Hi! For my college essay, I have quite a few topics to choose from! Although frankly, I was wondering if certain topics would help or hurt in the admissions process. I have had a lot of positives in my life, and only a few negatives but those negatives have been very influential.
I was thinking of talking about my love of Marching band and band in general, because I originally played field hockey, but after seeing the band’s performance I was astounded and felt an intense desire to join the fine and performing arts department. Later that year I did so, and I believe it has been one of the best descions I have ever made. However, a lot of the colleges I am looking at do not have a marching band, or even large music departments, and this is fine. I do not wish to pursue it in college. But if band and its impact on me is the central part of my essay, I don’t want admissions to think that having a MB or big music program is a necessity to me, and think that I see it as a con that the school does not have one.
Also, I could write about my hardships, which include the death of an immediate family member due to taking his/her own life 
and moving at a young and vulnerable age. Would doing so be worth more in admissions? But also…I hate asking that, it makes me feel smarmy. Like I’m exploiting my past problems, when I don’t mean to seem that way.
And I kW mental health is touchy, but it affected me in a huge way during high school. I wouldn’t want admissions thinking I’m liable to do the same, so idk if mentioning my inherent optimism would help negate that.
Any thoughts?
Also sorry if this is a repetitive thread, I am new to this specific forum. I searched and didn’t see any but I may have overlooked a few.
I think love of marching band is a great topic, and doesn’t necessarily imply that you want to pursue it in marching band. Maybe talk about how it affected you as a person rather than how it affected you in the more literal music sense, since the passion seems to be directed more towards your particular performing arts department rather than music/performing arts in general.
Regarding hardships, they can be a touchy subject, but it all depends how you address them. Not to sound weird, but what you were saying really reminded me of myself and my own essay - I also experienced the death of an immediate family member and wrote my own college essay about how that shaped me as a person and weaved it in with an innate sense of optimism, along with some other stuff (so since I did quite a similar thing I think it’s a good idea but clearly I’m biased haha). I wouldn’t say that exploiting your past is “worth more”, however. I would go with the essay that you can truly write more about, the one that would speak more about you as a person, rather than the one that might be “worth more”. The best essays are ones that really tell something about the writer. If the 2 were in any way related, you could include both in the same essay too. That would set your essay apart from the essays from other passionate musicians or other people who had experienced hardship. I did something like this (not with marching band but with a topic completely unrelated to death) and it worked well for me personally. Sorry this is quite a long message, but I hope it helped! PM me if you need any more help.
I’m in band too, and there’s a quote outside our hallway that I really like that says “Artists paint pictures on canvas, but musicians paint pictures on silence” I really love this quote and feel like it rings true whenever I play with the band, it really is a work of art. I like the band idea, let your passion show through and try to connect it to a bigger picture that would make you a good candidate for colleges.