Should I do a Satire piece for my Admissions letter?

College Essays
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<p>This is the topic: Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.</p>

<p>Earlier for school, I wrote a Satire piece about the overweight issue Americans face today. I referenced the founding fathers, how the problem affects America (though I talked about this only slightly) and provided a 'plan' to conquer this issue. This is kind of in line with 'A Modest Proposal,' where the dude provided an outrageous plan in order to raise awareness on the issue. The only problem is, if the officer doesn't realize that my piece is a satire, or is overweight him/herself, then I'm in some deeeep trouble o-o But I have heard that the officers are extremely bored after reading 34893204890 monotonous essays, and would like a change now and then. I'm pretty sure they'll get plenty of essays on the BP oil spill. Because the college wants us to submit two essays, I'm thinking of making my other one a serious piece about my neighbor, who died two years ago. I think a funny/sarcastic piece and a sad/serious piece can compliment each other nicely. I could be wrong though, so please tell me! Should I submit my satire piece? It's risky since this college is my top-choice but I really don't want to lose a chance to show them who I am!<br>
Thank you for reading!</p>

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<p>Sorry for all the grammatical errors >-></p>

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<p>I can also make corrections to it if anyone feels it to be necessary :D</p>

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<p>Write it up and let one of your English teachers read it.
Even better, one of your obese teachers should read it…see if they catch and appreciate your satirical bent.</p>

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<p>Ah thank you for responding! I’ve already written it, as it was an assignment for my AP English class. I will take your advice and see how it goes! Generally, do satire pieces do well on admissions?</p>

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<p>Adcoms are experienced readers, if you don’t personally offend them, they may look favorably upon your essay.</p>

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<p>Ahh I see…thanks a lot! Before I do that, I should look for trustworthy readers to give me advice and critique this essay ^-^ I’ll probably make a new thread about it tomorrow. Batllo, if you are not busy would you be willing to?</p>

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<p>do you really have to write it about obesity? This is a serious problem, not some laughing matter. People die of obesity related complications every minute. This is not some laughing, trivial matter. If the person who reads it has ever had a weight issue, you could come off as a crass young teenager (thin, of course) spoiled with youth, good genes, organic home-cooked meals, and a gym membership. Now can you write a funny essay? Yeah possibly. But people laugh at dead baby jokes (i don’t know why), and you would never write a college essay about that. </p>

<p>Unless you’re an obese/overweight person yourself and you mention that. Then it becomes slightly more acceptable. </p>

<p>My sarcastic pieces were on my uber-failed future presidential candidacy (satire of political system and myself) and how utterly awesome I am at life (satire of myself). Why can’t you do something innocent like that? You seem creative enough. </p>

<p>This is just my two cents, but this idea just completely rubs the wrong way with me. For an english essay? okay yeah it could work. For a college essay, with a prompt that is overflowing with sincerity? Eh.</p>

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<p>Ah, I didn’t mean to come off as making fun of obesity…I just thought that a satire piece would emphasize my point more…well…if taken the right way…</p>

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<p>^No, you’re not making fun of obesity, but you’re making fun of obesity as a serious issue. If I poke fun at terrorists in a college essay, it’s still wrong. Yeah, I’m not making 9/11 jokes. But I am making fun of terrorism as a serious issue. I am treating an issue that should be taken seriously as something that is not. </p>

<p>That was what I was trying to get at. This is a serious issue. You are not only disrespecting the issue by satirizing it, but the prompt as well. Could it work? Yes. However, given the fact that a significant determining factor in answering that question is the reader’s response (which could vary largely for something like this), you are taking what I think is an unnecessary gamble. </p>

<p>On a scale of 1-10, a reader’s response to a dull, cliche essay will range from something like 3-5 (aka a narrow, albeit low, range- you know what you’re gonna get). A reader’s response to a potentially provocative yet humourous essay might literally range from 1-10, depending on who your reader is. The best essays are those that have the potential to get a ten, yet if they fail to strike a chord with the reader instead fall down at most a couple numbers (a range of 8-10). Uncontroversial. That is what you should be gunning for, and I don’t think you have to entirely give up your satiric instincts to do so. </p>

<p>Other things to avoid satirizing are pretty much anything that will generate a divisive split in public opinion (by split I mean anything from 50-50 to 99-1). To mock those who say global warming is a farce, that would be wrong. To mock those who believe in conspiracy theories, or those who blindly support every American action, is wrong. Also avoid satirizing undivisive, yet serious issues (aka flooding, troops dying, cancer, illiteracy, etc.). No one would argue that cancer is good (and if they did, you still shouldn’t mock them). To discuss these as serious issues, on the other hand, is acceptable. </p>

<p>I skirted a fine line when I satirized flip-flopping, populists (though I was sincere when I said I was one, I think it was hard to tell whether I was joking or not), and biased media (taken generally, no specifics) in my presidential essay. Had I cared more about getting into that school, I may not have used that essay entirely.</p>

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<p>First of all, chillax.
As I read through your first post I could just see your mind racing and jumping everywhere and then you followed it up with 2 other posts worrying about really trivial things … I think if you calm down about this whole college apps thing it’ll do you a lot of good :)</p>

<p>That said, the satire can work if it’s written correctly. If it could come off as insulting or insensitive, I would avoid it. A Modest Proposal certainly achieves its purpose, but its purpose is nothing like the purpose of a college essay. If it’s as brash as Mr. Swift’s piece I wouldn’t do it. Eating babies is a little much for a college app I’d say.</p>

<p>Again, RELAX!</p>

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<p>Honestly now, it’s not as bad as all that.</p>

<p>If this is the essay you feel is one of the best you can send in, then send it in. Your essay would be risky, yes. People write risky essays because they know that the adcoms are bored of the thousands of safe essay, and the hundreds of essays that pretended to take a risk but really didn’t. It is really annoying when people write phony risky essays on topics that really would never offend anyone. The whole reason a risky topic is risky is, yes, it may offend people.</p>

<p>Obesity is a very obvious problem in this country. Why do we have to tiptoe around it? If your essay is well-written and actually funny, I’d say you have a better chance of getting a good score with it than you do with a safe boring essay. If the adcom does think it in bad taste, well you’ll probably get around the same score as the boring essay anyway.</p>

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<p>What will matters will be how well it is written, and that’s something your English teacher would be able to tell you about. The type of college you’re applying to also would matter. A place like U of Chicago is likely to have more appreciation for satire than would some colleges who may have admissions officers who aren’t bright enough to appreciate satire.</p>

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<p>So according to your logic if I send colleges a fantastically written essay talking about how I am a fervent racist who’s had thoughts of killing others, then that will serve me better than a mediocre essay about how I worked on an organic farm over the summer? Again, we must differentiate between an English essay and a college essay.</p>

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<p>I don’t think the OP is making fun of fat people any more than Jonathan Swift was making fun of the Irish. If it truly is satirical in the spirit of “A Modest Proposal,” it would be defending obese people, not insulting then. Some people need to chill out and be a little less politically correct. He was just asking a question.</p>

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<p>Murdering people and being a racist are completely different things than suggesting a solution to the obesity problem in a satirical manner.</p>

<p>OP, I suggest you PM your essay to all interested, just so we can truly understand it. You can PM it to me at least. Hopefully people will understand after they read your essay.</p>

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<p>Be careful when PMing essays because some people will plagiarize or sell your work.</p>

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<p>Sorry to jump in, but I have a similar problem and would really appreciate any input.</p>

<p>I planned to write my essay on terrorism and 9/11 but I noticed someone said it was a bad topic. (Specifically, I wanted to write about how I used to be one of the many people who subconsciously labeled the Middle East as a ‘terrorist breeding ground’ after 9/11, but living there for 4 years opened my eyes to the richness of the culture, and how we should resist stereotyping and have open minds.)</p>

<p>Should I let this go in case I offend the essay readers? I know there is a lot of anti-terrorism sentiment and my essay could be skewed as representing pro-terrorism.</p>

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<p>Don’t amylilygirl, you can trust me. But do in general be careful about PMing essays. (I would still like to take a look at it though).</p>

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<p>0705283 (weird user name, was it random?): I wrote that 9/11 or terrorists would be a bad thing to joke about, mock, satirize, or whatever. But you seem to have a legitimate, serious essay about this topic. Joking about dead babies is unacceptable. Writing about how dead baby jokes are a problematic issue is completely acceptable. You see the difference?</p>

<p>hahalolk: Okay I will go out there and say that, when push comes to shove, I am one of the least politically correct people at school. So I am not normally this averse to something seen as politically incorrect. You could go ahead and send it in for all I care. I’m just trying to warn you about the hazards of writing about this topic for a college essay prompt that, again, is extremely sincere. </p>

<p>hahalolk again: I was following the logic presented by that statement. Yes, the statement may have been a hyperbole. But it goes along with other things I’ve been trying to say in this thread. For an English essay, what matters a ton is how well it is written. Although I don’t know precisely why the personal statement exists, my guess is so that adcoms can learn more about you as a person. SAT/AP writing scores, English grades/recommendation, ECs, etc. can give an adcom an approximate idea of the applicant’s writing abilities. But really there are only a few chances to get a glimpse of the applicant’s personality and such. ECs may be a tip-off into what broad things they’re into (sports, leadership, music, whatever). Teachers may discuss in a rec the applicant’s personality, though they may just focus more on academics. The essay is your chance to shine. Not solely (or mainly?) in terms of writing ability, but in terms of yourself as a person.</p>