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04-09-2008, 01:16 AM
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#1 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Threads: 18
Posts: 42
| I have no life experience!
I have a very sugar coated life. Two parents, a brother, and a cat. My parents make good money, both attended college, and I live in an almost sheltered community in LA. I drive to school everyday in my 2001 Toyota Camry and hang out with my friends on the weekend. I have a mediocre gpa and sat but have great ambitions to succeed. After looking at the common app essay prompts, I realized that I have no life experience. My parents raised me to be a good kid and to not do drugs and to get good grades, but so did almost every parent. I simply have nothing to write about that is remotely interesting. I could write about myself as a person, as does thousand of other students, but I need something to stand out. Does anyone else have this problem? | 
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04-09-2008, 01:45 AM
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#2 | | New Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Threads: 0
Posts: 13
| Everybody has life experience. You've been living yours for SEVENTEEN/EIGHTEEN years!! That's a lot of time for life experience.
No, you don't have any disabilities. You've never been poor. You've never had a father/mother/brother/grandparent die.
So what.
Just write what you know.
You say you have "great ambitions to succeed." What are they? Why do you have them? What motivates you?
You say your parents raised you to be a good kid and not do drugs. Have you ever been tempted to do something wrong? Ever TP someone's house? Describe your thought process while you TP'ed that person's house--the guilt, the joy, the cognitive dissonance.
Essays don't need to be flashy.
The best essays I've ever read have been about the unique taken from the mundane. | |
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04-09-2008, 01:58 AM
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#3 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Threads: 18
Posts: 42
| Thanks, those are some great suggestions! | |
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04-09-2008, 07:52 AM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Threads: 77
Posts: 1,364
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04-09-2008, 08:34 AM
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#5 | | Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Threads: 50
Posts: 749
| Remember, show, don't tell. Don't say "I have great ambitions" - tell stories that illustrate that you have great ambitions. | |
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04-09-2008, 10:05 PM
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#6 | | Member
Join Date: Jul 2006 Gender: Female
Threads: 13
Posts: 305
| I know how you feel. My life is pretty easy compared against many peoples'. However, that is completely irrelevant to a good essay. It doesn't have to be about some massive struggle in your life... It's about you. It should be an essay only you can write. There is something there, no matter who you are.
What do you think about at night before you fall asleep?
What ever made you disagree with a friend, or suddenly hate someone?
What makes you laugh, or cry?
What's the first thing people notice about you?
What would be your ideal future?
...There is something in there that is part of you and only you. Find it and express it. Just because your life so far hasn't given you much in the way of experience doesn't mean that your mind is not alive and filled with its own special brand of thought. | |
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04-09-2008, 10:32 PM
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#7 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: MA & VA
Threads: 4
Posts: 255
| I wrote my college essay about my love of reading and books, and got into 6 good schools, so trust me, it can be about anything, as long as it's about you! | |
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04-11-2008, 08:46 PM
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#8 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Threads: 14
Posts: 78
| Anyone who tells you college essays are any less than 40% BSing is either lieing to you or is just good at BSing and needs to convince themselfs its somthing more than that.
Most topics are so absurdly broad that you can't answer them in 500 words or less and go into detail at the same time. You can't describe yourself in 500 words or less, not even slightly. | |
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04-11-2008, 09:38 PM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Threads: 77
Posts: 1,364
| Many of the college essays that I've read have been strikingly personal, detailed, honest and revealing. | |
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04-11-2008, 09:46 PM
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#10 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Threads: 14
Posts: 78
| They definatly appear to be, I dont question that, its actually my point. They all seem amazing, but that doesnt mean they are sincere or even true. | |
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04-13-2008, 09:02 PM
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#11 | | Member
Join Date: Jun 2007 Gender: Female
Threads: 20
Posts: 932
| I've done with college admissions. But, for one of the essays I wrote, I described myself in 497 words. And it was me. I sent it to every college I applied to. And I got in in some way or another.
*Don't think, just write. If it's sincere, it will show through. Life has passed me by for the most part. But, that doesn't mean that I can't record the lack of 'life experiences' on paper. Record that void (eloquently) on paper. See how it goes from there. | |
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