>