<p>this topic is thoroughly annoying me. all the things on the “cliche topic” list are the normal, big life events someone our age would have. a lot of seventeen year olds are going to have similar life experiences. but because they read “too many” we are expected to find these obscure things to talk about. I feel disgusted that people would make fun of an “adversity” essay, about facing a challenge and succeeding. if you faced a serious adversity, you shouldn’t feel bad about writing about it, and its what colleges should want to know. they shouldnt make fun of it in their information sessions. its becoming a contest of who is the most clever and think of the most unusual and meaningless thing to write about. i think that this whole process is so screwed up.
and my topic isnt on the cliche list fyi…</p>
<p>i wrote an essay entirely about my mom, yet everyone who has read it has said it was incredible, and they loved it. it’s not about the topic, it’s about the writing</p>
<p>There are no cliche topics.</p>
<p>There are only cliche treatments of topics.</p>
<p>I know people say avoid the “disease” essays about others, however in my essay I am talking about a close friend who got cancer, and how I saw myself getting emotionally worse than him, and how his positive attitude influenced. I don’t go on and on how I felt bad that his physical conditon was getting worse. I really try to focus on me. Would this seem like a more acceptable treatment of the topic, or does it seem cliche also?</p>
<p>1) My friend wrote about the first time she said the word “ass.” She got into Sarah Lawrence.
2) Her sister wrote about riding a new rollercoaster at Six Flags. She got into her top choice.
3) I wrote two essays. The first was about the first time I drove a car and learning to drive after that, specifically a time when I got stuck in a ditch and had to push my freaking car out by myself. Bad day. The moral was that “your past makes you who you are” which is a huge stretch, taken out of context. The second was the “most important person” and I wrote about my brother who was a U.S. Marine and who passed away at 19.</p>
<p>Write about things that are real to you. Lies are transparent. Have it proofread a MILLION times by a MILLION different people and ask yourself, “What can I learn about myself by reading this?” The whole point is to give them insight.</p>
<p>Also, sensational topics really work. My friend wrote about growing up in a dingy part of town and meeting prostitutes (she’s going to Cornell) and the language was really sexual. Not graphically so but it was still a fairly Rated R subject. </p>
<p>bump!</p>
<p>Is the “project with my dad” essay overdone? Like, “My dad and I built a birdhouse in my backyard. He inspires me.”</p>
<p>It is interesting that you mentioned this particular topic.</p>
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<p>This is not a cliche topic. This is a cliche treatment of a topic.</p>
<p>I read a college essay about how a father inspired a son. It was one of the maybe ten or fifteen best essays that I’ve read (out of hundreds). The writer is at an Ivy now.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>There are no cliche topics.</p>
<p>There are only cliche** treatments** of topics.</p>
<p>My daughter’s best friend discovered that she’d be eligible for a significant scholarship at the school she’d been admitted to if she’d done an optional admissions essay with her packet. She’d not read all the “fine print” when it came to admissions so she just glommed on to “optional” and didn’t go any farther, lol. Anyway, the day before it was due she came to me and asked for my help; I’ve edited papers of hers before in high school. It was a fairly open topic about “something that bothers you in the world.” She was leaning towards an essay on a really heavy topic. However, the essay prompt also said they’d like to learn a bit about her in the essay. So, I encouraged her to go a different route. She’s a quirky, funny person who does really well with creative writing, eventhough she swears she hates to write. She’s also someone who has long curly hair and for years she’s struggled with it quite vocally (don’t even get her started on humidity and P.E. … LOL). So, I knew she could really nail a tongue and cheek discussion of the trials and tribulations of her hair. I sent her off to write; she came back two hours later with her first draft. I made some grammatical corrections … stuff she always flubs up on when she’s writing quickly and sent it back, making sure not to alter her very quirky, vivacious voice. She sent it in that night, and she got the highest scholarship she was eligble for out of their honros program. </p>
<p>Obviously, this was not a “world changing or imposing” essay, but this was this girl – to a T, from the creative way she can write, to the self-depricating humor, to her slightly tilted way of looking at the world. When she got to know her honors advisor this year, the woman commented on the fact that “Mary” was just as she seemed in her essay, and they were really glad to have her.</p>
<p>Stay true to yourself … </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>what about if an essay was about divorce but it was like about how i caught both my parents cheating on each other while they were still married-- multiple times, or also about the death of my grandfather (but not a crying one) about how he also cheated on my grandma with a airplane stewardess who was on the plane when our family was on the plane, and finally when my gparents divorced, and he died, i found out he left his entire family not one single penny/object, gave everything to this stewardess who is like 30 years younger than him… </p>
<p>like i know this is intense divorce and death of gparent, but because of the drama would this be an exception?</p>
<p>& i would talk about how this made me skeptical of the world around me & etc,?</p>
<p>Gingerdaisys, believe me, every family has some dramatic dirt in there. The essay is supposed to let the school get to know YOU better, not tell a story worthy of a soap opera. If you can relay the facts in a way that shows off your personality IN A POSITIVE WAY go for it. Otherwise, find another topic.</p>