Aug 26, · Common Application Personal Statements about dead or living grandparents so often read the same. They’re dull. They’re wonderful tributes to relatives. But they offer little to no insight into who an applicant is and how he or she thinks — which is the primary concern of admissions officers reading these essays. The Trip to India Essay 11 Stellar Common App Essay Examples to Inspire Your Writing about how a missions trip (church camp) changed your life and how you recovered from a sports injury are the two most common essay topics, so I would stay away from those. Additionally, people write about how much they admire a grand parent, then forget how it changed you
Top 5 College Application Essay Clichés
Your essay can be the difference cliche common app essays an acceptance and rejection — it allows you to stand out from the rest of applicants with similar profiles. Submit or Review an Essay — for free! What makes a good college essay?
The Four Core Questions are at the heart of college essays and answering them is critical. Those questions are:. By answering these questions, a student is able to share information that is otherwise hard to ascertain with admissions officials—things like personality traits, personal journey, interests, cliche common app essays, skills, and ambitions.
This is cliche common app essays, in the professional world, résumés are often accompanied by a cover letter. A better strategy is for students to pick one experience that stands above the rest and write cliche common app essays how it shaped the person they are today. This is especially effective for any experiences that would benefit from further explanation, or those that have an interesting backstory. You might choose to focus on that aspect of your identity and what it means to you.
This would be another strong topic. Another traditional essay structure is cliche common app essays a narrative over an extended period of time. This structure incorporates a handful of different experiences that are joined by a common thread. If you have a story of growth, change, or development, this is the classic essay structure for you. An example of this might be a football player who was embarrassed to admit he liked writing and poetry, but how he eventually became a published author, and came to accept and own his identity as a poet.
Unfortunately, cliche common app essays, these lessons and stories have been told in numerous movies and books, along with countless college essays. For example, instead of an applicant talking about how their team trained and improved to beat their rivals or win a championship, they should write about a unique way that sports shaped who they are, cliche common app essays.
Along a similar line, a student could write about discovering their motivation for playing sports. The U. is a nation of immigrants and while not every student has an immigrant story, a lot of them do. Consequently, these immigrant themes are ones that every admissions officer has read before:.
Asian students, in particular, should avoid immigrant-themed essays, as they have a harder time getting into college due to demographics, and this topic only calls attention to their background. To make an immigration essay work and avoid being another cliché college essaya student needs to make it extremely unique or incredibly personal.
One tactic is to write about a singular experience—moments of conflict are always an interesting topic. For example, a student might write about a time they were made to feel unwelcome in the U.
and how they responded to that moment, such as volunteering at the community cultural center or creating a welcoming committee for new immigrants.
Another essay opportunity is to write about an experience that is truly unique. Perhaps, when a student first came to the U. That student could use their college essay to focus on what they learned on their walks and the ambitions it sparked—such as tenacity to succeed against all cliche common app essays, or a desire to found a program for immigrants in a similar position. Tragedies are formative experiences, which in theory make them a natural theme for a college essay; cliche common app essays, tragedies are often a universal experience.
Furthermore, cliche common app essays, essays on this topic are too often centered on the tragedy itself, rather than the applicant. The key is to keep it focused on the applicant and highly personal. For example, cliche common app essays, if you had a friend who passed away from substance abuse, an essay centered around your subsequent commitment to drug prevention programs and advocacy is an interesting angle.
In the case of an applicant who had a parent pass away, writing about shifting family dynamics, cliche common app essays, new responsibilities, and increased challenges are all great themes. For example, a student went from worrying just about academics to becoming the other adult in the house—preparing meals for their siblings, cliche common app essays, sending them off to school, and helping them with their homework.
They also likely faced challenging classes, struggled, and ultimately succeeded. Another reason to avoid this topic? The traits conveyed are likely covered by recommendation letters:. Instead of writing your essay about overcoming a tough class, think about the personality traits you want to highlight. If you feel that your determination is already covered in other aspects of your application, pick another trait to feature in your essay. Which other experiences highlight this trait?
Another idea is to make the essay less about the class and more about the writer. Instead of sharing how you struggled to understand Crime and Punishment in your advanced lit class, you might detail how the class inspired a desire to write, or how the works covered made you reflect on your own life.
You could also pick a problem or research question you want to solve, as per the fourth Common App essay prompt. Just remember that while the topic is an intellectual problem, your essay should still highlight your personality, cliche common app essays, identity, and way you think about the world. Pick something that is deeply personal to you and your background. For instance, maybe you want to create a proposal to solve food deserts in your county. This would allow you to share your personal experiences growing up in a food desert, your passion for increasing access to healthy food, and your analytical abilities.
The primary pitfall of writing about an admired person is that the essay is often focused more on the other person than the applicant. Even if students steer the essay toward themselves, they usually find themselves covering familiar themes:. The key to keeping writing about another person from becoming another cliché college essay is to keep the focus on the applicant.
A great way to do this is to highlight a specific moment where they exemplified an attribute or action that they commend in a person that they admire.
If the person they admire is historical, they can talk about how they are trying to live their life according to those ideals. Building a winning essay about a volunteer trip is tricky—at best, these essays come off as cliché; cliche common app essays their worst, they can make an applicant seem pretentious, condescending, and privileged. Like other topics, the key is for the writer to focus on themself, not the group they volunteered for or the place they went.
One way to avoid the cliché volunteer essay is to write about a specific moment on your trip, rather than giving a chronological account of your time. Get really specific and bring the reader into the moment and share with them how it affected you. An attention-grabbing essay will cliche common app essays the reader how you changed, instead of telling them. Another trick for turning volunteer essays from cliché to eye-catching is focusing on an unusual experience that happened during the volunteer trip.
Similar to the immigrant story, writing about moving to a new place is also an overly-done topic. Countless students move or switch schools each year. Many have trouble fitting in or adjusting to a new place, but eventually make new friends. If moving was really integral to your high school experience and identity, think about why that is. Did it push you to try new interests or become more outgoing? Focus your essay less on the move itself and your adjustment, and more on how exactly it changed your life.
For instance, some more original ways of spinning this topic would be:. Writing about your faith and reflecting on it critically can work, but basic religious essays about why your faith is important to you are a little more clich é. Regardless of your situation, if you decide to write an essay on religion, share your personal relationship with your faith. Anyone can write broadly about how much their faith means to them or how their life changed when they found religion, but only you can share your personal experiences, thoughts, and perspectives, cliche common app essays.
Your college essays should be personal, but romantic relationships and breakups cliche common app essays a little too personal.
Remember that applying cliche common app essays college is kind of like applying to a job, and you want to present yourself in a professional light. This means that writing about your cliche common app essays life is a bad idea cliche common app essays general. Unlike the other clich é topics, cliche common app essays, there are not really any directly-relevant alternatives.
For a breakup, was it your ability to overcome a setback? For a happy relationship, cliche common app essays, is it being emotionally intelligent or finding a compromise during conflict? Think about how you could still write an essay that conveys the same aspect of your identity, without mentioning this cliché topic.
Many students unfortunately experience family pressure to do certain activities or choose specific career paths. This is not cliche common app essays good sign to admissions committees, as they want a campus full of students who have the autonomy to make their own decisions. But there are absolutely better topics to share your identity and background, beyond parental pressure.
Wondering if your personal essay topic is cliché? Just sign up for your free CollegeVine account to get started! Does your Common App essay actually stand out? Those questions are: Who am I? Cliche common app essays am I here? What is unique about me? What matters to me? Overcoming adversity Trusting teammates Refusing to quit The thrill of victory The agony of defeat For example, instead of an applicant talking about how their team trained and improved to beat their rivals or win a championship, they should write about a unique way that cliche common app essays shaped who they are.
Immigrant story The U. Consequently, these immigrant themes are ones that every admissions officer has read before: Learning a new language Adapting to new customs Adjusting to a new lifestyle Struggling to fit in Asian students, in particular, should avoid immigrant-themed essays, as they have a harder time getting into college due to demographics, and this topic only calls attention to their background.
Tragedy — death, divorce, abuse Tragedies are formative experiences, which in theory make them a natural theme for a college essay; however, tragedies are often a universal experience, cliche common app essays. The traits conveyed are likely covered by recommendation letters: Perseverance Diligence Tenacity Work ethic Intellectual ability Instead of writing your essay about overcoming a tough class, think about the personality traits you want to highlight, cliche common app essays.
Someone you admire a person you know or historical figure The primary pitfall of writing about an admired person is that the essay is often focused more on the other person than the applicant. Even if students steer the essay toward themselves, they usually find themselves covering familiar themes: Learning something about themselves Learning something about life Learning something about the world The key to keeping writing about another person from becoming another cliché college essay is to keep the focus on the applicant.
Volunteer trip Building a winning essay about a volunteer trip is tricky—at best, these essays come off as cliché; at their worst, they can make an applicant seem pretentious, condescending, and privileged.
Moving to a different part of the country Similar to the immigrant story, writing about moving to a new place is also an overly-done topic. For instance, some more original ways of spinning this topic would be: How moving led you to start an organization that picks up unwanted furniture for free, and resells or donates items in good condition. For items in bad condition, you find ways to repair and upcycle them. This was motivated by all the trash you saw your family produce during the move.
At your new school, you joined the gymnastics team because you were known as the uncoordinated, awkward girl at your cliche common app essays school, and you wanted to shed that image.
I read 150+ essays. Here's how to turn CLICHE college essays ☆ unique ☆
, time: 10:0211 Stellar Common App Essay Examples to Inspire Your Writing
Writing about how a missions trip (church camp) changed your life and how you recovered from a sports injury are the two most common essay topics, so I would stay away from those. Additionally, people write about how much they admire a grand parent, then forget how it changed you By Scott Anderson. February 16, The Common App essay prompts will remain the same for with one exception. We will retire the seldom used option about solving a problem and replace it with the following: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way Aug 26, · Common Application Personal Statements about dead or living grandparents so often read the same. They’re dull. They’re wonderful tributes to relatives. But they offer little to no insight into who an applicant is and how he or she thinks — which is the primary concern of admissions officers reading these essays. The Trip to India Essay
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