What's the best story to write about? (Kind of urgent)

College Essays
1

I don’t really have anything great and outstanding to write about but I really want to do the best with what I have.
I have to write an essay draft by the end of today for a college essay workshop I’m attending tomorrow.
These are my topics, which one do you like best?

  1. The time I stopped dancing for my Igbo-Nigerian dance team (Common App Prompt 1)
  1. The time I badly lost in a presidential election (for a club that I had founded and unofficially managed for a year) and what came after (Prompt 2)
  2. The organization that I want to build to send diabetic supplies to my home country Nigeria to help aid Type 2 Diabetes. (My brother has Type 1 and my grandmother died from Type 2) (Prompt 4)
  3. This last one is iffy but it's about why I don't have a mirror in my room (Kinda Prompt 3)

That’s it for now, I’m still brainstorming but I have to start soon.

2

Which one can you show the most passion in? Which one incorporates many of your strengths? I personally think the failure prompt is excellent for this, but that really depends on if your failure story has any depth. My suggestion: start writing whatever one calls to you. Write the one you would most enjoy writing. Chances are, what you’re most passionate about will come through in your essay. The workshop is there to help you improve it, and this is just a draft.

3

Immediately after reading all three of your topics, topic #3 stood out to me. In my opinion, I think that you seem really invested in topic 3, especially since it connects to your family. I think topics #1 and #2 are nice as well, but they aren’t as “wow” as option three, in my opinion. Most people can’t say that they started an organization like that. Obviously, all three topics sound neat, but if I were you, I’d write about the 3rd topic.

4

imo…I think #3 looks difficult because it isn’t about something you have done. You have to SHOW, not just tell, so writing about a thing you want/hope/plan to do seems like it would be difficult; anyone could write about a “plan” they have for the future…but does that really show who you are now? And writing a lot about other family members’ struggles doesn’t show the AdCom who YOU are. Almost any topic can work…just make sure it’s about YOU. Lots of people write about when I lost (athletics/class pres/etc), how my family members illness has shaped me, etc, so you have to make the telling of your story stand out.

Personally, #4 seems most unique to me. That’s the one I would want to read.

5

I agree with LionKing2398 about topic 3 standing out, but the way you worded it makes it clear that you have not yet founded the organization. It is great that you want to do that, and you are obviously very personally connected to the topic, but I think it would be best to not write about it unless you have already founded it (I would just be afraid of questions being asked about why it hasn’t already been done, or some people not valuing your ambition because you have not had the chance to act on it yet). Then again, you could still spin the topic, and I think it could make a very interesting essay that would show a lot about you and your passions.

6

I’ve technically started. I’ve built the website, I’ve met with the head of the American Diabetes Association for my region, I’ve talked with an endocrinologist in Nigeria on the distribution to the clinics and I’ve started to contact companies to start getting donations. I might be able to get the program running by the the time admissions are due.

7

I want to know why you don’t have a mirror. I bet readers would, too!

8

I wanna hear #4. If you could make it quirky and interesting, and mainly show YOU, it’s great. It doesn’t have to be about some amazing achievement to make an amazing essay. Also, you could write about #3 in a more focused essay prompt; perhaps supps?