Hi! So I was looking through the bunch of essay prompts that I had for different schools, and a lot of them were about describing a risk/challenge you took. I don’t want to write a lot of essays, and I think this essay prompt is easily reusable, but I’m wondering if it’s fine to write a coming out story? Idk if it’s a topic that’s way too common, or it’s too much of an angsty sob story (not really but people assume), and even though schools usually say they don’t discriminate against sexuality but would it affect a little bit?
Them knowing your sexuality would either make no difference or help you a little bit for diversity purposes. As for the essay, write whatever makes the most sense in context of your experiences, but keep in mind they will read more than 1 essay on that topic so maybe make it connect to a different or broader theme.
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Deleted. Missed the prep school part.
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that makes sense, but also is it weird if I feel like this subject also isn’t talked about much in prep school admissions? Bc we’re at the age where it’s kind of confusing and people don’t like talking about it, whereas in college admissions people are usually more sure of these topics and usually write about them more?
Deleted. Missed the prep school part.
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Of course you can write about this. The quality of an essay depends on how it is written. Include interesting details and avoid too much drama. If this is meaningful to you, go for it.
I have been helping students with essays in recent years. Students are told not to write about mental health, for example, but I have seen some extraordinary essays on that topic. I have also seen some terrible ones.
Identity formation is a key task-and struggle- at your age. Try the essay and see how you feel about coming out as an essay topic!
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I get your point- I’ll try to expand more and think of different topics, see if I can find something more unique. Thanks for the advice!
I’m applying to a few of the GLADCHEMMS schools (not all but like half of them), a few safeties with good FA (NMH, Loomis, Mercersburg…etc.). I haven’t 100% finalized my school list yet but I’m casting a wider net then I was last year
Deleted. Missed prep school part.
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Bc it’s an essay about risks I took can I do like sorta a paragraph on the comphet issue, go right into the part of coming out, and how it changed me? I don’t want to press too much into the part where I struggled, but it was a risk I took (its more about the risk and the aftermath than the coming out part)
I did ask about if it was different between prep school and college because at my age it’s more confusing compared to older grades. There might be a difference I think?
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Deleted. Missed prep school part.
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I don’t think this is a bad topic for a prep school application. As with all essays, it should be in good taste and about who you are and what you learned about yourself.
BS want kids to stretch these and advocate for themselves, and they want kids who are going to be able to be themselves, so I think you can demonstrate that through this topic.
Not surprisingly, I will suggest you look at George School in PA. Extremely welcoming.
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I think your topic will work as long as you narrow down the insights and narrative that you want to convey. While your experience is not unique the way you experienced it is unique. Highlight what makes you, you and enjoy the opportunity to be some combination of passionate, vulnerable, open, funny, etc.
Upon completion of the essay reread it, and rather than asking yourself what did I tell the reader, ask yourself what you made the reader feel. Effective written communication goes beyond fact sharing and is ideally some combination of compelling, thought provoking, insightful, etc. Ask yourself honestly if your essay accomplishes what you set out to have it accomplish.
I would also suggest some obvious areas for focus when trying to be persuasive and impressive in written form. Avoid typos and use proper grammar, be attentive to details, answer the question that is asked , take your time responding and lastly be conscious of your audience and have a sense of context.
Hope this helps and good luck!!
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I see you thought you were advising an older student on college essays. I respectfully suggest you delete your posts in this thread as the language is harsh for the young student you are addressing (or other young students who may read this) and not relevant to the prep school forum. 
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I did look into George School, but the FA for international students is limited, and I’m not sure if I should take my chances- it’s a really good school and I really like it but the FA is what I’m not sure about
Thanks for the advice! I’ll keep that in mind
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Got it. Yes, they are known to be super generous with FA but there are more limitations around what can be extended to foreign students. I’d forgotten that!
Writing about coming out is a fine topic for a prep school admissions essay. Depending on your home country or state, I doubt it is that frequent of a topic given parents are often reading those essays and many are still coming to terms with the idea of their 13yo’s sexual orientation. However, please make sure to pay careful attention to what each prompt is actually asking. Be thoughtful in making sure that you are really addressing the question. Don’t force-fit one essay into multiple prompts to avoid rewriting.
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All this.
I am in the camp which thinks your nominal topic per se rarely really matters (and AOs will say this too). The real topic of your essay is always you, and the real theme of your essay is always something like, “I am a special individual that you would really love to meet, and that your teachers and students will love having in your community.”
Your identity is not itself special in that way. Not that it is a bad thing, and identity-related activities are important on many campuses. But the attribute itself isn’t going to explain why you in particular are that sort of special individual.
But I am sure it is possible to write an essay that is nominally about that, but which actually demonstrates how you are interesting, funny, thoughtful, and just generally the sort of person they are hoping will leap off the screen.
I note a common way to do this includes telling a story with a lot of very specific details that create very specific images in your readers’ minds. This is a basic human psychology thing–specific stories and images engage the imagination, and sort of pull the reader into the essay as an active participant. That then makes it much more likely they will be entertained, interested, emotionally affected, or so on.
And again, that story can be about almost anything. Like, a really good raconteur can spontaneously tell an entertaining or thought-provoking story on the topic of what they had for lunch, because they understand how to engage an audience in these ways no matter what they are nominally discussing.
So of course a really good raconteur could tell a great story about coming out. But they wouldn’t be leaning on the nominal topic, they would be using these techniques to tell a great story.
Edited to make this more obviously applicable to prep school (although I think the point is applicable in any such context).
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Can we please stipulate that This is a 12 or 13 year old kid, applying to PREP SCHOOL, not college? Thank you.
Though there is good advice above.
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Agree with comments above - the topic matters less than how the essay is written.
I always recommend starting off by developing an outline or draft and then see if that is the story you want to present.
Keep in mind that the idea of an essay (be it for prep school, college, or beyond) is not to divulge your innermost thoughts, but rather to present information that might make an admission officer feel you will be an asset to the school.
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