Common App Essay on an EC?

Circular
Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:09:48 +0000

When people say it’s bad to talk about EC’s in the college essay, that means do not re-list your EC’s in a paragraph form. If you were to pick one activity/event/EC, and talk about how it changed you or your passion for it, then that would be fine. If you talked about playing piano, being in a rock band, being the head of Model UN and student government, and how varsity wrestling all show how “well-rounded” you are, then you screwed up the essay.

For example, I wrote (am writing, I’m applying this year) on writing. My only EC’s concerned with writing are being a newspaper editor junior/senior years and tutoring kids in writing junior/senior years. But, writing is one of my main passions and strengths, so I chose that over anything else that I’ve done.

Debate would be ok, I guess. I personally would not do it as I think it would be hard to pull off effectively. Also, it’s a bit cliche. But, of course, this all depends on your writing ability, your academics, the overall strengths of your ECs, and obviously, what schools you are applying to. If you’re applying to ivy/similar level schools, the essay becomes more important, if you’re not, then the essay is less important. Similarly, the essay becomes less important the better the other parts of your app are, and more important the weaker they are.

Summary: show passion in the essay, be real, be human. Don’t re list your EC’s. If you’re struggling with the temptation to do so, pick another topic completely on the common app.

Hope that helps.