<p>I'm not a parent, but I've seen student posts on this forum from time to time, and I hope that it's not too much of a faux pas to post here. I'd really be interested to hear an adult opinion.</p>
<p>After deliberation, I feel like one of the strongest essays I could write would be about growing up in a college town. Several friends have pointed out that I run the risk of this being a relatively common topic, or at least having the admissions committee see it that way, since after all thousands of kids who apply to HYPS come from this same environment. I know this, but that's not my biggest concern. My question to you is, if you were an admissions officer, how would you feel if you read an essay that went on about some kid's life and worldview being shaped by a school... but it was not YOUR school?</p>
<p>In addition, though I don't know if anyone could definitively answer this, I do wonder just how effective or unsafe uncommon essays are. You hear about admissions officers being wowed by the Tao of baseball or some such thing, but I'm beginning to wonder whether it may be a bad idea, except in truly exceptional circumstances, for an applicant to write an essay that has nothing to do with their stated activites or any other part of their application. The articles that I've read touting daring essays don't seem to jibe with my local observations, but then again, I'm only privy to a very small part of the country. (In case you're wondering, I've already submitted a few uncommon ones, either way! Still curious.)</p>
<p>Your essay sounds fine, I think. Writing about growing up in a college town that is an intellectual/active/young/whatever environment and how that has affected your worldview sounds like a good topic. It doesn't matter much, I think, that so many other students have grown up in similar environments. Your personal experience and what you've gotten out of it are unique. As long as you personalize your essay and make it your own, it won't be common. The only worry I would have relates to your last question. If the two schools are closely competitive, you may want to make sure that your essay is more about the particular environment than the particular school. In other words, in you're from New Haven and applying to Harvard you may not want to write your essay all about how you have grown up on the Yale campus. If you focus your essay on the environment and your experiences, though, I don't see an issue. This is especially true if the schools aren't directly competitive.</p>
<p>I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about regarding uncommon essays. If an essay is well written, clever, thoughtful, and respectful, I think it's fine if it's not on a conventional topic. An essay, whether particularly daring or not, may have very little to do with activities or other things on the application.</p>
<p>Welcome to CC and to the Parents Forum! Many of us here are always willing to help a student.</p>
<p>IMHO, a common essay topic can be turned into an uncommon essay by a passionate and talented writer. I like your choice of topics, but I would urge you to make YOU...specifically what is UNIQUE about YOU...the focus of the essay, even within the context you've given. Fact is, no one knows into whose hands an essay may fall, and what topic floats any particular adcom's boat is purely a matter of guesswork. So, control what you can, and write with passion and clarity. You will do GREAT!!!</p>
<p>Adcoms who read thousands of essays have seen everything. As pointed out above, it is not the topic which is important, but the specifics. The most effective essays are those with memorable specifics which seem to convey some insight into the writer's character and interests. I sometimes wonder why this should be important in making an admissions selection, but it seems to be an important part of the game.</p>
<p>I'd recommend this link to any student writing essays. It's a selection of a dozen or so essays that stood out from the pack to college adcoms (and that's saying something) :</p>
<p>You'll see some concrete examples of exactly what edad and berurah were saying: the topic matters far less than the writing and the way that the student's personality emerges. Some topics are pretty conventional, another takes "tofu" as it's subject!</p>