Reply to PSA: Don't write your essay about building huts in Africa!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These private counselors often offer terrible advice.

Also, "how the pandemic affected me" can be a great topic if it's sincere, interesting, and sounds authentically like an 18yo.[/quote]

99% likely aren’t that interesting…the pandemic literally affected everyone so I doubt the kid is writing anything that hasn’t been written about a 1000 times.
[/quote]

You know, it may seem that way until you meet a kid who isn't in the "1000 times" category. DC's college room mate had a single parent who was an essential worker. So this kid had to handle their online schooling as well as manage that of their much younger siblings while the parent was out risking their life at least 5x/week. Then the room mate, who attended a private school, had to continue with online schooling in fall 2020 as their younger siblings attended public and their schooling was virtual.

Yes, there are many kids in that category, but at top schools, they are not really that many and my guess is that essay stands out, especially when the academic record aligns with the writing.[/quote]

YUP!  If the roommate personalize it and was genuine, that is an amazing topic to write about---they had to be a parent in a challenging time, all while managing online school themselves.   That is unusual for a T25 applicant[/quote]

PP never mentioned a T25 school.  Hey, have your kid write about Covid…but even the essays by kids with real trauma number in the thousands.  There is value to your essay reflecting a unique topic.  Like others said, it can be mundane…however if you are the only kid writing about the joys of watching paint dry or a kettle boil, then it makes an AO want to pay attention.[/quote]

I didn’t mention but yes it is. IDK what the kid wrote about for their essay. My point was that the kids with parents who were essential workers and the older kids having to parent all day b/c the publics were on line while their school was in person is really a much smaller subset of applicants at competitive schools. [/quote]

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