The "Mission Trip" Essay... An exception?

College Essays
1

Hello College Confidential!

I know that essays about mission trips are dreaded by admissions officers, but is it possible to use this topic in a different context? I’m applying to Johns Hopkins and their supplemental essay goes as follows: “Successful students at Johns Hopkins make the biggest impact by collaborating with others, including peers, mentors, and professors. Talk about a time, in or outside the classroom, when you worked with others and what you learned from the experience.”

Could I write about my teamwork during a mission trip where I built/fixed homes for the impoverished handicapped in this essay? I have some pretty funny experiences during this mission trip that I could write about. Or is this topic still too cliche? That is the best thing that is coming to my mind right now, I don’t know what else I could write about.

All feedback is appreciated. Thank you all!

2

It depends. Keep the mentions of where you were to a minimum and focus on the experiences. Or is it impossible to extricate those experiences from the location? Can you simply write about building a house?

3

Just avoid the “had the privilege of traveling to” paragraph. The truth is that some profound experiences make for cliche essays nobody wants to read one more of.

4

@Lindagaf so I should focus more so on the building and teamwork rather than the “mission” itself (helping people)?
The mission trip was in Maine, so there weren’t any out of the ordinary experiences that would absolutely require me to extensively talk about my location.

5

@prodesse that’s good advice. Thank you!