@CCName1 authenticity and likability are important aspects of student essays. I think it is best to encourage students to write about what they are moved to write about. They will be able to tell if it works or not. Why do you not think an essay about discovering music after leaving a sport, or an essay about being a quadruplet, is not “specific to the applicant”?
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I didn’t say anything negative about the essay about being a quadruplet. I think that essay could be incredibly interesting and compelling. Could you point to where I did and I will change or clarify that comment?
Admissions officers bemoan the yearly barrage of sports essays, including those about overcoming an injury. There is always the exception, the uncommon essay on a common topic, but if AOs are saying it’s hard to pull off, that they can guess the outcome, that they get bored, wouldn’t it be safer to pick something more likely to interest them?
A student should write about something that moves them, but the audience does matter.
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It does not sound like the proposed essay that mentions a sports injury is really about a sports injury though. That is an important distinction.
It sounds like a fine essay topic/progression, and I would encourage OP to write that essay, if it’s what they believe will allow them to authentically share qualities about themself that they want to highlight.
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I’m confused, as these two ideas seem to contradict each other.
For your supplement about being unique, I don’t necessarily think the idea needs to start with being a quadruplet, discovering your love of music, then finding soccer. You don’t say how many words you have, but your supplement is chance to reveal something more about your personality. Maybe don’t include the music or soccer aspect, especially if you’re writing about it in your personal statement. Are you all identical? What is your “place” in the group of siblings? Maybe talk about that, and how you learned to navigate that, or grew into it, etc…
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Yeah, my second draft ended up being about navigating life as a quadruplet (we aren’t identical, but do look very similar)
The music thing did seem contradictory as I wrote it, but I was trying to say that music has always been a part in my life, though I didn’t get serious about it until after the concussion.
What is the prompt for the supplemental essay? Is there more than one supplemental essay for that college? If so, what else are they asking?
William and Mary only has one supplemental, and it’s essentially, “what makes you unique?”.
I think you should spend some time breaking down the question. Is it still the following?
Beyond your impressive academic credentials and extracurricular accomplishments, what else makes you unique and colorful? What aren’t we seeing elsewhere in your application? We know nobody fits neatly into approximately 500 words, but you can provide us with some suggestion of the type of person you are. Think of this optional opportunity as show and tell by proxy.
If so, the first sentence says, “beyond your extracurricular activities.” Personally, I consider soccer and music as extracurricular activities.
The prompt asks for more than what makes you unique.
What makes you colorful?
What are they not seeing elsewhere in your application?
What type of person are you?
Does being a quadruplet make you colorful? Is it mentioned elsewhere in you application? Does it (or can it) tell what type of person you are?
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Hmmmm…that’s actually a good point. My supplemental essay is about being a quadruplet, but I’m not sure if it makes me colorful necessarily. I’m thinking if I make it more narrative-based though, I can weave in some stories that highlight my personality while still talking about life as a quadruplet.
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I would not overthink this. Writing about your experience as a quadruplet is a great topic. I also wondered what place you hold in the birth order.
You originally posted about going from soccer to music. At some point you also mentioned moving from music to soccer, but that was at a younger age, right, and was in the context of differentiating yourself as a quadruplet. I am sure there is plenty to write about regarding being a quadruplet without going into the earlier transition from music to soccer. That might indeed be confusing considering your main topic!
As you can see, advice may be all over the place (respect to all who are trying to help). You may have a teacher who is critical of an essay and a teacher who praises it. In many ways we are all right and you just have to choose what you want to do! I hope you can avoid whiplash 
Of course any and every topic depends on how it is written.
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I’m second in the order, so nothing to unique on that end lol
I love the quadruplet topic. Maybe there’s a funny story about something that happened as a quad that illustrates your unique personality or the challenges you’ve faced or has affected how you interact with people and the world? Humor can be hard in writing (what I find funny isn’t necessarily what someone else finds funny), but if done well with a dose of humility I think it can be very memorable.
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That was my point b4. All you know is being a quadruplet. So why it is unique in society, it’s not necessarily unique to you or how you are.
My growing up without a mom is similarly unique but it’s all I know so I’m not sure how that alone makes me unique.
Someone who collects Snow Globes …the actor Corbin Bernsen…that’s unique. I’m sure there’s a story about why he does this The guy who used to fast talk through the FedEx commercials…that’s unique.
Also one person above said you can have an essay praised by one and trashed by another. Also true. The reader can be having a bad day. Just control what you can. Don’t overthink but yes it’s good to get a bounce.
I also like the quadruplet topic. I think it is something that is unique in society (Google says 1 in 700K pregnancies). I would just make sure that you use that topic to answer the prompt. What type of person are YOU? Use it as a starting point for telling them what makes you who you are.
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@Winsto7 sure being second is unique. Is anyone else second in birth order among the four?
I just want to say that it is not a requirement for an essay to demonstrate that you are “unique” in any way. Growing up with 3 siblings born essentially the same time is extremely interesting to me!
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I respectfully disagree. While being a quad is indeed all the OP knows, writing about what he or she knows and how it has influenced who he is becoming is kind of the point of the personal statement. There are a lot of ways to achieve it, but writing about the specific elements of one’s circumstances is a way to let an admissions committee get to know you.
Kids who have only lived in a small, seaside town, or whose first job was cleaning rooms in a family-owned motel, or who had a 2-hour commute to high school, also only know those specific experiences. But breaking them down, finding what those experiences mean in the bigger picture, is an important growth exercise that can allow an AO meaningful insight into an applicant’s life. One of my kids wrote about being a middle child…until she wasn’t because her sibling passed away…and how she redefined herself. Of course she doesn’t know any other experience, but by dissecting how those circumstances influence her choices and decisions was one way for her to tell an admissions committee about herself. (FWIW, I don’t think that was a home run topic. I’m only offering it as an example of how a careful examination of the only life you’ve known can lead to important revelations.)
I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a quadruplet. I could probably come up with a few ideas of the kinds of impact it would have on a person, but I would love to read a first-hand account from a 17-year-old and what it has meant to his life.
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@CCName1 I don’t think we disagree
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Yeah, I agree that we don’t need to think of “unique” in its most literal sense. It’s about being personal. While @compmom and I may disagree about whether or not to use a common topic, I completely agree with her that this is about telling a personal story…don’t focus on finding something unique if that is making the stakes feel too high.
Yes! I keep typing when you are posting and end up being one post behind. I think we do mostly agree!
I also agree totally agree that it all depends on how something is written. While to me the sports injury topic seemed to be overdone, I also see the perspective of you and others that it could be pulled off well if the focus isn’t a cliche comeback story but a catalyst into something different.
This reminds me of an article I read a few years ago about a college applicant who wrote a very unique and apparently successful personal statement on this topic. I don’t remember it exactly, but I remember she framed by talking about the Letter S and the gist was the letter S is the difference between having parents and having just one parent.