<p>When I was in middle school, I used to live in the Persian Gulf with my family (my dad was an expat). I wrote about that for my Common App essay under “topic of your choice.” Since submitting, I have read online that admissions committees are sick and tired of reading essays about travel overseas and how it changed the applicant as a person. Looking back, my essay was kind of like that. Will it ruin my application? I thought it was a good essay; I spent a lot of time on it and got feedback from friends and family.</p>
<p>Looking back, my EC short response was OK. Well-written but weak topic I think.</p>
<p>Also, I applied to one safety (in with 3/4 scholarship), two matches (in at 1, yet to hear about scholarships; haven’t heard from the other) and 3 reaches (haven’t heard).</p>
<p>Here’s an estimated breakdown of the rest of my application. I am NOT asking anyone to judge these or give me chances based on these… I just knew someone would ask so here you go:</p>
<p>Grades: good
Rank: great at below-average public
Curriculum: not most rigorous but close
Scores: excellent
Supplement Essays: mostly good I’d say
ECs: meh (biggest regret of life… not having better ECs!!! But I didn’t live my life to pad my resume.)
Recommendations: above average I’d say, but I haven’t read anyone else’s so I can’t really comment.
Midyear Report: Awesome!</p>
<p>No hooks or anything like that.</p>
<p>So, did I make a mistake writing that essay? Will admissions and scholarship committees take one look and throw it out the window? Or does it not really matter as much as I think?</p>
<p>Oh, and is this the right forum for this? It kinda has to do with my chances I guess. Not sure.</p>
<p>A great writer can make anything look good. If you wrote with passion and with clear voice and style then you will be okay. More than likely the essay readers aren’t tired of certain topics but are tired of cliched and poor writing. GL</p>
<p>BTW-I’m assuming that you didn’t get political-political is a turn off.</p>
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<p>No, I didn’t get political :)… I did talk a lot about the school I went to there. I mentioned that the material was taught in a different way and how that has made me a better learner. One thing I really debated mentioning was the fact that physical punishment was common at that school and I got a few spankings myself - definitely a completely new experience for a suburban US kid. No, they were not abusing the kids (though it was illegal in the country I was living in)… it was all kinda silly and we laughed about it all the time. The school I went to was so shady, I think the teachers were 6th grade dropouts themselves! Me and my siblings laugh about it all the time whenever we remember it. </p>
<p>In the end, I left out the part about the ways they disciplined the kids, the teachers, etc. I had started writing this stuff in and I went WAY over 500 words. My final count was 499, so I kinda squeaked in. Usually white suburban Americans’ first reaction to this stuff is shock; so I would have to explain that it was all pretty funny stuff that we all laughed about afterwards (ie: no, the children were not being abused!). I initially tried to explain it but I just had no room so I left it out entirely… I did bring it up in interviews but the interviewers didn’t explore it further, they just moved on.</p>
<p>One part I regret writing was where I talked about how I realized how superficial race/religion differences are and how we’re all human etc. If I had left that cliche stuff out and talked more about my experiences there, maybe that would have been better. But aren’t you supposed to talk about how you were affected by experiences, not necessarily the details of what happened? I’m getting mixed messages searching this online so I’m kinda confused…</p>
<p>If they allowed 1000 words I could have written a really entertaining piece that still did the job. Oh well… c’est la vie.</p>