Which one? the least cliche?

College Essays
1

<p>I have several different ideas for my common essay.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Background story that is central to my identity: I wrote about the moment I decided what I wanted to do with my life. It also discusses my personal experience about growing up and living in a state with many nature preserves and forests and how it has affected my life and what I want to do. </p></li>
<li><p>Recount an incident of failure, what did you learn: I wrote about how I was cut from my schools varsity sports team. I had worked so hard for it and truly thought I had made the team. However, there was a lot of politics involved and it had never been fair. Anyway, I kept up my skills. For club tryouts, I made the club's national team and travelled around to play. Basically, I didn't give up. I pushed myself even though I was ashamed and I proved to that coach and myself that I wasn't a failure.</p></li>
<li><p>Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea: I was raised as a Catholic but some life experiences changed my mind. Since then, I've turned to other spiritual means of guidance. This essay also describes my love of learning about different cultures and religions. It also describes my openness to new ideas and my disregard for conformity. </p></li>
<li><p>Describe a place you are content: Well, I couldn't say my bed so I wrote about how much I love public speaking (and debate). I learned to love arguing and discussing controversial topics because different opinions from others gives me a new perspective about things. This one also describes my openness to new ideas.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Any feedback would be great. Which topic shows the most promising outcomes? </p>

2

<p>Though i’m not religious, #3 really appeals to me…i think spiritual growth is always an intriguing topic…and i like the <em>concept</em> of #4 but you’d have to be careful not to fall into cliches. Okay and #1 might be intriguing…with the forest/nature part. Sorry that i’m not helping you narrow this down! Well, I’m not a fan of #2…</p>

3

<p>My dad says #4 definitely. He’s worked at a university for the last 25 years. </p>

4

<p>I like topic #3 as long as it’s not critical of Catholicism (or any other faith). Personally, I feel like #4 is a bit cliche (I’ve read several essays either on that exact topic or a very similar one), and #2 could come off as bitter. I also think that #1 could potentially be a very interesting topic depending on how you frame it! Ultimately, it all depends on how you write the essay. Even the most cliche of topics can make for a wonderful essay as long as it is well done. Choose the topic you feel is most integral to who are and write it the best you can. Best of luck!</p>

5

<p>Thank you all for the advice! @frozens I will try to make sure that I don’t sound too bitter about that topic :slight_smile: Thank goodness I still have 3 months to get one of these perfected!</p>

6

<p>I strongly recommend against the sports essay, because tons of people write about sports and your story could come across like, “I was totally good enough, they just had it in for me,” which doesn’t sound very good no matter how true it is. Plus, if the only reason you didn’t make the team was the politics, that’s not really a failure on your part so much as on theirs.</p>

7

<p>@jpheys I hadn’t thought of it that way but very true.</p>