Topic for the college essay

[Anonymous]

DD wrote hers on overcoming an eating disorder. It was amazingly written, personal, and very touching

[Anonymous]

If you think the prompts are general enough to accommodate just about any essay, you probably haven't actually looked at the prompts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS wrote about how life is like a pizza - it's all in how you put it together.

Don't forget the diversity of possible ingredients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS wants to write about having a Jewish mother (and her side of the family) and a Catholic father (and his side of the family).

Hopefully the readers will not be antisemitic and/or anti-Catholic.

[Anonymous]

Gee, it's a shame that you're not a convicted felon or something. That would give your daughter so much to write about -- and she could go to Harvard:
http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/college/2015/04/10/ivy-league-schools/2.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD wrote hers on overcoming an eating disorder. It was amazingly written, personal, and very touching

Very risky writing about an eating disorder that the admissions office would fear might come back. I hope it worked out for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...
Also, I'm not sure if you've toured any schools yet, but when we did I remember hearing from at least 3 Admissions people in their presentations how much they did NOT want to hear about their grandfather who bravely fought in WWII or their mother who inspired them because of her tireless dedication....they want to hear about your DD and what SHE has done. Essays that talk about someone who "inspired" a student often turns into an essay about that person. These essays are not terribly long in length (around 600 words). You don't have much space to talk about inspiring people and yourself.

We heard this at multiple schools we toured, too. One school put this as, "we're not admitting your mom/dad/grandfather, we're admitting you, so write about yourself and your own thoughts/feelings/passions/accomplishments."

We heard at 2 of the 3 STEM schools we toured that something like 10-20% of essays are about how Legos inspired the applicant to go into STEM. (I think the figures we heard were actually higher than 10-20%, but I'm being conservative here because of how incredible this sounds.) So two colleges said: don't write about Legos.

Finally, we're heard from many schools and other sources that other worn-out and cliched topics include
- how your parent-funded two-week trip to an impoverished, third-world country made you realize that we're all the same underneath it all, or
- how you pushed yourself through injury for the winning touchdown/final lap of the winning race.