<p>I'm clueless right now b/c I have no clue what to write about. I have volunteered in a hospital and in a blind association in a developing country. I'm Indian and I have visited India a few times, and I love it there. I'm really passionate about helping decrease poverty levels and increasing education in developing countries. I want to follow the pre-med track, but I also love playing the guitar and listening to music. Should I write about my hobbies, volunteering, or my heritage? I'm open to other ideas, I just want to stand out. I was thinking about doing something unique like a dialogue or a short story from one of the many stories about one of my Gods and twisting it up a bit to represent who I am.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>you can write about something involving blindness… i don’t know, twist and turn it into something valuable and symbolic. </p>
<p>i think the topics of blindness and increasing education go together well. as to how to interpret that, it’s up to you. good luck :)</p>
<p>i say you write an anecdote that plays with the notion of blindness. create an extended metaphor of your own blindness (of some kind, i.e. intellectual, ethnic, perhaps your appreciation for your heritage was only found after this blind association thing) relative to the blindness of the people you were trying to help. I think it could make for an interesting piece.</p>
<p>thanks, and yes I guess my appreciation for India and my heritage grew after this experience, and the anecdote thing would be awesome!</p>
<p>you have to cite me though :P</p>
<p>of course, moonman =)</p>
<p>I don’t know . . . to me the blindness idea sounds really trite. An unbelievable number of people write about their volunteer and/or travel experiences, and it is often done poorly. If you are passionate about something, why not just write clearly about it? How did you come to care about those things? Why are they important to you? Where do you want that passion to take you? You don’t need gimmicks like dialogues, myths, or extended metaphors. In the hands of an extremely gifted writer, they can soar. But for most of us, they crash and burn,</p>
<p>I think the best comes out in writing when you write about personal stories. Have you ever read A Moveable Feast? Even though it might not all be true, it certainly shows off Hemingway’s wonderful writing style. Of course, if desibeats isn’t passionate about any of his volunteering then he should definitely not write about it.
And an extended metaphor is something that gets weaved into the text by a good writer. It’s something that can really pull a piece together; it can become a theme/motif/etc that can really augment the writing. But I do agree that a passion is definitely the best thing to write about, but I was just trying to come up with an idea…</p>
<p>yea i’m actually really passionate about volunteering, I genuinely want to help developing countries by decreasing poverty and increasing literacy as well. I’m actually involved with this as an extracurricular activity. I’ve actually been thinking over this and for the past 3-4 yrs. i’ve wanted to become an orthopedic, but now I’m thinking about becoming a traveling physicist for a while…which would be amazing!!</p>
<p>If I told you a unique idea on a public forum, it would no longer be unique…</p>
<p>Anyway, you should write your Common App essay on the one EC about which you are the most passionate and/or that is the most meaningful. Bring it to life and show off your writing skills, all while proving that no, your resume is not just a laundry list of activities devoid of meaning.</p>
<p>although volunteer essays are very common, since you are headed on the pre-med track you could definitely write about the hospital work. I think you could focus on one of the patients you remember the most or you related the most with and expand it to a bigger scale. just remember not to focus on the patients or poverty but focus on yourself! how the experience helped you, impacted you</p>
<p>also have you considered applying to the direct med schools? Brown has an awesome program if your grades are pretty good 
look into it! you dont have to get an amazing MCAT score and it will just be an easier life in college. I think they have early decision</p>
<p>if you are aiming for better undergrad schools for pre-med, then good luck!!!</p>
<p>thans jennyparkism, yea I heard about the bs-md programs and I will definitely apply to a bunch. Would it be bad if I wrote about volunteering at the blind association and not about volunteering in a hospital (since I’m going to do pre-med)?</p>