Are service trips a huge "NO" as a Common App essay topic?

intparent
Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:47:10 +0000

OP, I think yours will be okay. Just keep an eye on revealing and showing yourself to the admissions committee. They will see that you are low income, and you also have a cultural reason for talking about it.

Let me give an example of how it can work to discuss a trip to a foreign culture without sounding too privileged. One of my kids had studied the language of another culture for years. She developed a fascination with it at a young age and had an opportunity to study it in our community – this was not our family’s cultural heritage, and none of the rest of us speak it. In high school she had a chance to visit the country where that language was spoken (not a service trip) for a summer. She mentioned her summer in the country as part of her essay about the impact this early interest and learning this language had on her life. She told stories about being able to talk to her host’s grandparents in the language and command the family dog as well. She also talked about how her personality fit in while visiting the country – she is very extroverted, and they have a reputation as introverts, but how speaking the language helped her initiate conversations and meet people. She also talked about adapting to food differences, and winning her host family’s approval by eating something most foreigners won’t eat. So her trip was mentioned, but was not the focus of her essay. It was in the context of a larger topic, and mentioned to give some examples of how she reacts to different situations.