<p>What's going to make admissions officers remember your application?</p>
<p>The uniqueness of your essay! The topic shouldn’t be cliched and if it then you must be extremely articulate!</p>
<p>Most adcoms only remember essays that seriously wowed them with its quirkiness and uniqueness!</p>
<p>OR which had so many blatant errors that even if they want to forget it, they can’t! :P</p>
<p>Great, engaging yet accessible writing. If you’re Mark Twain or JD Salinger, you’re set.</p>
<p>When you read other people’s essays, what makes you remember the ones that stay for a long time in your mind? Good essays are diverse in topics and style, but similar in their capacity to capture the interest of the reader and leave behind a positive impression of the writer.</p>
<p>Take risks and be surprising. In a good way. UVA has good advice: [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>It seems that a lot of people here advocate some sort of risky topic, but the best advice is learn how to write well. Just as a master violinist can make “Lullaby” a masterpiece and a amateur violinist can muddle a composition by Mozart, A good writer can make a stroll through the park sound fantastic, and a bad writer can make a space launch sound dreary and boring, even with a thesaurus.</p>
<p>I make no claim to be a good writer, but I might be able to juxtapose the two situations:</p>
<p>Decent Writer (Stroll through the park)
The warm summer air caressed my frame as I drifted through Maple Park. The blazing sun would have been a much more troublesome force, had not a cool breeze endeavored to mitigate its heat. It made my trek a much more lovely one, and as I admired the colorful birds dancing around the trees, the grass cushioning my every step, I began to find the peace I had come here to acquire.</p>
<p>Bad Writer (Space Launch)
The rocket was about to launch, and the engineers were distressed that there might be a conflagration that would hinder the occasion. The six astronauts inside the rocket were also very intimidated, but they were also very thrilled that they were proceeding into space. As the countdown dwindled from 10 to 0, anxiety began to transform into hope, as the rocket started to discharge flames and rise into the air. Soon, the contraption advanced towards the final frontier.</p>
<p>You need to be a good writer, of course, but you also need to have a good and unique topic. I don’t think a walk through the park is going to sound amazing, no matter how great of a writer the author is (I suppose an exception would be a humorous tale involving a park, but that’s different than just describing walking through the park). Most great writers are great in large part because of the unique ideas they have to write about.</p>
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<p>In the hands of a good writer, a stroll through the park can be an extremely exciting topic. Couldn’t a stroll through the park be written in an unique though not humorous way? How you see your surroundings in a split second’s time can reveal so much about your personality :).</p>
<p>The space launch scenario grasped my interest way more than the stroll through the park did.</p>
<p>^ I understood flight’s point, though; I found the diction annoying, which I think is what flight was saying about the thesaurus. </p>
<p>On the flip side of that coin: I agree that if, perchance, you have a park story and a space launch story, spruce up the damn space story! So I suppose it is a happy medium between the writing talent and subject…or at least I hope it is, because that is what I am going to do ;)</p>
<p>Writing about cell phones in school</p>
<p>Yeah, the space flight’s diction was very annoying. So you’re saying to use imagery? That makes sense.</p>
<p>I thought both paragraphs were poor.</p>
<p>I figure to write a good essay, think about what you like to talk about and write about that. If its politics, write about your politics club. If its sports, write about sports. And etc.</p>
<p>Haha, yes, I intentionally made the diction of the second paragraph very heavy and even slightly misused some of the words. In retrospect, the stroll is also a little heavy in diction and I couldn’t really make it as exciting as I probably could, but three sentences is scant space to write with.</p>
<p>The point is that writing skill is more important than the topic. I’ve read several “cliche” topics (e.g. Financial problems, immigrating to America) become brilliant essays.</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily need to be a good writer - but you do need to have a good editor go over it if writing is not you’re strongest talent. The topic isn’t even necessarily the most important thing. You want to make sure that you tell a story in such a way that both the story you’re telling and HOW you’re telling it gives colleges and universities an idea of who you are and just who they’re admitting to their school. But colleges and universities understand that not everyone can write as well as everyone else. Just make sure you have someone proofread your final draft a couple of times.</p>
<p>Also, don’t use big words just for the sake of big words. That doesn’t show that you have a big vocabulary, etc. (even if you do) - it’s just irritating.</p>
<p>^ I def. agree. I’d like to add - yes I know it might be cliche - but you really have to find a topic you’re interested in. That makes the reader interested as well. It has to be something only you can write.</p>
<p>^ Oh, for sure. If you’re bored or uninterested in you’re writing, then your reader is going to see that and s/he is going to be bored and uninterested in what you’re writing. Good point!</p>
<p>i have a wow essay. it could be used for any person and i am sure any adcom at any uni in the US would be wowed. =)</p>
<p>btw, i wrote this one after accepted into college etc and talked to admissions officers and spent alot of time into it 
wrote it just for fun =D</p>
<p>Here is an example I wrote on the fly in this forum a few years ago. This shows several things that you should go for in an essay, no matter what the prompt. Suppose the essay prompt was something boring, like, “Describe how an experience you have had has changed or affected your life.”</p>
<p>Hmmmm… How do you even get started on this? Many, as a way of starting, will repeat the topic in the opening sentence: “I was 16 years old when I had an experience which changed my life.” No, no, no, no. First, think about where you want to go with your life or in a major. For the sake of an example let’s say that perhaps you want to major in biology and perhaps, maybe, maybe not, eventually go to Med School.</p>
<p>Then think about any past experiences that you have had that can relate to that. Again, as an example, let’s say you had a part time job in a veterinary clinic, cleaning dog kennels, but that as you worked there, you got to do more and more observation on some of the cases.</p>
<p>So here is the sample essay (in abbreviated form). </p>
<p>*The leg was a bloody, tangled mess. As the anesthetic began to work, the dog seemed to at last be free of what must have been terrible pain. His long tongue lolled to the side. The car had done a job on this little fellow, and I wondered if he would make it. “It doesn’t look good,” the Vet said quietly. “We’ll need to amputate.” He shaved the leg above the wound and gently sterilized the skin. He then used the scalpel to expose the bone, which glistened white in the bright overhead light. He reached for his bone saw. The surgical mask I wore while I observed the procedure started to feel claustrophobic, but I couldn’t turn away.</p>
<p>I got hired at the veterinary clinic to clean kennels. As far as I was concerned, it was just a job - a way to make some money for the upcoming school year. But the more I worked in the clinic, the more interested I became in the veterinary work itself, especially trauma cases. Again and again I saw the vet trying desparately trying to save the lives of dogs and cats. Sometimes they did not make it, but most times had happier outcomes. The vet’s knowledge and quick actions not only saved the lives of animals, but saved families from the tragedy of losing a loved pet.*</p>
<p>(etc, etc… you see where this is going… continue the essay in this vein, but then go back to the story in the last paragraph and tie all of this together in how you were affected)</p>
<p>The amputation was a success and the dog recovered and lived a long happy life. He got around so well on three legs that I sometimes wondered if he even knew he was missing a limb. That summer job did something for me far beyond the seven dollars an hour I got. It redirected my future. Could I ever have a career that had such an impact? Whether I reach my goal of becoming a physician or veer into some other medical area is still to be determined. But I am starting on a path that will allow me those options. Thanks to a three-legged dog.</p>
<p>Corny, maybe, and maybe a bit contrived, BUT, it won’t sound like every other essay crossing the admissions officer’s desk, and it will be about YOU by way of an interesting story. And the last little touch, about the three-legged dog, will bring a smile to almost anyone. YOU ARE SO ADMITTED…</p>
<p>Lessons: SHOW, don’t tell; pull the reader into your world and make them feel what you’re feeling. Grab them from the start, make it about you, and end with a sentence they can’t forget.</p>