I really liked one of my son’s essays, which had the theme of why it is so difficult to write these essays. His essential point was that throughout high school any time he injected something like “I think” or “my opinion,” the teacher would correct it stating that he needed to cite scholarly sources. So it wasn’t until his college essay that suddenly anyone was actually asking his own individual opinion on issues.
What did your child write about in his/her college essay? College Reps had some...interesting essays
We went on a college tour yesterday and the admissions rep said they were accepting video essays in addition to written essays. That was the first time in our tours that a video was mentioned. For the creative type, this could be very interesting!
That is so true. Kids are constantly reminded not to start sentences with I … and find the exercise of talking about themselves extremely difficult. This leads often to some unneeded introspection and feeling the need to explain themselves in the essay. The reality is that it is not necessary to overthink the essay and rely on the simplistic but true “Show more and tell less.” Fwiw, show but don’t tell is NOT the greatest advice because essays should be balanced and offer both elements.
I also want to address the above post about an essay that was written about a third party. Inasmuch as this type of essay might work when the school requires an expository essay, writing about a famous person or the overused “grandpa” who was such an example, it is not the greatest idea for the common essays. The essays should always have a strong central theme, namely that is ALL about the student. Essays are only 500 and 1000 words and nobody should waste much space discussing someone who does NOT apply to the school. Other “people” might bring some context, but it is important that any developed relation should be about the student. As an example, a student might have developed a relation with a homeless at the shelter or soup kitchen, but the hero of the story should be the student. There are NO reason to develop the “cast” in the essays, but plenty of reasons to develop the main character. Many essays miss that by a mile. You don’t want the adcom to think: “Great, I’d like to admit GrandPa or famous person, but I am not sure about the writer”
No matter how well written or sensible such essays might appear, they also send a message that the applicant did not find much to say about him or herself. Essays are the best opportunity to present the applicant in a different light and send a clear image of who they are and what they have done outside of school.
It is not a complicated affair, but people have made it look like it is.
I agree, xiggi. However, if the subject/theme of the essay is more the student’s reaction to the third party, then that can work. One of my students did that very thing (in fact about grandpa). It was beautiful and genuine until some other adult turned it into something “safe” an bland. It’s really best to be raw and gutsy. And you’re right, adults often make it, or assume it must be, too complicated. The secondary problem is too many “editors.” Too many competing ideas/voices from other parties (worst is the student who comes to me with, “My friend changed it”) dilute the essay or produce a patchwork which lacks coherence.
Third party can work when the piece is balanced. It’s ok to be inspired by someone, as long as “you” come through and it doesn’t read like a bio of the other. The more competitive the college admissions, the more they need a kid to hit the attributes they want for the college. Just a nice tale that works those in.
My kid asked me to read/edit his Common App essay about where he is perfectly content. It had a good core but rambled on & on. It turns out that his English teacher required them to write at least 750 words which lead him to believe that that is what colleges expected. My advice to him was make your point and stop, no one wants to read “filler”. He ended up submitting a 357 word essay.
Oh, I agree completely. Writing about third parties --including objects-- can be powerful. There are essays prompts that lend themselves to that. A few month ago, I posted an essay I wrote on the fly about a chair. If I remember well, it was about the chair Grandpa sat in and the kid coming home from school and listening to old records from the old country. It was not about Grandpa but about sharing moments and understanding the heritage brought by Grandpa. The key was to show how the student reacted to real life situations and what he learned from that small “slice of life.” The essay “planted” emotions as one day the chair was empty as Grandpa has moved on to a better life. My sister wrote wonderful essays (IMHO) about visiting Office Depot and about crepes and tortillas. It was all about using those “things” as props to real message.
I also agree with LF. My post was really about warning against writing an essay on a remarkable person, extolling his values or contribution, and making a simple conclusion about wanting to emulate that person and accomplish similar things during the college years.
I think many of us have seen the latter type of essays and felt bad for the kids because they have been taught to do just that. And also be fortunate to read some essays that hit you deeply in the gut or brought tears to the eyes. I also think that students believe that accounts have to be tragic to be worth talking about. As Haley in Modern Family resenting her sheltered life. The reality is that there plenty of events that can convey images of what the adcoms use to form an opinion about students beyond a sterile stack of papers or pdf on an ipad!
I know I am preaching to the choir as many here know this subject extremely well.
I often have to remind kids that the whole point is for the admissions officer to think “this kid would be really fun to talk to”, or “I’d love to have this kid in my class” or “I bet this kid would make a great roommate.”
Haha reminds me of Elle Woods
Personally, wrote about how my father not being a part of my life made me feel like I needed to accomplish goals that I set for myself rather than those that are set by my parents.
I wrote about a time when I got really seasick. 
What I take away from the responses is this:
-don’t let anyone over edit your essay
-no parental involvement except perhaps to review essay
-write about something that shows who you are
-you can turn any prompt into what you want to talk about
-no talk of sports, trips of a lifetime etc. (some exceptions)
-be original, but be true to who you are
I’m sure I missed listing other advice. I appreciate all of the responses and am really impressed by the essay topics and advice.
I think you get this enough to discuss with your kid. And there’s no real rule against sports or a big trip. The issue is more to avoid the trite or superficial in the delivery, how it’s written. And remember it’s a review for a college admit. Show the strengths the colleges look for. So not “who you are” in general, but a college-relevant piece of you. As they read, they want to smile and say, this kid gets it.
My child wrote about how his identity was stolen on social media and the perpetrator used his name and identity to threaten suicide and bully others. He was able to tie it to internet safety and a cyber fingerprint indicating nothing is truly anonymous on social media. Very pertinent to teens of today.
@bhs1978 What a horrible experience for your child! It sounds as if he learned from it. There are so many dangers we were never exposed to when we were younger. My daughter watches Catfish on MTV and I watch it with her occasionally. How depressing and very, very scary. There have been several episodes where someone’s identity/photos were stolen and used to “catfish” teens and young adults.
I wrote about getting a comb stuck in my mop of curly hair (and having to cut it out with scissors) and how I learned to embrace my biracialism instead of trying to fight against it 
I took a topic that was rather serious (race) and turned it into a very lighthearted anecdote that I could laugh about. Not a single line of parent editing, just full on tongue-in-cheek 17 year old
Thanks ThreeRedheads. It was actually a horrible experience for the whole family and affected a lot of things including negatively affecting my work. Luckily the police took it very seriously. After several subpoenas they were able to get the IP address as well as the physical address and caught the person doing it. The great learning experience for my children was that they learned that anything typed into a computer can be traced. Keeps them way more aware of how they use social media.
I chose the common app prompt “where you feel most content.”
From there, I wrote about hovering underwater while diving. It was sort of a coming of age/biographical essay that focused on diving in Belize and how it shaped my perspective on the world I came from, and the person I wanted to be. Especially the hovering part. It was a metaphor for how to ocean sort of mocked my presence with it’s tranquility- a juxtaposition from the world I came (i.e. low income, single mother, URM). I thought it was very good and probably the reason I got into Brown, USC, Wesleyan, Vassar, Colorado College, UMiami, UCSB, and several other colleges.
@gsants That sounds like a wonderful and interesting essay. I wish the common app still had that prompt. My son is having difficulty trying to figure which prompt to select and what to write about because all of the things he does and that define him are all supposedly taboo topics.
A million kids use the taboo topics and are fine. Unless you are aiming really high, or trying to make the essay the deciding factor because your transcript and scores are sending mixed messages, most kids do fine with “how I learned we’re all alike”, or “I learned trying hard is more important than winning the big game”. I’ve read pretty good essays about pole vaulting and playing soccer with kids in Haiti. They weren’t super memorable, but they weren’t bad at all. If the rest of the application was in order those essays were not going to keep them out of the schools they were applying to.