1)Moving from Canada to US- different customs and culture-funny events; for example, I sang Canadian national song with US name (Oh Canada, How I thee you; but instead, I sang “Oh United States, How I thee you” and everyone looked at me strangely; i will talk about i grew personally and will take this experience (moving to a different place) to college (a new place)
Transferring from one school to more academically rigorous school- (had negative impact on my grades but upward trend afterwards), but I am afraid that it will be I-had-a-problem-and-I-overcame-it essay, which I heard admission officers don’t want to read.
Dissecting a cow eyeball in biology class (I wasn’t interested in science before that class, but it pursued my interest in medicine after that), and my thoughts running through that dissection- will include vivid description- too disgusting? will probably connect it to an experience in a summer program that involved sewing on banana- used to be scared of taking risks but then welcome challenges
A summer program- didn’t have qualities of a leader until I went there, and I will talk about the debates and public speaking I had to do-and then grew personally- afraid it will be I-had-a-problem-and-I-overcame-it essay too
My visit to the hospital as 8-year old child- shadowing my father, who is a doctor, helping a man with a fork in his hand- i guess i will talk about the events that lead to my interest in science
Any ideas or suggestions? My life is quite boring- i am not complaining or anything- I don’t have any good topic to write about.
<p>I like #3 the best, because it seemed the most unusual, and also you said that you are connecting it with you taking risks,etc. Also you'll be writing about your thoughts during the disection, just somehow make it personal, and i think that it could be a good essay..</p>
<p>How much do adcoms hate to read the "I had a problem and got over it" essays? Is staying away from that essay format one of the basic insights to college essays?</p>
<p>It really depends. All adcoms are different. I'm sure some of them get tired of reading the same sob stories over and over again. But then again, many students have stories that deal with a very significant and real problem, and the act of overcoming the situation is seen as quite impressive.</p>
<p>I would just advise to stay away from cliche topics. Imagine if you were an adcom. That is what I did. Try to stand out, but not in a real obvious, irritating fashion. Gah. I don't know, I understand what I'm trying to say, but I'm not converying it quite right. Hehe.</p>
<p>What about #1 (I transferred from special education class to regular class at the same time- I have a mild learning disability- and that was the biggest challenge in my whole life so far)? But, I wrote a supplement essay about my learning disability. I don't want colleges to think I rely too much on my learning disability and emphasize too much on it. Arghh, this is so frustrating!</p>
<p>I get a lot out of #1. It was humorous yet engaging and tells in one sentence your attempt at assimilating into American society. So I would give that serious thought. I think #3 is appealing only to
your own peers who go for the wows and never mind its sickly factor. I think it will tend to back fire when used on adult adcoms.</p>
<p>I think you might be overthinking it a little. Admissions officers have heard everything, so you shouldn't worry about trying to stand out, you should write the one that you think you can write the best. Write the one that will showcase your writing abilities as that is what the essay is really about.</p>
<p>It seems that a lot of essays are based on past experiences. Would it be kosher to write about something that I'm interested in, perhaps a particular subject?</p>
<p>Yeah, for sure. Passion tends to leak through when you write about something that strongly interests you. Adcoms want to see passion, not robot-like formulas.</p>
<p>I feel like I can a lot to write #1, #2 and #4. #3 sounds good, but i don't know how to write it! lol. </p>
<p>I think #1 will be most interesting because i moved to different level of class in different country and many funny things happened; yet it was most challenging to me. so, i think i should write #1 instead. #4 looks boring to me, and #2 seems an excuse to my academic performance in junior year (i will ask my GC to mention and explain it fully in his letter). I thought #3 would be disgusting too, but it was on my mind for a while, and I wanted to ask before I decided whether or not to include it.</p>
<p>Another question came up: How many supplement essays can we send to colleges? Because I would like to write one more supplement essay (i already wrote one) about moving to a different school last year, challenging myself with most rigorous courseload with no experience of taking any honors or APs (my old school is lousy). This can allude to the downtrend grades in my junior year. Or, is it GC's responsibility? I think it is more important to tell colleges my learning difference than my moving, but I am scared that colleges will look frown upon my junior year if I don't explain why it happened. What do you think?</p>
<p>No, you can't send two additional essays because you otherwise will annoy the admission officers. Talk to your GC and make sure he includes your moving and your rigorous courseload without the experience of taking any honors/APs in his letter. Also make sure that he says that you challenged yourself. But, I don't think you have control of your GC's letter.</p>