<p>I want to write about the role Chinese culture and language has played in my identity as a 1.5 generation "American" child who immigrated at the age of two. This issue really is dear to my heart. My main concerns are that 1) playing up the fact that I'm Asian will work against me further, and 2) an essay about racial identity is really, really, really cliche. Components of it include: funny, involuntarily racist comments I have heard, my phase of hating my Chinese identity, my realization of language as a powerful tool and integral part of my identity. Like I said, sounds like the most cliche load of bull ever, even though it is one of the things I truly, truly want colleges to know.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if Asians are testy about playing up their race: will doing so work in my favor in terms of "essays that stand out"? I am taking a risk in revealing a racial aspect that does NOT portray me as a victim of extreme racism or a potential "diverse" candidate. (We all know that many top colleges are not particularly nice to Asian applicants.)</p>
<p>I once heard Peter Johnson, a Senior Admissions Director at Columbia University, give this tip on essays: </p>
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<p>So with that in mind, what specifically will differentiate you from another Chinese student who also writes about their culture and language? I’m not asking you to respond, but to give it some thought for several days. The potential danger in this topic is that your essay will come across as too general – as if anyone one of a thousand other Chinese students, who immigrated at a young age, could have written it. You need to write something so specific that only YOU could write it. If that is doable, it might be an okay topic. If you cannot think of a way to make the topic specific to you, it would be wise to move on to another idea.</p>
<p>I was going to write about the time I was at the local table tennis league and helped out a new player who only spoke Chinese. Everyone at the league tried to work around the language barrier, but I helped the player have some of his first real conversations there by translating. Before this point I felt that my ability to speak Chinese ostracized me, and was embarrassed to speak it in public, even when other people told me they thought it was amazing I could still speak Chinese fluently. Of course, I am the only person at my school who plays table tennis competitively, so anyone could find me–don’t know if that counts towards what you are saying, though :)</p>
<p>I had a friend, Asian American, who(I **** you not) wrote about how he was more than the sterotypical asian(even though he fitted the sterotype perfectly) for a supplement, and for another supplement essay, for the same college): how he thought Ramen noodles were the best creation known to man. </p>
<p>He got in. It was a top 10(usnews) ranked college.</p>
<p>I’m a little older than you and grew up to Jackie Chan as my only Asian role model on TV. He was as good as it got. This was before the days of youtube, twitter, and instagram. Back in the 90s, 20/20 ran special reports on how Asian males were the least desirable marriage partners. History classes only talked about Japanese internment camps and Chinese coolies running 1900s laundromats. The most prominent Asian presence on the web 1.0 was Japanese adult video and Asian dudes complaining about their dating frustrations and failures, LOL. Not exactly inspirational to a 90s kid. Kung-fu and being invisible to white women was pretty much our thang. </p>
<p>But even back then, the academic world had already been ingrained with the idea that Asians were, by default, overachievers, and didn’t require any handouts. They got by. Especially in this day and age, you don’t exactly curry sympathy by highlighting your heritage. </p>
<p>That said, you can make this story work. Your essay will either come out spectacularly, or spectacularly wreck your chances at all your common app schools. It’s a gamble. Make sure you get lots of people to read it for you and ensure you are making the right kind of impression. </p>
<p>You can use lighthearted humor, as emilieland’s friend did, or simply persuade your reader that this really is a big deal to you and treat the topic more seriously/academically. There’s a lot of research work out there that points to Chinese Americans as having some of the least cultural retention out of all recent immigrant groups. Some of it has to do with education (white-collar immigrants don’t hold on to traditions as well), and some of it has to do with Chinese cultures in general. This is something you can use to prop up your story.</p>