<p>I am a sophomore in high school at the moment. I am worried that, due to my boring life, I will have nothing to write about in essays.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting things I've done thus far are shadowing a lawyer for one week, going with my immediate family to Costa Rica, and founding a Junior Statesman club at my school--which starts next year. </p>
<p>I have no passion for one thing. I'm all over the place. I'm in every club that fits into my schedule. I volunteer a lot, but that's too common of a thing to write about. I don't play instruments or anything.</p>
<p>Should I visit a farm or something? Or go bungee jumping?? For a while I was serious about injuring myself in order to forge some kind of interesting "experience." </p>
<p>Help me. I will be applying to Yale, Chicago, Cambridge, LSE, Georgetown, Stanford, Edinburgh, Notre Dame, George Washington, and a safety school. If that helps. Help.</p>
<p>Hey.
The way I see it, you can’t really ‘fake’ college applications by picking up a random thing and going crazy about it in high school. It seems a little late to do that.
Chill, every human being is born special. You have to have something you love above the rest…it could be baking bread, or doing people’s hair, or skateboarding, or whatever.
After you’ve figured this out, try to specialize it…like win a competition, write a blog, etc. Ad voila! Here’ your essay jnspiration</p>
<p>I think that you are premature in thinking about college essays and I think you are mistaken to consider doing something or other solely for the purpose of writing a college essay. </p>
<p>Work hard and have fun doing whatever comes naturally to you, but don’t stretch yourself too thin, and you will figure it out after the end of junior year or when you are a senior.</p>
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<p>There are no “too common” topics. There are only “too common” treatments of topics.</p>
<p>My son is also a sophomore and he has been working on an application essay for a summer project. He ended up writing about a sci fi book he read several years ago that sparked an interest in physics. I was impressed how he managed to develop this rather simple event into a narrative of his growing interest in science. If you spend some time thinking about past event that have had an impact on your life/way of thinking/attitude you may find you already have material at your hands. Dealing with the subject in a thoughtful manner is the challenging part. </p>
<p>My son’s first essay draft read like a list of activities/accomplishements. It was well written, but not interesting. We talked about identifying a mental snapshot of an event in his past that had an impact on him. Can you remember/imagine a snapshot of a particular event while shadowing the lawyer or while vacationing that had an impact? From there, try to briefly describe the event and the thoughts going through your mind. Then focus on 3 or 4 main points to make about the event and develop a paragraph for each point. I think an essay structured this way can potentially give the readers a view of you as an individual as opposed to you as just another applicant. </p>
<p>An essay generally speaking about what a wonderful experience volunteering has been for you is not going to stand out much. An essay relating a particular experience is more likely to get reader’s attention.</p>
<p>The same techniques that can make the “particular experience” into a worthwhile essay can make a volunteering experience into a worthwhile essay. After all, volunteering can be just as much of a “particular experience” as anything else. </p>
<p>As with any college essay, the key is to avoidgenerally speaking and instead showone’s own experience.</p>
