Picking a controversial topic (Its somewhat required)

College Essays
1

I’m trying to come up with a topic for a controversial essay. The prompt is:

Choose an issue of importance to you—it could be personal, school-related, local, political or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community or your generation.

The best one I can come of with is science denialism, which includes anti-vaccine movements, anti-gmo, and climate change denial. This topic automatically walks down a controversial path, so its not exactly something I can avoid. Would this topic be good (obviously not criticizing the opposing side)? Should I only focus on one of these topics, or change it entirely?

2

The topic is fine, but your approach isn’t addressing the prompt correctly. Remember, this prompt is asking for you to explain the significance of the issue to you, not for your views on the issue. Discussing how you’ve addressed science denialism is fine, but discussing science denialism itself isn’t.

3

Don’t pick a politically controversial topic for a college admissions essay. U risk offending the reader.

The objective is to be ADMITTED, not to show how edgy and annoying you are.

4

I see. I would address the significance of it by talking about its potential effects on humanity as a whole. For example, we’ve eradicated small pox for a reason and anti-vaccine movements could potentially threaten that put society in a potentially dangerous situation. That would be the approach I would take to explain its significance

5

I feel that if I were to choose a matter of importance that’s personal or local, then it’s just so generic and common.

6

Remember the purpose of the essay. It is to reveal something personal about you to make admissions want you on campus. Don’t get so caught up in the prompt that you forget that. If you can’t relate the prompt to a personal story about yourself, keep thinking…,

7

The admissions essay is not a debate competition. I can debate 2 sides of an issue whether I believe in the side, or not. That reveals nothing about me personally.

Telling the adcomm about the global significance of the eradication of smallpox is as revealing about yourself as telling them that motherhood and apple pie are good. So what???

8

Ok, thanks for the advice. I’ll try to find something less controversial. Instead of writing about something negative I suppose I could write about something more exciting/something to look forward to. An example would be the sort of re-ignition of space exploration and the significance it could have on humanity as a whole

9

Just to note, this will not be my topic… I’m just giving an example of how instead of writing about something negative and potentially angering the reader, but instead something that is hopeful and has promising implications for the future

10

Fer crying out loud-- ARE U HEARING ANYTHING??? Stop focusing on the grand significance of other world events and just tell them something about YOURSELF. It doesn’t have to be something that changed the course of human events. Your “re-ignition of space exploration” is just lapsing back into trite motherhood & apple pie pablum.

Does the essay prompt explicitly request a controversial topic or a paradigm-shifting global event?

If not, then just write about a funny story about yourself and what u learned from the experience.

11

Lol… Did I not say that wasn’t my essay topic? Are you hearing anything? I really do appreciate the advice but there’s no reason to be a jerk. It was the first thing on my mind

12

Ok. My bad…
:slight_smile:

Now that u have rightfully pointed out my oversight, I suggest u focus on an issue where u have personally made an impact. And steer clear of DEBATING the issue.

13

I agree that if, of the options given, you choose “international in scope” and “affects the entire generation,” you will most likely end up with a bland essay that speaks in generalities and/or lectures the reader. I would be much more interested in reading an essay that paired any of the issue choices with “yourself” or “your family.”

14

Thank you everybody for the advice, I greatly appreciate it. I now have a definitive direction to point myself in as opposed to when I first posted!

15

Now that u have rightfully pointed out that I totally missed the essay prompt (my apologies), I suggest u focus on an issue where u have personally made an impact. Steer clear of DEBATING the issue.

16

Repeat, over and over, “Give them a reason to say yes.” That’s the point of this essay.

Answer the question, and give them a reason to say yes. That’s all there is to this process.

17

I always want to say that the admissions officers did not write these prompts… and honestly, I don’t think the current set of prompts are terribly helpful to admissions in doing their job. They don’t really want the answer to that prompt as you are thinking about it. @GMTplus7 is right that a grand, lofty debate doesn’t do a darned thing to make them see YOU more clearly as a human being. Always keep that goal in mind.