what do you think of this college essay topic?

Hi everyone! I’m a transfer student applying to a few state schools for communications and media arts. I was originally going to write about my experience with social anxiety and how it contributes to who I am and my strengths (i.e. being thoughtful, empathetic, creative, a good listener, and detail oriented - all things proven to be above average for people with anxiety disorders). I also wanted to include how this experience pushed me to work harder than I thought possible and made me a stronger and better person for going through it.

After doing some research it seems like a lot of people do not recommend talking about mental illness at all. It kind of upsets me because this was a huge life changing experience and like I said above it’s made me who I am today.

Would it be more appropriate to talk about a fear of public speaking and how I overcame that instead? I worry that it might be bland and not showcase my true self but I would be able to tie bits in that relate to overcoming certain obstacles.

I’d like to go in one of these directions because I think it shows that I am capable of pushing through fears and being successful despite difficulties. There’s also something poetic about applying for communications when previously being afraid of speaking out loud, I think it might help me stand out. Let me know! Thank you!

If you can write it about how you are thoughtful and empathetic and what you have learned from that and only mention that a struggle with anxiety disorders made you embrace these attributes in yourself, I think it’d be fine. But you want the emphasis to be on who you are and what that means for what you do rather than the issues that made you that person. Does that make sense?

I think I understand what you’re saying. Focus more on my personality and how I would be able to uniquely contribute to the field of communications instead of making the essay all about social anxiety symptoms and hardships. Maybe I would just utilize social anxiety as an example of a turning point in my story that made me grow and realize my strengths, but make it brief?

I understand but I feel that may not be the best topic… it may seem as if you are only your anxiety and have no other attributes/experiences. In addition, I was told that college administrators don’t exactly like hearing about “psychological problems”. I initially wanted to write about my experience with a psychiatrist and how it inspired me, but I was told that it may make me look “unsafe”, “unstable”, “vulnerable”, “dependent”, etc. of course, this is not true, but they may not want to hear?

I totally agree with you, trust me, but I can see why its not the best topic

@cookieloverboy Thank you for your opinion! It’s unfortunate but this is really important to me so obviously I’m willing to dull myself down if that’s what will help bring me closer to my goals and receiving the education I want. What did you think about the “overcoming public speaking idea”? That’s a pretty common fear that most people have so it might not be associated with being unstable maybe?

Or do you think I should find a complete new idea?

@acuteapathy , can you think of a time when being a good listener really changed how you perceived something or allowed you a different perspective than others? You may be a good listener because it is the most comfortable way to interact socially, but it has benefits, right?

I recently heard someone at a TED talk who was talking about going to nursing homes to talk to people who worked there about how they were using data and how they could use it better. He was very frustrated because everyone he talked to wanted to tell him stories about residents. And it hit hIm that the stories were more important than the data for the work he was doing. As a result, they shifted their work so it revolved around stories, not data, which also changed how people interacted with the residents. It was such a great story on so many levels, but he never said why he was originally fixated on the data.

Your anxiety shouldn’t define you but the person you are as a result of dealing with it can.

I firmly believe you can talk about any topic if you do it deftly enough. It’s the ‘deft’ part that most high school students can’t manage. If you write an earnest essay about anxiety and how you are overcoming it, that’s going to be one dull essay. But if you write an essay that tangentially mentions your anxiety while not really being about your anxiety, that will be much better. To give you some off the cuff examples:

“One of the greatest obstacles I’ve had to overcome in my short life is my crippling anxiety disorder.” Pretty awful, right? I wouldn’t want to read it.

“On the way to my anxiety support group, I accidentally hit a deer, drove off the road, and slid into a ditch. And then it stuck me (an idea, not the deer) that this might be a good time to apply those exercises my therapist had given me.”

I might be more likely to keep reading this one, just to see how the writer handled the rest of his/ her life, and to find out if the deer survived. See the difference?

And remember, the darker the topic, the more humorous the essay needs to be. If you’re not naturally humorous in your writing, skip the dark topic.