Be interesting and memorable. I like the the question “Who cares?” when evaluating D’s essays. They may be well written (she’s a terrific writer) , but who cares is about the topic.
You want that adcom to say “I’d love to meet this kid”. No droning on about things that wouldn’t be interesting to others.
My DD20 is away most of the summer so she hasn’t actually started writing yet. But we’ve discussed a few things. She was in a very serious bike accident right before freshman year. She ended up missing the first two months of HS and still has difficulty in some school subjects. She has a 504 but uses it as little as possible. Despite this she has all As in honors and AP classes. Even when she was still in the hospital people would say “this will make a great college essay”. Does it? If she wrote about how it impacted her HS experience and how much she learned about herself from this, and about what’s important? Or is this seen as a pity essay? It was very serious and life changing for her, but many kids overcome illnesses, etc. So far we’ve said, it’s worth a draft and we can see how it sounds and if it works. Or she could write her main essay about something totally different and maybe talk about this in a supplemental one if it makes sense for the prompt. Just curious on some opinions. Thanks!
Any really common topic is going to be a higher hurdle to clear because of how many similar essays the reviewer will see. That doesn’t mean common topics are impossible, just that you need to be more personal and distinctive in how you write about them. You also can’t depend on the topic to carry any of the weight of your writing for you. For example, trying to build up suspense around whether or not your team ends up winning the championship just isn’t going to work. The reviewer sees dozens such essays, so they just don’t care about that plot line. Other common topics with a high bar for success:
No matter what topic you choose, all essays should really be about the same thing - YOU.
Her GC has a better opportunity to describe the challenge and how terrific she’s done, despite. An essay about an accident isn’t a college bump.
Most kids write on similar topics and that’s fine. But you don’t just write about “you.” Just think about my advice that it needs to be relevant to the admit process. It’s not, “I’d like to meet her.” It’s “We want her in this class.” It’s writing for your application. Not your hs English teacher.
@squ1rrel Ok, so I would disagree with Lindagaf albeit she may have experience in the field and I don’t. That essay stands out as the first time you ever experienced something so scary… but you can’t stop there. The first “hook” story should be this, but there should be a mentor in the story who got you through that experience OR you mentored somebody after learning from that experience, something that is a little bit more prominent in your high school years. That human mentorship will show how you interact with others and how you have grown (This is what I learned from an essay instructor I am taking a class with). A story can be great even if it “hints” at you being stressed, just say it in passing and talk more about how it was unexpected and how you gained empathy for others. I read an essay about a girl getting into TASP summer program and it was not at all as interesting as the ones where the national chess champion had divorced parents or the pasta lover whose brother has cancer. And, you’ll show the human side of all those national awards you won (the national geography bee?! I failed that after the first round when they asked me in which country a certain mountain range was… and I loved geography).
I intended to write an essay about the time when I join my physics team about 3 years ago. Will my essay be underscored because what written is too long ago
Hey everyone! Thanks for all the great advice about writing the personal statement. It’s been very helpful. I just wanted to ask how a taboo essay topic with creative twists will be viewed. I currently worked on a personal statement about my disease for a couple of months, but it’s not the traditional disease essay.
Have a nice day.