What types of things should one NOT include in his or her essays?
Examples:
- “One of my favorite things to do in my free time is beat the living tar our of my brother!”
- “Something I wish more people knew about me is how much I love vaping!”
- “I think the world would be a better place without puppies!”
Honestly, you’ll have to go with your gut (and check that against a friend or adult you trust). Write something that is entirely YOU. Pick something small and go into detail. Do not try to be outrageous or take excessive risk in your writing. Be positive (which does not mean it must be rainbows and butterflies). Do not write a summary of accomplishments already listed in your application.
I know college admissions officers have said to skip my first kiss, how I won the big game, what I learned from losing the big game, and any humble brag like “I learned so much from the one B+ I got.”
And of course, @Altras has a good list of other no-no topics. 
Did you read the tips thread at the top of the essay forum? It has some info in that, and on the purpose of the esssys (which can help you judge for yourself).
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/2003258-essay-tips-to-consider-p1.html
Might not be a good essay topic, but was a favorite pastime of mine until he got bigger than me. Good times. 
“Something I wish more people knew about me is how much I love vaping!”
every kid at my middle school :))
@cmbyn02 Middle school?!? Wow.
@intparent Thank you.
Mine wrote an essay about a time she broke a rule with a group of friends and learned from it. I am not a huge fan but she has held firm. It is for the school that, with research, has become my least favorite so I am letting things be. If she doesn’t get in because of that, then they don’t want kids who have made mistakes and learned from them and that’s not a place I can support. Oh well.
^^or they want kids who respect their rules.
Not to say one doesn’t learn from mistakes, but these schools function in large part from people respecting that the rules support thir community. This is a butterfly fart take!
I think/hope that she explained who badly the rule was applied at her school before she talked about the breaking part.
I think an essay about breaking rules and learning from it is fine. Kids break rules - I’d rather read a real essay than the polished BS so many turn in.
@dogsmama1997 During my interview, I actually spoke of a time where I was a major rule breaker. My interviewer seemed to love it and they appreciated the honesty.
^Yes, I agree with that. And if the point was learning that actions have consequences or that sometimes, we don’t understand why a rule exists until it is too late, or that there are better ways to deal with rules we think are dumb than to ignore them, all good. Most of us learn more from our mistakes and we all make bad choices. Schools get this.
But the kid has to be acountable in the end - not blame the school for a bad rule or to suggest that the rules may not apply to them. And hopefully have already learned to follow the rules.
It really depends on what the kid is conveying. I can imagine essays on this topic that would make a kid appear thoughtful and ready to adhere to the rules of the BS community. I can also imagine ones that sent up red flags.
BS have tons of rules that ultimately have to do with safety – they are responsible for a lot of young people whose parents expect a certain level of care. Most BS alums and students will agree that for a lot of kids a lot of the time, it can seem like too many, often unnecessary, rules. Because, tbh, they often are unnecessary, except when they aren’t. Some schools are three strike schools, some are one.
So this CAN be a touchy topic in an application. And for parents reading this, as you go down the road to acceptance and enrollment, make sure you and your kids know the rules and what happens if you break them. Every year, there are folks who end up surprised at the harshness of disciplinary action (as they search for a new school.)
I’d have skipped it in both the essay and the interview. It would be a rare situation when an applicant could pull it off without coming off as having poor judgement or a disregard for authority (which I often have myself, but am aware that I can’t really let out in a lot of situations if I want to get hired, not fired, not banned on CC, etc). :D. As the tips thread discussed, you probably have more than one story you can tell about yourself or topic you can choose. Choose wisely.
For mine it was a struggle - prompt was “tell us about a time something hasn’t worked out.” Everything else sounded made up.
Also, knowing what makes you unique is always a great thing to write about. For example think about what makes you/your family different from many others.
@dogsmama1997 , She’s never had trouble in a friendship? Gotten chosen to do something that hasn’t been what she thought? Or wanted it to be something it wasn’t?
FWIW…DH has applicants write about a moral dilemma…think that may also be an essay topic for one of the schools. Be positive, if possible. Don’t bash your current school or people. At least one school we applied to had a prompt to write about a quotation from it’s founding headmaster. It’s advisable to actually read the text referred to in the prompt and not try to BS your way into BS!