<p>I did a 3 week outward bound in Alaska the summer going into my junior year and it was a really great experience. How good will this look for colleges? Also, I am 95% sure it will be the basis of my essay.</p>
<p>DO NOT WRITE YOUR ESSAY ON IT. that is all.</p>
<p>why not? it was a good experience and i can relate it to some good essay topics</p>
<p>It will look like your parents can afford expensive summer experiences for you. Other than that, it probably won't have much impact on your app even though it was a very fulfilling experience for you.</p>
<p>I disagree - An essay written about a subject that has had a real impact on someone/someone's life - and very well written also - could have a good impact on a school application - may depend on the school too - but Outward Bound is nothing to sneeze at - it can actually change lives - one doesn't come away from OB the same as they were when they started it.</p>
<p>Yeh, just sounds tried. Maybe write a more abstract essay on a specific vignette that occured during outward bound without excplicitly saying that it WAS outward bound. Think of it not as an overall experience, but a specific confrontation that does not focus on the program, but rather your interpersonal relationship at a specific moment in time, relate it to you and your future, but I agree, do not go off mentioning generic bleh about how you were changed by outward bound... I know that I wouldnt want to read it.</p>
<p>I have participated in Outward Bound, and I agree that it can be life changing. The reason that I'm saying it's doubtful that it will help in admissions is that Outward Bound is a very expensive experience that screams, "I come from a privileged background." As a result, admissions officers would be more impressed by, for instance, a kid who wrote an essay about how their life changed as a result of working as a grocery store bagger.</p>
<p>As the subject of an essay, it falls into the cliche category of, "The exotic place that I went to on my summer vacation." Sure, the OP should write about this if that is what is most meaningful to the OP. However, the OP shouldn't count on the OB experience increasing the OP's odds of admission to a top college. The OP may get into a top college, but it's not likely that OB will be why.</p>
<p>I am an OB alumnus as well :] I think that you could write a killer essay about it. I definitely plan on putting it on my application (but not writing an essay about it). It takes an adventurous person to go on OB. I doubt that the admissions people will penalize you for being more fortunate than other people.</p>
<p>"Admissions officers have to do a lot of reading. Entertain them with vivid, clear writing and original ideas, and you’ll win their hearts. Bore them with yet another essay about how an Outward Bound trip allowed your inner strength to blossom, and in their minds you’ll merge with all the other students who wrote about that topic. What’s worse, if another applicant writes a Pulitzer Prize–worthy essay about Outward Bound, yours may pale in comparison.</p>
<p>Admissions officers have read thousands of essays about the exhilaration of scoring the winning touchdown, the lessons learned from volunteering in impoverished areas, and the new perspectives gained from traveling abroad. If you want to write about one of these topics, leave in a little texture: Admit that things still aren’t perfect. If your story is about flawlessly perfect behavior or sober lessons learned, the admissions office will let out a collective yawn. Being flawed but lovable is more interesting than being a charitable cheerleader with perfect grades.</p>
<p>In the battle to avoid clich</p>