<p>I am having a hard time connecting with this prompt. I feel like I haven't done anything worthy to write an essay about... I've just been a good friend and a good daughter. Can someone give me any hypothetical examples I could write about? </p>
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<li>Swarthmore is known for its intellectual vibrance, collaborative spirit, and commitment to civic and social responsibility. Please elaborate on one of these aspects and what it means to you, using examples from your own life in an essay that is no longer than two pages. You should also address how you anticipate your experience at Swarthmore to be different from your current institution or circumstance.</li>
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<p>Intellectual vibrance: What interests you? Are you vibrant, lively in any field of study? How so? </p>
<p>Collaborative spirit: perhaps you have collaborated well with your mother and friends (or classmates). What do you mean by good friend and good daughter? Did any recent incidents reveal those things? What about the roommate situation you wrote about here? Did you demonstrate collaborative spirit in handling that, or in otherwise getting along well with her/him?</p>
<p>Social responsibility: Have you not done anything that was helpful to others in the past few years?</p>
<p>ADad put it wonderfully. I’ll add just a few pointers I found helpful while writing my own essay.</p>
<p>Make the essay microscopic. Choose one moment of one event on a particular day and center your essay / feelings / emotions around this. Don’t elucidate that you are a good friend or a good daughter. Show how you’ve been a good friend or a good daughter. The best essays are usually the ones in which the message is woven in the text without ever explicitly revealing itself.</p>
<p>Personally, I find that the best way to do this is narrate a story rather than using sentences like “I did this and that happened.” Try something like, “Running towards that, a realization dawned upon me. I jolted to a halt and did that.” Make it more story-like. Make it engaging.</p>
<p>I do understand that is the easier said than done, but if you put your heart into it, the end results will be impressive.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! They’ve really helped me to brainstorm…</p>
<p>Intellectual vibrance: I really enjoy teaching myself things. For example, I learned web design by myself and am now trying to learn programming languages such as JAVA. </p>
<p>Collaborative spirit: This relates back to intellectual vibrance, but one of my most profound experiences of working in a group happened to be for a web design project. I spent a lot of time working with my team and although we didn’t fare as well as we wanted to, we became pretty good friends.</p>
<p>Social responsibility: Hm… I’ve done volunteering, but nothing profound really came out of that. I also feel like that’s an overdone topic.<br>
I’ve had several jobs that required me to work extensively with kids, and I have some things I can show about that (but since I got paid for my work… I don’t know if that would count)</p>
<p>So this is what I’ve come up with.
Could you guys tell me if you think these are strong topics?</p>
<p>Topics are not inherently strong or weak. What matters is whether a topic allows you to write the most personal, detailed, revealing essay, the essay that, ideally, is so you that no one else could write it. The best or strongest topic for you probably would not be the best or strongest topic for someone else. </p>
<p>I like the fact that you used the word profound. It sounds like this experience meant something to you, and as you said it combines intellectual vibrance with collaborative spirit. You could show details of how your own private work and discoveries led to being able to collaborate effectively with others.</p>
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<p>So this does not sound like an area or topic that would be good for you to write about. </p>
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<p>Well, imo there are no overdone topics. There are only overdone treatments of topics. It is quite possible to write scintillating, original, strong essays about volunteering. I’ve read quite a few of them. However, it does not sound like this topic will work for you. Which is not a problem!</p>
<p>Ok, your response to this prompt is one of the most critically crucial for determining admission … assuming that university/college admissions prefer students who are most likely to prefer prospective students that are inspired and have a plan for the future, with the intent of gaining research experience, attending graduate school, doing “big things” … all in the process of “giving back” to the University in which you originally attended. </p>
<p>Therefore, SHOW admissions how you fit the desired student culture … through an analysis of the valuable character qualities you bring to the table. This can be done by describing a story demonstrating personal triumph/achievement of both the individualist/collectivist. </p>
<p>Also, capture how you feel you would make a “fit” at Swarthmore by contributing to the cultural atmosphere. For example, “don’t fit current institution because the student body consists of students who… whereas my observations of students at Swarthmore are… and I feel I would identify with…” Make sure to name specific details like “… I once met professor of… at such event… overall impression made me inspired to…” </p>
<p>I like phantombrain’s ideas. However, I would disagree with the first part of the quoted passage. Don’t waste words, and raise questions about your judgment, by badmouthing your current school. Instead, focus on the second part of the quoted passage: what is good about where you want to be.</p>