My son is a swimmer and most of his time is spent swimming. Before school, after school, coaching on weekends, lifeguarding etc.

He wrote about swimming. Specifically he wrote about getting up early every morning and how much he hates it.

Honestly, I think the quality of the writing matters more than the topic of the essay.

My tech theater major wrote about - surprise - tech theater. She did a "day in the life" type essay and it was beautifully written. Her English teacher had them use their essays for an assignment and he said it was one of the best he'd ever read. It was truly her experience and her voice.

1.) A sport
2.) A sport

They were both phenomenal. Touching and authentic, not braggy and not cliched. A lot of "essay coaches" are giving absolutely terrible advice. Sports can be a very viable topic.

The opera

Wearing a funny costume for the school photo.

something about bonding with grandparents through food and cooking.

Anonymous wrote:The deluge of college essay posts has me wondering.
What did your child actually write about?

Growing up a Chinese adoptee with caucasian parents.

My kid had lots of cool ECs and was spending her senior year abroad in Asia on State Dept program when she applied to college. There were a ton of obvious topics to write about in there but she chose to talk about the importance of stories in our lives, she was able to weave in little snippets from various parts of her life but it wasn't about an achievement or being abroad or anything like that. Very Seinfeld-esque, not really "about" anything, but it was a lovely piece of writing that really conveyed a lot about how she views the world.

Her pets. Topic wise was very mundane but she managed to write about it so beautifully.

My DD wrote about living in another country. Thinking about it now for international school kids it is likely just as much a cliche as a sports essay is from a kid applying from public or private USA. All the international AO's must have read similar essays. I think there's a unique way to tell any story including sports topics.

Only a few topics should be considered to be off limits; sports is not among these topics.

A desire to do physical harm to oneself or to others is off limits.

Anonymous wrote:The sport thing threw my kid for a loop. It has shaped them more than anything having done it for 9 years and at 20 hours a week all year for several years.

I don't see how it's such a terrible thing to write about at all. Who do the colleges kids think these children are? Most go to school, do sports or music, have fine, uneventful lives. What is there to write about that will be so deep it will rock anyone's world? I wonder how much these essays even matter,

The sport thing threw my kid for a loop. It has shaped them more than anything having done it for 9 years and at 20 hours a week all year for several years.

I would like to know too because they shut down everything. Sports are bad, cultural stuff is bad, don't brag, but say how you are an asset...What is left for these kids?!

The deluge of college essay posts has me wondering.
What did your child actually write about?