What are the cliches?

College Essays
1

<p>I'm trying to avoid cliched topics; which ones are overused?</p>

2

<p>Divorce, depression, going to a different country and realizing everyone is the same…I looked this up a couple of weeks ago and that’s all I remember :)</p>

3

<p>Essays that Worked for College Applications, ISBN 0-345-45217-8, is a great book to help you avoid cliches and give you ideas for the type of essays that admissions officers would rather read.</p>

4

<p>There are no cliche topics.</p>

<p>There are only cliche treatments of topics.</p>

5

<p>^Definitely agreed with ADad. Lots of people on CC recommend looking at this information UVA provides about college essays. I strongly recommend reading through it. [Essays</a>, Admission Information, Undergraduate Admission, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html]Essays”>http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html)</p>

<p>Obviously, if you write about the death of, say, a grandparent and say basically “My grandma was a really kind, sweet person and her death was hard on my family but she inspired me to work hard,” that’s a cliche essay. However, if you take the idea of death, which many students write about, and put your own unique spin on it, you’ll have a refreshing essay that’s not cliche. </p>

<p>I remember an admissions counselor giving a presentation who talked about how many students write about marching band and how it taught them the value of hard work. So while this approach to the topic of marching band is obviously cliche, marching band as a topic in and of itself is not. Think of creative ways to address your chosen topic, whatever it may be, and you’ll be fine.</p>

6

<p>Thank you very much! I’ll keep these tips in mind.</p>

7

<p>I’ve posted this essay before, but here it is one more time:</p>

<p>Many people make a mistake in thinking that the topic of an essay needs to be unique, that somehow the essay will stand out from the crowd if only one could think of a topic no one has explored before. In fact, your essay will stand out if it’s written well and lets the reader know something about YOU.</p>

<p>Take, for example, the death of someone close to you, one of the most overused of all topics. But if it’s written well, evokes the moment, and says something about you, then even that can work:</p>

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<p>It’s a topic that essay readers might see many times in an admissions season, but this would be unique because it describes a very personal experience without the typical emotions and maudlin interpretations. Yes, the grandfather died, but the essay is about the student, not the grandfather. OK, OK, I do admit that the ending is really schmaltzy, but still not bad in this context.</p>

<p>What does this imply about the writer? What does it imply about his or her relationship with the grandfather? Notice that the writer did not have to interpret everything and lay out exactly what he or she wanted the reader to know. By letting that reader discover some things about the writer on his/her own, the essay is more memorable.</p>

8

<p>^----- That sounded like a made-up story, but it wasn’t. It happened 40 years ago, but I still have that silver frog ring.</p>