<p>(Also posted this in "college admissions" forum)</p>
<p>I've seen most people write the latter kind, writing about a walk in the park, how they do their thinking in the shower, about how things on their desk are scattered as an analogy for their lives, about how succeeding in their driving test showed their perseverance, and in general, about everyday things that happen to American teenagers and how they relate to American teenagers.</p>
<p>Does a strong personal statement HAVE to be an analogy/story about some seemingly banal thing that coincidentally relates to one's life? </p>
<p>Can I talk about serious issues? Like how I did XYZ and through it, I realized that there was more to the field of ____ that what I had thought, and I never thought about how important the political aspect of ___ was in helping me make an impact on the world through ___ field, and that I can use my insight as an advantage when I pursue my career.
This is more of a serious essay that is less of a narrative about some incident, and more of a discussion of how I realized something about a serious issue and what this realization means to me and what I can achieve. </p>
<p>It seems that when I read books like "50 Harvard Essays that worked," the students' essays are all humorous narratives about an incident that shows less of their personality and more of their writing skills. So does this mean admissions officers want to see more of light topics, humor, and flowery description in personal statements?</p>
<p>Can someone please help me here? Thank you.</p>