Too risky?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>I'm thinking about writing my Yale supplementary essay on how I "like to pick up dead things." Don't get too weirded-out yet! Once I was driving home and only two minutes away from home I saw a dead opossum on the road. It was around 11 PM and I had seen the animal on my way to wherever I was going earlier in the evening. I decided to drive two minutes to my house to get a box and some gloves. I then returned to the opossum, put him into the box, and returned home. (Though I was pretty dark outside, I could tell that it wasn't too gruesome at all.) So then I sort of looked at it for a little bit a few times at home before burying it. It was pretty interesting.</p>

<p>Then the other day, I noticed a dead bird on the walkway to my front porch. (I figured that my cat had gotten it.) I went outside and picked him up, brought it inside the house, and just sort of held it for a few minutes, outstretched its wings, and just sort of marveled at the creature. It had these really nice yellow markings on its head. </p>

<p>There IS a point to this, believe it or not! I have wanted for several years to become a veterinarian. I pick up these dead animals because they are fascinating to me, truly. I actually get really excited about this stuff. I don't know if that's really strange or not, but it's true haha.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if this would be a good idea for my essay or not. I've heard people say that it is sometimes good to be quirky with college essays so that you stand out from other applicants, but I'm worried that this may be TOO weird. I mean it's not a fetish or anything; I'm just really fascinated by animals and unfortunately the only way I can get a good look at them is if they're dead. </p>

<p>Any thoughts/opinions/impressions/etc? Thanks!</p>

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<p>Well, then. It’ll certainly make you stand out. Make sure your passion can be felt from your piece, and I think it’ll make for a good essay. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Unraton: I know your intent is to underscore your genuine interest in learning about animals, but I don’t think I’d write on this topic. You risk making the reader uncomfortable, and that’s never a good idea. I know if I were a reader, an essay like the one you propose would probably make me uncomfortable. </p>

<p>You have to keep your audience in mind. The admissions committee has no idea who you are. You are introducing yourself to them, and you have just one shot to give them a reason to admit you. Can you highlight your interest in animals with other examples? To craft a whole essay around collecting and examining animal carcasses is, IMO, a bad idea.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but neither the opossum nor the bird were bloody or nasty at all. Normally I would never touch roadkill. I guess this was just a rare case. The possum seemed hardly touched and the bird seemed as though it just died a natural death. </p>

<p>Sometimes when I think about my doing this, it does seem a little weird, but at the same time, it /is/ what some types of bird researchers do, isn’t it? I don’t know much at all about it, but I’ve seen bird species studied in the same way that insects are in that way that they are pinned. I’m not sure if that is called just plain taxidermy or not. </p>

<p>But yeah, honest opinions are good. I won’t be offended :)</p>