<p>i'm a junior this year and i want to apply to stanford next fall for engineering/ computer science. i've read all around cc and i've found that having an unique, interesting essay is integral to one's chances at getting considered to universities with such low acceptance rates. basically, i want to ask people who have been accepted to stanford already or anyone who has been accepted to any top college if the following essay topic would be appropriate/effective:</p>
<p>during my childhood and years of a teenager in high school, i've pretty much been a hardcore online gamer. i've played runescape, gunbound, maplestory, maplestory private servers, and countless other games. at first, i basically played to get richer, get higher stats, and be more pro. however, near the middle of my high school years (like summer of sophomore year), i abandoned my attempts to get rich and pro and instead desired to help out other players and basically make people's days. especially in farmerstory, a maplestory private server that i've been playing on, i've been making unique events where i give away all my items to the other players in the server and have also been an active poster on the farmerstory forums, ranting against the many trolls and taking the sides of the "noobs" who are constantly belitted by the "pros" who think they are so much better because they are richer and have been playing longer.</p>
<p>i wanted to tie this idea into the community service program that i started the beginning of junior year that matches up NHS tutors from our school with elementary/middle school students at local schools. i used a simple webs website and some of the basic html code i learned in the previous summer at a summer course at UMCP to make a website where the parents can sign up and went to the local schools to tell them about the program. i talked with the NHS advisor at my school (ironically my WHAP teacher) and basically have made connections about the program with her and have experienced pleasant success with the program (i got rejected from NHS this year lol). so far, the program has given out like 50 hours of tutoring, excluding several of my own tutoring hours that i happily gave to some of the NHS seniors who had not met the hour requirements lol. i'm planning on expanding the program this summer and getting it more known to schools</p>
<p>like basically i want to emphasize the idea that i really want to help out the people living in the world as i believe in brotherhood and a sense of community. </p>
<p>think it would be appropriate to any degree?</p>
<p>Schools are wary of hardcore gamers because a lot of times those are the kids that have difficulty managing their time and drop out because they don’t much of a support network of peers keeping them engaged in school… it is somewhat of a taboo topic in college applications. And not that you will become one of those kids who doesn’t socialize and doesn’t get involve in the school community, its just that admissions officers see that as a possibility in anyone who mentions gaming, and they evaluate those applications accordingly.</p>
<p>And I realize you are trying to take a different angle on “gaming” but the message doesn’t always translate as you might like it to. I think you should stay away from it.</p>
<p>Good topic though… just not the best for college applications.</p>
<p>haha aiite i see what you’re saying. well i’m not like a “HARDCORE” gamer but i have definitely spent a good amount of time playing games. but i’m also very social and am involved in the school community. i also manage my time fairly well and have no intention of dropping out. but still - would simply mentioning gaming in a smaller way be somewhat effective?</p>
<p>I just wanted to let you know that I wrote a supplemental essay completely on DotA and got into some schools. Granted, didn’t write it for Stanford, but I’m saying it’s possible. I think Stanford likes quirky people. But of course, the ways of the admissions office are always unpredictable.</p>
<p>Remember your audience though… you MIGHT get a Stanford admissions officer reading your app who plays halo in their free time but if you don’t, odds are whatever you mention gaming in conjunction with will not be properly appreciated because of the preconceptions older people typically have about gaming (juvenile, brain-killing, intellectually vacant, ect…) and, unfortunately—for I am an avid gamer and strongly resent those caricatures of gaming—a lot of people have trouble looking past the stereotypes and I would be afraid that gaming stigmas would mar your essay and subsequently cripple your app.</p>
<p>My advice for essays is to be conservative on content but liberal on concept. Definitely a refreshing/unique concept, but just be careful about shooting yourself in the foot with content. Ultimately you will be policing your essays content and you can decide what crosses the line, so if you truly think that your essay is something that is universally insightful/meaningful then by all means submit it…</p>
<p>Just be careful!</p>
<p>I will say that I wrote an essay for my Cornell application about how I wanted to use World of Warcraft’s database to analyze the human psyche and I thought that it was something that could be universally appreciated and avoided something that could be lost in translation if the admissions officer didnt happen to be a gamer.</p>
<p>@xinxin - is a supplementary essay the essay your write for the application? or is it like a “supplemental” thing?</p>
<p>@nitro hawk would some of my academic stats kind of negate their ideas that i’m an irresponsible gamer? like i’ll have either a 3.95 or 4.0 and currently i have a 2320 SAT. so maybe they’ll throw out those preconceptions. and NICE WoW topic lol. i never played WoW cause it costs money, but how did that Cornell application turn out?</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to write about videogames as long as you focus on other aspects too.</p>
<p>@RicePicker: I wrote the DotA essay for schools that required another essay in addition to the common app essay. Stanford had three essay questions or something, but I didn’t find the DotA essay appropriate for any of the prompts. I did, however, mention my gaming interests in the roommate essay.</p>
<p>All things aside, I think it would be risky to write about gaming. But then again, an essay that isn’t risky usually isn’t very interesting either. I went with unconventional essays and it worked. At least for Stanford.</p>
<p>Write about what you’re passionate about. If that happens to be gaming (and service), and you have the academic and extracurricular, etc, stats to back up that you’re not some excessive gaming addict, and you think that it will make the best essay, then I think you should go for it.
At the end of the day, it is your decision. You can’t really know what exactly will sway the admissions office in your favor; in fact, no one here can.</p>
<p>That being said, I do have a friend whose freshman year college GPA suffered because of a gaming “hobby”… Haha. It’s all about balance.</p>