Sports essays

[Anonymous]

Are they really a no, always? I read that it's trite, boring, overdone, but ds is a goalie and I feel like it portrays who he is best, his qualities, how he approaches life. It seems like the most natural thing to write about.

[Anonymous]

My DS did a sports essay - accepted at his top choice (a SLAC ranked between 20 and 50)

The question I would encourage you / your child to ask is what is the admissions team learning about me from this essay?
As long as the answer is not - I like soccer, I overcame adversity and it provides a dimension that is not covered somewhere else, it is fine.
Put yourself in the shoes of an admission officer. They are reading essays and trying really hard to consider every applicant and get to know them through the personal statement. How you approach being a goalie and how that translates into how you challenge yourself to learn and try new things can be an interesting essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS did a sports essay - accepted at his top choice (a SLAC ranked between 20 and 50)

The question I would encourage you / your child to ask is what is the admissions team learning about me from this essay?
As long as the answer is not - I like soccer, I overcame adversity and it provides a dimension that is not covered somewhere else, it is fine.
Put yourself in the shoes of an admission officer. They are reading essays and trying really hard to consider every applicant and get to know them through the personal statement. How you approach being a goalie and how that translates into how you challenge yourself to learn and try new things can be an interesting essay.

Exactly! Don't write an essay about how soccer has taught you strength and determination- think poetry and think outside the box.

" 2 Feet. A narrow gap measured at 24 inches, 60 centimeters. 119 blades of grass, 2 lines of spray paint, 6 bee's and 13 flowers stood between me and the final point of the game." Then go on to draw parallels between accomplishments or missed accomplishments that can seem attainable or unattainable and how perspective is everything.

This is the difference between a boring sports essay and one that shows you're a deep analytical thinker.

[Anonymous]

My kid swore off sports essays…until one school had a ton of essays as part of its app, and the sports one fit, so it was used.

[Anonymous]

Being a goalie is a relative unique position. My suggestion would not be to emphasize perseverance and the like, but how the position makes on feel vulnerable and on stage like no other

[Anonymous]

Use the sport to show what he learned from doing it that helped him face/accomplish something else in his life

[Anonymous]

honestly, you have to ask yourself - does the woman reader (yeah they are almost always women) WANT to read a male-oriented sports essay? I do not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:honestly, you have to ask yourself - does the woman reader (yeah they are almost always women) WANT to read a male-oriented sports essay? I do not!

I don't know why it would be male-oriented. I personally like sports stories a lot...

[Anonymous]

Only if he doesn’t have ANYthing else to write about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only if he doesn’t have ANYthing else to write about.

Even if whatever story he picks won't really be as "him" as this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid swore off sports essays…until one school had a ton of essays as part of its app, and the sports one fit, so it was used.

My dd wanted to write about her three years of captaining her tennis team while dealing with a knee injury, but was told not to use sports in essays. She did end up writing a shorter one about her other non school sport as one of her short uva supplemental essays.

[Anonymous]

I know a number of kids who were successful to top20 schools with sports related essays. One was my nephew.

[Anonymous]

My kid lives eat and breathes soccer.

He did not write about it in any of his essays or supplementals. It was a good portion of his activities/awards in common app.

He got into 2 Ivies and a few more T10s/T20s.

If you do it, it is going to have to be very original.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:honestly, you have to ask yourself - does the woman reader (yeah they are almost always women) WANT to read a male-oriented sports essay? I do not!

Agree. About 5% of women seem capable of understanding what a first down is in football, and the other 95% hate men for continually trying to explain it. Write essays about flowers or cats.