How does a privileged person write a College Essay? What did you write about?

College Essays
1

<p>If you think it’s pretentious that I openly call myself privileged, know that I know that’s what I’m called, and I’m fine with that. When people hear that my mother doesn’t work, that’s all they think of me, especially adults, which is irritating. But if I do have advantages over others due to monetary gain, I’m fine with accepting that, and I try to not be ignorant about other people’s circumstances.
I just turned 14, and I’m in 10th grade. I’m not applying to colleges yet, but I’m trying to put together what to write about for my College Admissions Essay. But the problem is, this:</p>

<p>Every time I look at examples of college essays, they are filled with sob stories. How my parent’s divorced, How I overcame poverty, How I was discriminated against, How I had to walk 2 miles to school in the cold every morning because my parents couldn’t afford a car, How I overcame living in an impoverished area as an aspiring first-gen college student.</p>

<p>And then they get more extreme, in talking about how their father was an alcoholic, how their mother was a sex worker, how they were raped by their uncle.
And to make matters worse, today, I found this: <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU”>www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU</a>
You will hear “My father had a prostitute”, and “I grew up in an alcoholic Muslim family.”
Colleges are giving the impression that this kind of stuff is what they are looking for, and the problem is I just don’t come from that. </p>

<p>My parents are married. My father is an Aerospace Engineer with a Ph.D and my mother a Chemical Engineer with an M.S, (Although she doesn’t work outside the home anymore). I think we’re upper-middle class. I will be going to college as a third-generation. I am an URM, but I’ve never felt discriminated against.
I’ve never been hungry, or out of doors, or without clothes. I’ve never been raped. I’ve never even heard of anyone here using drugs. No one here is getting pregnant in high school. (I’m flabbergasted at others who insinuate that this type of activity is so common).
My parents are health nuts, vegetarian, and only shop organic. My mother never allowed any white sugar or meat in our house. I can count the number of times in my life that I’ve had ice cream. (I’m just trying to give you an idea of the type of environment our house is, and I know this is not usual because of what others tell me).</p>

<p>My parents are very strict about my education and I’m home-schooled my whole life with two tutors, an online curriculum, various classes at local universities, and my mother. Some would call my parents extremist, but they’re all right. They have made it clear that they will not lie for me, and I know what’s expected of me. I want to go to MIT or Carnegie Mellon and I’m passionate about linguistics, CGI, and computer programming.</p>

<p>TL;DR: If you don’t know any alcoholics or druggies, never were impoverished or pregnant out of wed-lock, what is one to do? I’ve thought about writing about my hobbies, but that’s pretty much impossible without being cliche or sounding like a privileged snot. What did any of you who are from affluent backgrounds write about for your college essay? Is it possible to successfully write anything that’s not a compelling story about overcoming poverty, or hardships associated with poverty? Obviously you can’t tell me exactly what to do, but just for the purpose of brainstorming, what did you write about?</p>

2

<p>My son wrote about balancing ECs. We’ll find out on Saturday if his essay worked. </p>

<p>Anything regarding balancing life and schoolwork/ECs would be okay. Do you have a job? Do you volunteer?</p>

<p>Certainly being deprived of ice cream would make many people pity you. (do a search on Graeter’s, and buy some of the chocolate chip flavors, and you’ll see what I mean)</p>

<p>If you are not following your parents’ path in terms of lifestyle, that would be something to write about.</p>

3

<p>D wrote about a teacher who inspired her in a subject for which she thought she had no talent. Seemed to work for her. You say you have passions for linguistics, CGI, and computer programming. Leverage a passion to write your essay. What is it about these subjects that inspires you? What do you see yourself doing with this expertise? How did you discover these passions?</p>

4

<p>If you want an essay about being disadvantaged you could always right about your homeschooling. Im not sure if this is the case from you, but some homeschoolers are very isolated from kids their age and the experiences that come with it. If this is the case for you, your essay could be written about how you haven’t truly lived or had a typical childhood where you got to hang out with friends, experience a true school experience, and maybe how the taste of sugar is so foreign to you that you get confused when you eat it.</p>

5

<p>These are decent ideas. Although I don’t think I can write about being deprived of ice cream. How will that look alongside the kid who’s writing about having no dental insurance with teeth rotting out of his face from eating too much sugar because that’s all his parents could afford?</p>

6

<p>Try reading JHU’s “essays that worked” (<a href=“https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays/2018/”>https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays/2018/&lt;/a&gt;). There are some about serious familial struggles, but the majority talk about passion for chosen majors or minor obstacles. All are very good.</p>

7

<p>Try reading JHU’s “essays that worked” (<a href=“https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays/2018/”>https://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays/2018/&lt;/a&gt;). There are some about serious familial struggles, but the majority talk about passion for chosen majors or minor obstacles. All are very good.</p>

8

<p>@autumnal Wow, these are actually pretty good. Thanks.</p>

9

<p>First and most importantly you need to attend a real high school or cross enroll at community college if you want a good shot of being admitted to a high ranked school. This is for a few reasons. 1st is academics and 2nd is the EC activities they provide like sports or student govt. </p>

<p>As for an essay topic. Volunteer work or a club is usually a good idea. Generally speaking coming off as the type of person that likes helping other people will probably get you in. In other words you need to come off as humble and not spoiled or entitled. I cannot stress enough how much “help” and “other people” matter. </p>

<p>Being a URM helps a lot too. </p>

10

<p>Look at what you just wrote. The admissions process is personal it is not about what other people write it is about you. Perhaps you didn’t face adversity but from the snippet of your life you just provided you seem like you have had a really interesting and unique childhood. Don’t write about what you are told to, write about what you actually care about. </p>

<p>Whenever you have a chance get a blank piece of paper and right down the 5 things you like best about yourself. The things that make you unique and an excellent fit for your chosen universities. when you have done this reflect on them. What exactly about these traits makes them important to you or makes you different? can you identify the root of these traits? Were they influenced by a particular childhood experience? a particular person? a particular EC? whatever comes to mind write about that. I have a friend who wrote about being asked out for the first time and got into Duke. It was a really simple concept but she brought out a lot of who she is in her essay. You should be thrilled! You have so much potential to bring something fresh and inspiring to the admissions committee. Use it! I get the sense that you love the life you have been given and are grateful for the environment you grew up in. Why not write about that? At the end of the day YOU are applying and the person reading your application wants to know about YOU so please don’t write about what you think you should or what you think will get you in. Write about something you care about! but you have time so let it simmer. Good luck finding your topic here is a link showing the power of simple topics, you don’t have to have gone through the worst. Have a read. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/10/something-to-smile-about-2.html”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/10/something-to-smile-about-2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Your life doesn’t have to be tragic to have a good, compelling essay. Possibly write about homeschooling and how it/your parents’ influence in your education have affected your life. Adcoms would like to see you do that anyways, so kill two birds with one stone. </p>

<p>Good luck! </p>

12

<p>

To be honest, your original post does make u come off as a self-absorbed snot. Our family has never faced hunger either, but DS came up w no shortage of colorful and funny stories about his privileged life. I do wonder if the AdComms get weary of reading the sob stories. </p>

13

<p>Do not fret you poor privileged child, regardless of your family income, you can be creative! No one wants to read another story about a divorce, financial problems and all of the other cliche “I’m trying so damn hard to be socioeconomicly diverse” bull**** anyway. You need to write about who you are, what makes you unique, what inspires you, etc. You need something that screams personality and paints a picture of who you really are. Personally, I wrote about having to wear a patch over my eye when I was younger. I played up the pirate humor and even made my tone a little sarcastic. Ballsy? Yes, but it painted a picture of my personality. I then turned my story into one about perspective/vision and how others tend to view the world. I loved writing it, because I was so passionate about it, and it truly changed my perspective on how I look (physically and metaphorically) at life. So yes, my childhood classmates turned “Patchy the Pirate” into an awesome college essay. Think of anything really. The weirder, the better. Do something personal to you. A story that no one can say “wow that happened to me too” about. Best of luck; go experience the world and write an essay that will change lives.</p>

14

<p>colleges want to see who YOU are, and if you’re a privileged perfection child, then write about that, just be creative. maybe write about what you just described, how you hear about the typical world which you feel is average to your age group or to the majority of society in this country, but you don’t face any of it. talk about how you had a different upbringing and childhood than the rest of america. they soak up the sob stories not because it brings tears to their eyes, but because they are different. so emphasize your differences and you’ll be fine, and with that much preparation and thought, hopefully your numerical stats will be so good they accept you even with a generic essay</p>

15

<p>@GMTplus7‌ You think I come off as self absorbed? Ok…</p>

<p>Did you watch the video I linked? My worrying is based in the fact that they give the impression that this type of thing (overcoming poverty) is what they are swayed by and what they are looking for. (Not just in this one video, but in various example essays, etc.)</p>

<p>I see that there are some essays that aren’t about that, but I was concerned that would at least put me at a disadvantage for not writing a sob story. I believe this is a legit concern. If you guys think that’s silly, ok, maybe it is.</p>

<p><a href=“College Admissions: Inside the Decision Room - YouTube”>www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU</a></p>

16

<p>The issue with holistic admissions processes is they evaluate the applicant in context of their background. “Whatever that means.” So as a person with 2 parents who both have graduate+ degrees, your requirements OP will be through the roof. You will need to be the perfect student essentially. Grades, EC; in other words the works. Your essays will need to come off super humbling and endearing. Although in some ways this is true for all applicants. With that said a sob story by itself won’t work BUT a hardship or two can be used to lower the bar significantly. </p>

17

<p>Same here OP! Also a reasonably privileged white female, and my Mom stays at home too, but I think you’re viewing it as too much of an obstacle. You don’t just sit around being white, privileged and female all day, do you? Just because you don’t have those particular problems doesn’t mean you don’t have any interesting problems or aspects to your personality. What kinds of books do you like? Movies? What kinds do you hate? What’s a vivid memory you have from your childhood? Who have you met in your life that has influenced you? (Don’t limit it to parents and family members, one of the most influential people in my life was a peer I disliked) What’s something quirky about you? (Will only wear jeans, terrible at tying shoes, hate throwing papers away, have never made your bed, religiously make your bed, a hunt and peck typist, love riding the school bus etc.) Not all of these will be winners, but one of them will be, whatever one reveals a fundamental truth about who you are or what you believe in and value. For example, I wrote my CA essay about doing push-ups and how that was a way for me to feel physically empowered despite being very petite. </p>

<p>Just because your problems aren’t serious doesn’t mean they’re not important. I think a great essay could include the line, “I can count the number of times in my life that I’ve had ice cream.” Use humor, be self-aware. You’re going to be fine. </p>

18

<p>The vast majority of college applicants are middle class and also didn’t have to overcome poverty. If these hundreds of thousands of non-hungry kids can somehow figure out something to write about, then don’t flatter yourself that u are too privileged a princess to come up w an essay topic.</p>

19

<p>You don’t see it yet but every advantage of life can also be a disadvantage and vice versa. Growing up overly sheltered then one day going off to college where you will be exposed to the real world is going to be a shock. Don’t discount how you grew up. </p>

<p>On another note I have read many outstanding college essays at the bookstore that have nothing to do with hardship. </p>

20

<p>Our private college counselor, who used to read essays for Stanford, emphasizes what others here have said: your essays should show who YOU are. The “sob story” essays are obvious targets; they’re easy to write. Making something less melodramatic sound interesting is a much greater feat and will frankly impress admissions officers more.</p>

<p>What I’ve told my daughter is that colleges really just want to know whether you’re an interesting person or not, and the essay is the best way to find that out. Let your personality out! </p>

<p>For example, take the Common App prompts. The “story that is central to your identity” prompt could work well for you, since you have had an unusual childhood with the homeschooling and the strict organic/no-sugar diet and everything. But again, it has to show who you are. How do you feel about having been homeschooled? How do you think it makes you different from other kids your age? It’s a good idea to focus on a particular incident and tell a story from there.</p>