Hey guys, Im stuck between what essay topic I should use when applying via the common app:
*Im applying to Seattle University and University of San Francisco in this situation
-I was going to talk about my volunteering, but I heard that its too cliche. I have been volunteering as a tutor for two years for an elementary school and have had a great time doing it and have also learned a bunch of stuff too about my own education and how important it is to carry on acts of service. The schools im applying to are really into service since they are catholic, but i’m afraid this is too overused and boring? Also, I don’t really have a specific story…and I dont want to be too general
-I had an internship over the summer with a judge at a courthouse and wrote (18) historical essays for courtroom display…I don’t really like history that much, but I did it and worked hard. At first it was a challenge, but the experience underscored my love for writing and made me a more versatile researcher. I don’t know if this is a good enough example/ good enough to support me for admissions??
-I am looking into biology as a major and thought about doing an essay that revolved around why I am interested in biology in terms of healthcare. I suffer from acne as of right now but not to long ago I had severe acne and it caused me to apply what I learned from bio. in a new hands on way, a process of healing my skin and learning about my own physiology. So the essay I guess would revolve around how I found a love for healthcare through my own personal struggle, and how I used biology to help me in an unconventional way…Im just afraid this doesn’t make sense and is too weird. Its a little bit hard to write about so far…
I like the second and third one. Consider doing 20 minutes of free writing for each and see which one you are more passionate about and able to show YOU best.
@eCoachJen Would #2 make any sense though? I am not looking into majoring in English or History so i’m afraid they will think it doesn’t make sense for me to talk about it.
I'd go with essay #3 about biology ONLY if you can think of an anecdote/life experience that relates to why you like bio. so explain the struggle, and how you used biology to overcome it. make sure you aren't abstract and vague
Otherwise, #2 seems like a valid choice considering you would have a story that you can weave into your idea.
*OR relate your interest in history to your interest in biology. if you could somehow find a way to weave both topics together- that one taught you something about the other, etc, then I think that would be a great essay
Tutoring is cliche, but if you can manage to find a new angle to the whole thing flipping the cliche can be very effective. I can go on and on about essays I’ve read that were cliche but had a twist and I always thought those were the ones that stuck in my mind. Writing about being Jewish but tutoring in a Catholic school, for instance.
Number two is by far the most interesting. If you aren’t interested in history, what on earth made you want to do that for an entire summer? If you can work in some vivid details about the painstaking work and how you learned the value of research, I’d be interested in it.
Three, again requires a new angle. Anecdote or something to set it apart. Otherwise it will fall flat and be unremarkable, but again anything can work if you know how to approach it.
@bjkmom@jeremyj@intparent@juicygirl Ive decided on topic #2, the historical essay one. What would be my “problem” in the story though. Im afraid if my problem focuses around the two week deadline, the lack of credentials i thought I had, not liking history, or anything related to how I thought i couldn’t be able to do it well/ successfully then the essay would fall flat. Any suggestions to calm my nerves? I entered the internship wanting to learn more about the legal system, since I was interested in law at the time, so i wasn’t expecting to be doing something like that but im glad I did because I learned a lot. I want the essay to obviously revolve around what I learned/ how it shaped me but what is my main problem? I guess a main one is that I do like history, but only medieval renaissance and the american or english victorian period, not so much world war 2. Most (about 14/18 )of the essays that I had to write were about world war 2…which was daunting.
The tedious nature of the work? How you weren’t interested in it at all to start but eventually came around? The challenge of the research? How you learned you didn’t want to do law?
Was there any particular aspect of the job that you found especially awful? Cramped office space? Find something that you overcame to end up a better potential student. Was the judge particular strict in his requirements? Through his demands, did you learn the value of a quality research job? There’s gotta be something
ok yeah…thank you that makes sense. Most of the topics I was given I couldn’t look up easily online because they were about ww2 in relation to my state, meaning, they were local topics that I had to go to libraries and historical societies for …I had to do a lot of hands on research/ digging, which was new for me/ strange bc I am a millennial and everything can be done online
Specific incidents are good – remember “show, don’t tell”. I think one of your takeaways could be the lesson that everything worth knowing can’t be found online, and that original source document research was surprisingly rewarding. Were documents in cursive? Adults now worry that your generation will struggle with original document reasearch because so many kids don’t read or write it any more! I know that would be a challenge for my youngest, for sure.
You don’t have to tell them everything… tell the truths that make it a good story.
I think you start with what made you nervous, but pivot to what drew you in and opened your eyes. You don’t need to make it more earth shattering/bigger than it was. Small growths and turning points can make good essays, too.
I personally think that one of the things that college gives you is exposure to things you have never thought of before, never would have known otherwise. Seems like there is a parallel here with your research… maybe one that can help you with that pesky closing in the essay.
@intparent so are you sure it wont sound like im a person who “cant do research” or like someone who has never opened a book or, etc. I just don’t want to seem inexperienced or generally stupid for some reason. Some of the documents were in cursive yes. Should I introduce the nature of the internship/what I expected or just go into the problem itself?
I wouldn’t say that you thought you wanted to do law, but changed your mind. I personally would start with “showing” by talking about how you felt as you walked in or started trying to figure out how to do the first one. Work some of that info about the internship in as you describe the task/scene. Agree, you don’t want to sound like you don’t use books, but high school students rarely do work with original source documents. So that is unique.
The flavor I see to this essay is that it picqued your intellectual curiosity. Colleges are aching for students who aren’t just studying for grades and doing things to look good on their apps. Show that you were drawn in by the content and learning something new, and that essay could play well at any school.
