<p>But they are common no?</p>
<p>I don't know if they are common or not. I have read some.</p>
<p>But it doesn't matter if they are common.</p>
<p>What matters is whether one has something personal, detailed, honest and revealing to say. </p>
<p>If one does, if one can write one's own meaningful take, one's own detailed experience, then one will have a successful essay, regardless of who else may have written on that topic. A good essay will look all the better for being in a well-plowed field.</p>
<p>For example, people are still writing interesting and insightful stuff about love, travel, death, even though these topics have been written on for thousands of years. Such topics can never be exhausted. They can, of course, be treated in a cliched, hackneyed manner, but they don't have to be treated that way. Instead, they can be treated in a personal, detailed, honest, and revealing manner.</p>
<p>It's not the topic, it's what one does with the topic.</p>
<p>Find and use a topic that allows you to be personal, detailed, honest, revealing--regardless of whether that topic is supposedly "good" or "bad" according to others.</p>
<p>For good essay advice from UVa, see:</p>
<p>Thanks ADad.</p>
<p>what about essays dealing with overcoming racial stereotypes (blacks)? or is that just irritating?</p>
<p>How about how I changed because of someone else's presence for 8 years? Is that valid?</p>
<p>A good topic is one that allows the writer to be personal, detailed, honest and revealing. </p>
<p>Since the purpose of the essay is to help one's chances of admission, a good topic allows the writer to be bottom-line positive about her/himself. </p>
<p>It is ok to be self-critical, or, especially, to poke fun at oneself, but the bottom line should be positive about oneself.</p>
<p>Don't look to strangers online for approval or reassurance regarding your specific topic. Instead, first read some general advice--such as in the UVa link I posted above, or in the Harry Bauld book mentioned numerous times on CC, or in any number of other sources both online and in book form--and then look inside: choose a topic that allows you to find, treasure and express your own voice, that allows you to be personal, detailed, honest and revealing.</p>
<p>Then, after you have a first or second draft, you can and should try to get feedback and criticism from a few others such as teachers, GC, other knowledgeable adults, knowledgeable readers on CC, etc.</p>
<p>thanks A dad... cause I was getting worried looking at the responses here</p>
<p>
[quote]
^ oh yeah, mikenthemaddog, ... wait... how would you be able to write about someone else and then let the adcoms know about YOU? could you clarify on that? =)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There's this great prompt on the common application that says (paraphrasing): Write an Essay on how someone has influenced your life.</p>
<p>There's a lot of good ways to make this unique. Writing about who they are, what they say, things they do, and then make the ultimate connect on how they relate to you. Then, when college admissions is all over, if you can, give the person you wrote about a copy of the essay. They'll be very appreciative. </p>
<p>PM me for the essay that I wrote.</p>
<p>Well guys, you say that the "BIG Game" essay (I suppose you do not use it literally) is too common a topic. But look at the college applications! They all have that question: describe a personal experience, that has helped you choose your major, describe personal developments (sth in your life) that have lead you to this and this field of study, etc How are we supposed to write a unique essay when every student does some sport and has a team, every second has done some kind of competition and has worked really hard for it? Lets say that you have attended a TASP (just an example). In what significant way (apart from the metaphors u use in the essay!) can you make your TASP program different from that of the other 100 or so students attending it? And in what way will it be different from all other programs in the last 10 years for which the adcoms have read thousands of essays? I have already read quite a lot of essays (successful, as they say!) on some sites and in books and so on, and I don't find the essay about swimming every morning and afternoon different from the one about jogging 10 km every morning and afternoon, or the one about crossing the line first after running every morning and afternoon... How can you answer a question on a COMMON application without getting COMMON?</p>
<p>I agree with the last poster.</p>
<p>By the way, 1MX, you spelled stereotypical incorrectly. Stop being too critical about essay topics because they can't be avoided.</p>
<p>I do agree that we should add our own personality to it, but they'll all be common.</p>
<p>How can you say that avoid those essays would be a good way to get in?
Many people use those topics and othe topics because they can't be avoided. You have to talk about yourself.</p>
<p>oh man nhs, I'm sorry.
Please don't give me a poor mark for my haste.
I think I started this thread to help ppl avoid cliche topics; it's much easier to write a non-cliche than a cliche. I trusted that ppl would use their own discretion about whether or not to use a topic in your situation.</p>
<p>I don't know what you can possibly write about and NOT be cliche.. all of them are going to have something in common.</p>
<p>Thinking sucks huh?</p>
<p>Applying for college in general sucks.</p>
<p>Agreed!</p>
<p>Man, it is hard to imagine that any essay topics are NOT stereotypical after reading this thread.</p>
<p>I was thinking...</p>
<p>Either..
Moving to a new country (from China to US when I was 9), then moved to different cities and states cross country 5 times (San Fran -> Georgia -> NC -> Virginia -> Maryland -> NC)... Staying in each place from 3 months to 4 years.. (1/2 Year in SF, 3 yrs GA, 3 months NC, 8 months VA, 3 yrs MD, 1 yr NC)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Music - I am in love with my violin.. Been playing for 5-6 years, but I was 2nd chair for All-State.</p>
<p>Too cliche?</p>
<p>What do you guys think of writing about my first job experience and how I have experienced people of different social/ income classes and learned responsibility through hard work?</p>
<p>Well, anything that follows I learned X from doing Y is a bit overdone, but that doesn't mean it can't be done well. Just make sure that the final product reflects you uniquely and how you truly are, and you should be ok.</p>
<p>Honestly, nothing reassured me more about my topic than reading some of the sample essays that I have seen online and in books. In the first book I picked up on writing essays, there were thirty or so samples in the back of essays that got students into colleges (decent ones, too. Some HPYS, some top LACs, some 2nd tier LACs) and, of those 30, only two really jumped at me. All I could think about while reading the essays was "gosh, I could do better than that!" </p>
<p>In it, I saw essays like "my best friend's name is Brian. He has cerebal palsy. He taught me about life." Sad, moving, and utterly BORING! (Not to say that it couldn't have been done well. This one just wasn't.) "I always played basketball, but then my senior year I tried out for the play and MADE IT, lyke omg!" </p>
<p>It seems to me that everyone has done something unique, even if you haven't translated Bibles into braile or built houses for the underprivileged in South America or adopted an AIDS baby. You can write about anything as long as its uniquely about YOU...and not the kid that you think that the admissions staff want to see.</p>
<p>I wrote about my first big O.</p>