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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

I think it sounds wonderful. Her bold is a good thing -- many schools have religious backgrounds that they are not putting forward at this time (but they still respect religion) Like many schools are Catholic, many are Episcopal, ect ect. They just don't say it. She can work in a sentence about her experience at the corrections institute -- all professionals understand confidentiality. She sounds like a great candidate. GL.

I agree. Many people forget that famous schools like Harvard, UChicago, Howard University, Duke, Vanderbilt, Yale, Boston University and many other notable universities have theological schools. I doubt anyone would say these schools are for the weak minded.

[Anonymous]

Most schools don't want to build classes of just secular humanists. I agree that admissions people have their own foibles like everybody else. There's a very slight risk that OP's kid is the "wrong" religion for the essay reader, but I think it's a risk worth taking because this essay sounds like it shows so much about OP's DD. I would hope that admissions offices hire people who can get past any of their personal biases.

[Anonymous]

Love the idea. And for what it's worth, when I attended Harvard Law I learned that the "easiest" major for admissions to HLS was "Religious Studies" because no one majors in it. The worst? Political Science, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm bumping this thread. I always wondered what happened to this great solid kid. OP, if you're out there, give us an update.

OP here-- I am sorry I missed this last month! DD will be a freshman at Sewanee this fall. She is very excited, as are her little sister and I on her behalf. Poor DH is very emotional this week, though. Thank you so much for thinking of our girl after all this time --it was very kind of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm bumping this thread. I always wondered what happened to this great solid kid. OP, if you're out there, give us an update.

OP here-- I am sorry I missed this last month! DD will be a freshman at Sewanee this fall. She is very excited, as are her little sister and I on her behalf. Poor DH is very emotional this week, though. Thank you so much for thinking of our girl after all this time --it was very kind of you.

OP, I enjoyed this thread as we too have a DD, today a plane ride away at her dream school. Heartbreaking. I mean, we're so happy and excited for her.

[Anonymous]

This is a perfect example of "fit." OP's DD sent the right essay to the exact right school for her. May she thrive on the mountain!