<p>It's in the title.</p>
<p>Depends completely on the essay and how it’s written. Some topics are risky, but they can become some of the best essays if written well.</p>
<p>I went for both types when I applied this year (using common app’s alternate version of the application)</p>
<p>Anyways, the risky option didn’t work out too well for me. I guess because the essay was too abstract </p>
<p>But, the other essay I wrote (the safe one) was something you’d expect a lot of college applicants to write. Personally, I thought it was quite cliched. But my counselor liked it a lot and apparently, the colleges I submitted it to liked it as well</p>
<p>So I’d suggest going with a safe option. But if you do write on something risky, make sure you ask for as many opinions as u can.</p>
<p>I pretty much went all in on my risky essay. I made it my main commonapp essay so every college I applied to definitely saw it. It paid of EXTREMELY well.</p>