<p>My extended essay opt. 5 sucked so bad. So I was thinking about writing about opt. 1 "how did you get caught" on my feelings being a first gen. student, leaving a legacy and etc. Do you think it's generic? Thoughts?</p>
<p>BTW, Congrats to all the EA'ers out there.</p>
<p>I don’t like it. Way too generic. You can use this topic though: Evaluate a debate about the value of civil liberties in a democratic society between John Locke and Dora the Explorer.</p>
<p>Motion12345 was deferred I believe, and he/she is not taking the news well. In my opinion, sore losers can just sit and suffer. But, anyways…as to your topic. I honestly believe it is not the topic that helps you. It is the style of writing. If you can write something naturally, DO IT!!! It helps so much.
I love law and philosophy, so I picked human personality. Do what you feel comfortable with, regardless of what you think the Admissions Office will think.</p>
<p>What? I was being serious when I gave him the topic…I’m brainstorming topics for my extended essay as well, and that was one of the topics that I came up with. My personal favorite, so far, has been one involving a Jeep Wrangler, a banana, and the concept of the general will.</p>
<p>You want a hook - start your essay off with something interesting, end it with something interesting, fill it with information they would like to know. One of my essays started off talking about an experience I had involving a spleen and other bodily organs. It contained information about my career goals (or current lackthereof) that helped them get to know me. Another of my essays ended with asking them about cookies. That one was written kind of… it was 1am, it made me seem crazy, but that’s okay - that’s who I am. Just have fun with it, and make it interesting.</p>
<p>eh… try not to over think it. do something you can write about honestly and thoughtfully. they want to see your thought process and from there they can deduce whether or not you are <em>fit</em> for chicago. ya know? just be yourself. =)</p>
<p>For both my common app and supplemental essays, I pretended like I was talking to a friend. In the first case, my common app essay was on a subject that I haven’t discussed with many people, save for one or two of my best friends. As a result, it was open, but somewhat timid, just as it was when I actually told my friends. I incorporated a minor hook at the beginning just to get some buy-in, but from there it was really just about being honest and not forcing it.</p>
<p>My supplemental essay was about a game that high school students all around the country play 
I talked about the reasoning behind the motives of each player, and tied it to why people love games. This one, naturally, was much more lighthearted that my first essay. Once again I simply wrote as if I were talking to a friend. </p>
<p>Hope that you can maybe, possibly, glean some small bit of helpful advice from that 
Good luck!</p>
<p>It sounds a little generic. My son really had fun with his essays in the end. They ended up showing his sense of humor in addition to his interest in the world. His How I got caught essay was about a green building with a twist at the end. He had another essay about folding origami and an essay about how organizing the archives for our neighborhood association made him feel like a historian. They were all things he was very interested in and could talk about in a really personal way.</p>