Admission essay question -- should DD think twice about her topic?

[Anonymous]

DD is in the midst of drafting her admissions essays, and wrote a beautiful paper on her career goal of becoming an Episcopalian minister. To my (admittedly biased) eye, DD did a lovely job of using one or two Scriptural passages as a launching pad for describing her own personal and spiritual development, her desire to serve God and others, and her specific reasons for choosing the schools she is applying for admission to. (DD is applying primarily for admission to SLACs).

DH agrees that the initial draft is very strong, but is very concerned regarding DD's choice of topic. His concerns are several: Will DD seem overly idealistic? Whar if the admissions officer has a low opinion of organized religion? Does this career goal mark DD as being less 'ambitious' than other candidates for admission? Bear in mind, DH is entirely supprtive of DD's career goals. I would even go so far as to say he is moved by her decision. But, as DH pointed out last evening, DD must get into College first -- and he is worried that this particular essay topic may have a negative impact on her chances for admission.

For her part, DD is gently but firmly adamant that her essay well represents who she is and what she values. DD is of the opinion that any school that would negatively judge her goals is a school that she would not want to attend. I think in a perfect world, she would be right, but I worry nonetheless that DH may be right, and DD would be better served by avoiding religion or politics as topics for her admissions essay.

generally steer away from religion or politics as an essay topic.



For her part, DD is gently adamant that this essay represen

[Anonymous]

Ugh. My apologies for the final two lines -- Nook is clearly not the best platform for this!

[Anonymous]

Which prompt on the common app does this respond to? The choices seem pretty limited this year and my DC is struggling with that.

While I think religion is a tad risky in a topic, if that's who your DD is then she should write that. A school who is turned off by that topic probably isn't a good fit for her.

[Anonymous]

She should use it. Not many kids want to become a minister. It is interesting as hell.

[Anonymous]

Can she be my daughter?
You and your husband have done a fine job of parenting.
Kudos to you both.

[Anonymous]

I like it. She should go with her gut. Admissions directors have a way of sensing it. A weird factoid in my life - at the time I attended Harvard Law School, the worst undergrad major to have statistically for admissions purposes was political science - the best: religious studies.

[Anonymous]

Any decent school would frown upon somebody admitting to organized religion being their main goal and purpose in life.

However, I'm sure your daughter wouldn't be happy at those schools anyways. Tell her to apply to religious schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She should use it. Not many kids want to become a minister. It is interesting as hell.

X1000 bonus points for religious and political diversity. This is a GREAT topic.

[Anonymous]

Having just gone through the process, I agree with the previous posters that she should go with this essay. It shows who she is as a person, and it shows her passion. It sounds wonderful. I would caution that she should not give the impression that she is in any way judgmental about other religions, but if she is aiming to become an episcopalian priest, I suspect she's open minded and compassionate.

[Anonymous]

Keep the essay. I wrote about my favorite rock band, and I got into an Ivy. I also interview for that same Ivy, and I would be thrilled to have a kid sitting in front of me that had a clear idea of a pathway ahead and could articulate something better than "I'm ver socially aware and want to help people so that's why I want to go into politics".

[Anonymous]

Keep it.

[Anonymous]

Not only is it unique but if its a true reflection of what she loves, then she is revealing her authentic self which is the goal in these essays. They want to know something about HER not something she did, this is personal AND interesting. I say go for it!

I have read enough and put three kids through college enough to know what they are looking for in the essays. Something different nearly always is a good idea!

My eldest s who attended an Ivy wrote about how he watched what was perceived to be a 'girls movie" because he connected so much with the story line and how he had to always keep it a secret from his friends. He turned it into a really great essay and one of the officers even emailed him specifically to tell him so. I say keep it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any decent school would frown upon somebody admitting to organized religion being their main goal and purpose in life.

However, I'm sure your daughter wouldn't be happy at those schools anyways. Tell her to apply to religious schools.

Not true at all. It's a great topic.

[Anonymous]

Good for your daughter for standing up for her opinion. I think its a great topic. The one thing I would caution her on is using too many quotes from scripture, or anywhere else. They want to see her words.

[Anonymous]

It's a good topic. It's different and will make her stand out. Her desire to serve her community will be a positive, as will tJust the fact that she has a plan for what she wants to do. Both Harvard and Yale have divinity schools, so I don't think the religious career path is a turn-off. She is devoting her life to a liberal-ish faith so that won't trip any questions about her ability to fit into campus life.

Just take out anything about a mission trip. They get a million essays about mission trips.