<p>I remember hearing the Stanford representative mention that shockingly few kids pick to write their CA essay under the ‘topic of your choice’ category. </p>
<p>I submitted my CA essay and picked ‘Topic of Choice’ for my category. It was about my brother and how he’s influenced me - so, technically, it would fit under the other category (‘Describe someone and explain their influence’). I don’t think I picked that Topic of Choice category consciously thinking about what the Stanford rep said, but do you think it will hurt my chances that I submitted it under the wrong category technically?</p>
<p>that’s strange…
i would think a lot of people would use their UC essays for the common app, which is what i did. and the prompt for UC doesn’t really fit any of the common app prompts, so i clicked the “topic of your choice”
so there should be a considerable amount of people in the same situation as me…</p>
<p>I didn’t like my UC essay very much at all. For being about *my *world, it was still somewhat cliche and not that much worth sending to Stanford, etc.</p>
<p>I talked about how I gave myself a haircut when I was five, and how the lesson I learned helped me to overcome torments involved with being gay. I think it definitely went under “Topic of Choice.” It didn’t properly go under the “significant event” prompt as I talked more about how the lesson I learned developed into a maxim I live by, and how I used that to come out.</p>
<p>That’s a good way to put it into perspective, thanks. I think the essay could technically be ‘Topic of Choice’, mostly because it talks more about his story through my eyes more than his impact, but who knows. :/</p>
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<p>I didn’t like my UC essay enough to keep it as my common app essay. I did, however, use it in other areas, with variations of course. But my common app was something I had worked hard on and was written for that purpose.</p>
<p>I can imagine there are a lot of people with similar situations, but in the grand numbers of people applying to somewhere like Stanford, it probably doesn’t make up a substantial percentage. My English teacher said, when I asked him about it, that kids usually like structure and writing to a prompt - something that we’ve been taught to do our entire life. Being given an empty slate is daunting to a lot of people.</p>
I think the essay could technically be ‘Topic of Choice’, mostly because it talks more about his story through my eyes more than his impact, but who knows. :/</p>