<p>I wanna write about North Korea since it is mysterious and isolated, like China and USSR decades ago. Also I'm interested in human right there. Will that be ok?</p>
<p>What’s the prompt and how does this relate to selling yourself to a college?</p>
<p>I would say if you’re writing from a purely political perspective, avoid it because you don’t know whether or not your views come off as extreme to the admissions officer. Neither can you predict the officers reaction to the political issue at hand. </p>
<p>However, if you think you can integrate your views with a positive self portrayal and somehow put forth your values as an individual without sounding too extremist in any way, then go right ahead.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the writer can integrate the situation of the DPRK into his/her personal statement for college.</p>
<p>Alexis: I fear you’re misunderstanding the essay prompt. Please revisit the purpose of personal statements.</p>
<p>quote:
UNC:If you could travel anywhere in time or space, either real or imagined, where would you go and why?</p>
<p>I think franatic worship is mysterious and wanna unravel the causes of it. Actually I wanna major in history.</p>
<p>OK: you wanna examine how a dictator keeps millions in blind submission. How does that not come across as “Those poor stupid people. Look at me and how lucky I am to have freedom and see through their propaganda”</p>
<p>I’m not saying DPRK isn’t noisome but how does this essay not come off as patronizing. Really, of all the historical events/places in human history, you wish to examine this sad chapter – because fanatcism is interesting to you? It can sound rather cold-hearted or infused with Western arrogance. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I think it’s a viable topic, but you need to write it from a more fact-based perspective. If you don’t know anything more about North Korea than there is a cult of personality around the leader you don’t have much to write about.</p>
<p>Read Bradley Martin’s “Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader.”</p>
<p>Zzzzzzzzzzzz!</p>
<p>Make your essays personal to you, not some extension of research for a future PhD dissertation. And in the case of this prompt, also make it something that you couldn’t possibly do. Use you imagination and apply it to your personal world. A trip to 2100 to see how your decisions at 18 impacted your future grandchildren, A trip to see your great-grandparents saying their goodbyes before leaving for America, etc. A Jew might want to see the destruction of the 2nd Temple, a Christian might want to see the Cruxcifixtion, a Hemmingway fan might want to go drinking with him and Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. A Trekkie might want to travel on the Enterprise, any version. Have some fun with it.</p>
<p>Traveling to current day North Korea is possible, even if it is difficult. Essentially your essay right now is saying, “I want to be Dennis Rodman!” and I am BORING! Not exactly a winning topic.</p>
<p>Well, there the adcoms are, trying to figure out who you are, behind your stats and activities-- and there you are writing about North Korea and some element of their culture. ? What does this tell them that advances your application? They are not grading you on originality, what you find fascinating or how well you write to the end. That’s often what hs assignments are about. For college app essays, the first test is what you choose to write about. It reflects your judgment and understanding of what they need to know about you. And yes, that includes curiosity. But YOUR personal strengths and attributes have to come through- no matter what the prompt. What you convey needs to be relevant to what those colleges seek in their freshmen.</p>
<p>Alexis, I think that you might be approaching the prompt from a historical/analytical perspective and that may backfire on you. As others have written, the adm folks are trying to understand a piece of you – what is something genuine about you that shines through the application. If you can write about North Korea and tell a story about yourself through that, then North Korea can work. But otherwise, I might rethink your location…</p>