<p>Hey, I'm going to be starting college essays soon and I want to know what level of personal issues it's okay to get into. </p>
<p>For example: If a college asks "what's the biggest struggle you've ever surmounted?" </p>
<p>Would it be acceptable to talk about how, say, hypothetically speaking, you've dealt with family issues? Or your weird disorder? Or etc? </p>
<p>Or do you have talk about how your service project in some far off land "changed your life oh-so much"? </p>
<p>I’m going into the college process too, but I think my advice has some merit. </p>
<p>You don’t <em>have to</em> write about anything. All three of the things you mentioned would probably be a bad idea. The third one because it’s trite. The other two because essay readers are not your personal therapist. Of course, there are some writers with the caliber to write spectacular essays on any of those topics, no matter how trite or weird. </p>
<p>I’ve read a few articles that mentioned essays that adcoms liked. Some essays were about (for example) dealing with a car that smelled like dirty shoes, trying to make the hockey team, and growing up “perfectly content” in the family garage disassembling gadgets. </p>
<p>I disagree with the above post. If you have a disorder that has changed you write about it. They want something central to you. If you have never had a life changing disease it would be hard to understand how it can change you for the better but it can. Or write about family that’s fine too!</p>
<p>Definitely do not write about a service trip or how you interacted with poor and/or foreign and/or disabled people and they ~inspired~ you.</p>
<p>4 D’s not to write about: Death, disease, disability and divorce, according to a consultant and interviewer at Brown University.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s “what” you write about so much as “how” you write about it. I think that the “4 Ds” guideline above is a good one, in general. I believe, though, that there is a difference in mentioning those sorts of events as a part of telling your story, and making your essay all about those topics. My son wrote about two of the 4 Ds in his essays. They were not the focus of his essays, but were mentioned as important parts of his background. He is at Brown.</p>
<p>I completely agree with above post.
It’s not cliche topics that the colleges detest-it’s the cliche thought process/intentions that may accompany those topics that turn them off. It would be fine to write about the 4Ds as long as it’s an insightful and unique essay.</p>
<p>Don’t write about:
Sports, volunteer work and how they inspired you, dead pets or grandparents.</p>
<p>As the above poster said, "How"is what determined the success of your essays.</p>
<p>I agree with happykidsmom. Don’t let people tell you what you can and can’t write about, as your college essay should be a reflection of you and your writing ability. Don’t let certain restraints limit that. Granted, certain things like “scoring the winning goal changed me and my view of sports/life” are definitely cliché, but in general, if you write about something important to you and you write it /well/, you should be fine. </p>
<p>You can write about pretty much anything, but your goal should be to write about something that is very specific to you, and you should use this essay as an opportunity to display your accomplishments, talents, or perspective. Students often try to use it to explain away bad grades or to highlight a disability, when it would be better to focus on a specific achievement and then make an off-hand comment about the disability that you had to overcome. Here is a new YouTube series that addresses each of the Common App prompts individually: <a href=“Common App Essay Help: Prompt No. 1 - YouTube”>Common App Essay Help: Prompt No. 1 - YouTube; Good luck!</p>
<p>I learned this tip from my counselor who was a former college admissions officer… If you wouldn’t get up in front of a crowd in read it… It’s too personal.</p>