<p>“write something that no one else could write”</p>
<p>This is the only rule to standing out in admissions. Many could compare themselves to a washing machine, write about the big game/race, talk about immigration, or write about a death. What angle/situation is unique to you?
This will probably take a creative combination of ideas, but consider this:
An admissions’s officer at a top school once said" 2% of essays hurt the applicant, 3% help them, and 95% run into each other and end up doing nothing." If you think your first brilliant essay is so unique no one could possibly write one like yours, think again. Chances are it or a similar one has been done many times before.</p>