I am thinking about writing my personal essay about my figure skating + skateboarding but i’m afraid the topic might be too common. I feel like skating has made a greater impact on my life but I could potentially also talk about my unicycling. I have been doing both for over 4 years so I have plenty of stories from both. Do you think I should write my essay about my skating or unicycling?
Either should be fine --it is impossible to make any judgement just by the topics you mentioned.
Keep in mind that the purpose of the essay should be: 1) to tell something about yourself that can’t be found elsewhere on the application and 2) to give admissions officers a reason to want to have you on campus.
I recommend that you write a draft or an outline of a couple of different ideas and see where each one goes.
I agree with @happy1.
Both are great topics. Riding a unicycle is not a common hobby, and could be a way to show something about you which is different. On the other hand, ice skating means a lot more to you, and you may find it easier to show something about who you really are.
As happy1 suggested - start a draft with different topics, and see where they go. See in which you find it easier to show, rather than to tell, and which seems to you to show something interesting about you that is not in your resume, something which would make AOs say “this kid will be a great addition to our college”.
@Snowglobes College Confidential recently covered this topic in an article that may help answer your question. Read more here: https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/mine-personal-experiences-essay-topics
As a skater myself, I know there are a lot of opportunities for personal challenges within that sport, lots to learn, master, refine, perform. However, the essay really isn’t going to be about skating. You’re just going to use skating or unicycling (or whatever) as a backdrop to sell yourself and match yourself to the college.
I do believe any topic can make a good essay. The only question is how skilled a writer the author needs to be in order to pull it off. We see a lot of high schoolers on these boards delving into risky topics but most likely lack the flair to pull it off well. I don’t feel you would need to worry about that with your topic. That’s a good thing because the reader will get a stronger sense of you… who you are, how you’d fit in, what you can contribute to that college, etc.