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[quote=Anonymous]The Common App, which nearly every college now uses, offers a number of topics, including the ever-popular "topic of your choice".  Additionally, most schools require at least one supplemental essay with a topic that can range from the innocuous and easily re-packaged, discuss your favorite book or movie, to the inimitable and quirky UChicago prompts, including last year's "Don't write about reverse psychology."

I worked in college admissions and have gone through the college process with 3 of my kids.  My advice re the Common App essay is don't sweat the topic; almost any subject will work if your kid writes in his/her own voice with some degree of self-awareness about what this topic means to them.  So, for example, the ubiquitous essay on my summer job at McDonald's can be a winner if the applicant can convey how the experience touched him/her.  OTOH, an essay about traveling to Uzbekibekistan (in the inimitable words of Herman Cain) can be deadly if it's just a travelog that doesn't give the reader a sense of who the kid is.

As for the supplemental essays, don't leave them for the last minute.  Admissions staffers can spend a lot of time honing the supplemental prompts and their choices reflect the school's admissions philosophy and institutional priorities.  Too often kids spend tons of time crafting the common app essay, then blow off the supplementals to their detriment.

Finally, with all essays -- let your kid write it -- admissions staffers can spot an essay written by a parent a mile away.   [/quote]

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