<p>Hi! I really want to apply to Stanford and was wondering if it is important to reflect your major/career interest in the CommonApp essay or whether it is better to go with a completely different side of you that is not really shown in the rest of the application?</p>
<p>Any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Choose the topic that allows for the most personal, detailed, and revealing essay: the essay that is so you that only you could write it. </p>
<p>If that topic turns out to be about your major/career interest, so be it. If not, so be it.</p>
<p>The essay should not waste words giving a lot of factual information that is readily available elsewhere in your application. However, that doesn’t mean that the essay has to be “completely different”. Choose the topic that allows for the most personal, detailed, and revealing essay: the essay that is so you that only you could write it.</p>