Write about how you plan to work hard on college but also can't wait to party and smash! I think many AOs would appreciate it because it would be the most honest college essay they've read in years, if not ever.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has worked in this space, I'd like to call attention to the fact that the Brown Table essay everyone loves so much is on the "forbidden topics" or "overdone topics" lists you see a lot of -- death of a grandparent.

This is proof that there is no such thing as a list of topics you can't write about. Just wanted to point that out.

Agree with the PP who cautions against applicants using that essay as a model though. It is a great essay, coming from a young writer anyway, but when I read it I want a lot more insight into the writer and who they are.

I think this comment speaks to something important. This essay is only ostensibly “about” a death, or for that matter a table. What it’s really about is what the writer notices as the world shifts and changes around her.

OP, don’t go searching for a topic. Instead start by talking to your kid about what they love. Big things, small things, odd things, silly things. A place, a song, a person, the crack of a ball against a wooden bat, a bathrobe they didn’t buy at the thrift store around the corner, the way misty rain makes the lichen on trees come alive. Can be anything.

Zoom in, and out, from there. Have them do some exercises exploring why they love this thing, or naming some key moments related to that thing, or imagining a world without it. The real theme — the thing that the essay is actually about — will begin to emerge, slowly at first.

Don’t think about impressing anyone. Just help DC tell the truth, even if the truth feels small and unimpressive. An ability to reveal something true about oneself, even if small, is rare. And so it IS impressive.

Anonymous wrote:DC1 went to a cadaver lab. Held a human heart in her hand. She was interested in medicine.

DC2 mentioned 58 languages spoken at the local HS. He was a student leader.

This is great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has worked in this space, I'd like to call attention to the fact that the Brown Table essay everyone loves so much is on the "forbidden topics" or "overdone topics" lists you see a lot of -- death of a grandparent.

This is proof that there is no such thing as a list of topics you can't write about. Just wanted to point that out.

Agree with the PP who cautions against applicants using that essay as a model though. It is a great essay, coming from a young writer anyway, but when I read it I want a lot more insight into the writer and who they are.

You may have worked "in this space", but you do not understand if you thought that the essay was about the "death of a grandparent".

Death of a grandparent is a very strong theme in that essay. Stop blathering.

Anonymous wrote:DC1 went to a cadaver lab. Held a human heart in her hand. She was interested in medicine.

DC2 mentioned 58 languages spoken at the local HS. He was a student leader.

What did this show about him?

DC1 went to a cadaver lab. Held a human heart in her hand. She was interested in medicine.

DC2 mentioned 58 languages spoken at the local HS. He was a student leader.

Anonymous wrote:No expert, but it seems that the essay is supposed to show that 1) the student can write, and 2) give a sense of the applicant's personality. I have no idea if it helped my admission many decades ago, but my essay was about how it's generally important to defer to authority, even when authority is wrong. Definitely not what the standard advice might be, but I was a "defer-to-authority" kind of kid, so that was authentic for me.

Which military academy did you attend ?

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine in high school claimed he wrote about crapping his pants during a shift at a retail summer job because he was convinced that AOs don't actually read the essay and wanted to prove it. I'm not sure if he proved anything, but he got into some good schools.

No--he just got in to crappy schools.

A friend of mine in high school claimed he wrote about crapping his pants during a shift at a retail summer job because he was convinced that AOs don't actually read the essay and wanted to prove it. I'm not sure if he proved anything, but he got into some good schools.

No expert, but it seems that the essay is supposed to show that 1) the student can write, and 2) give a sense of the applicant's personality. I have no idea if it helped my admission many decades ago, but my essay was about how it's generally important to defer to authority, even when authority is wrong. Definitely not what the standard advice might be, but I was a "defer-to-authority" kind of kid, so that was authentic for me.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has worked in this space, I'd like to call attention to the fact that the Brown Table essay everyone loves so much is on the "forbidden topics" or "overdone topics" lists you see a lot of -- death of a grandparent.

This is proof that there is no such thing as a list of topics you can't write about. Just wanted to point that out.

Agree with the PP who cautions against applicants using that essay as a model though. It is a great essay, coming from a young writer anyway, but when I read it I want a lot more insight into the writer and who they are.

You may have worked "in this space", but you do not understand if you thought that the essay was about the "death of a grandparent".

My kid wrote a funny essay about changing the muffler on a car. Got into a T20 with that one.

The College Essay Guy is good.

Don't overly strive to be unusual or quirky. Write from the heart. Strongly consider the list of "forbidden topics." I think that list is terrible ... a kid who writes well can often pull off even a very basic topic.

My kid wrote about the ordinary but in a vivid and creative way.

Anonymous wrote:Curious for examples.

And what online resources are good for personal statement writing?

Most unusual statements or good? Think you are asking two questions. I know Hopkins provides statements of some accepted students on their admissions website.