<p>Hey, I was wondering if writing a satiric essay for a college app/scholarship is a risk worth taking. Will it show that I'm creative or just end up failing? Personal message me if you want to see the one I wrote. It just so happens to be a poem too because that is something I'm passionate about. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Humor and satire are very difficult but if done well, stand out. I wouldn’t submit something like that unless you have very very very good and qualified and objective readers go over your stuff. I’ve found very few young writers whose humor rises above triteness. Good luck however.</p>
<p>This one kid did a copy change of a passage from Dostoevsky’s “Letters from the Underground,” basically bashing the entire college admissions system (I read about it in a book, I’ll post a link if I can find it). Out of a committee of 4 admission officers, one officer loved it and the other three hated it with a burning passion. The one admissions officer who loved it wound up defending the kid in front of a panel and succeeded; the kid got into Harvard.</p>
<p>Risk essays can work, but they can also be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, and I would not recommend submitting one unless you’ve got nothing to lose (a guy with a 1900 SAT going for Harvard).</p>
<p>Any tone is fine. </p>
<p>The main problem with doing satirical essays is that people tend to get caught up in the satire, and forget to make the essay personal enough. When you do that, all the admissions committee ends up seeing is that you are snarky, where a regular essay could have told them much more about who you are as a person. </p>
<p>If you do write one, I suggest you get someone who actually knows what they are doing give you a critique, as it is a subtle thing to get right. If you know a teacher who you trust, go with them. If you have friends at good schools that are good writers, ask them for advice. If you don’t have anyone, hire someone at a place like GuruFi. Don’t simply trust the feedback you get here from high school kids that have about as much perspective on the process as you do.</p>