<p>I just broke the news to my junior son that I want his college essay drafts done July 1. However, I am sympathetic on the topic for the first essay (2 required 1 optional).</p>
<p>Topic A. (required)
Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.</p>
<p>I was wondering if any of you essay experts has read something along these lines where the writer used humor and chose an unusual person (maybe even one they hadn’t met)? My son is very witty and I can’t imagine him doing a good job in a serious essay on this topic (in fact he has written a similar one for an English class a while back and it was awful), but I think maybe he could write a clever & funny version.</p>
<p>Is that a crazy idea? I wanted to ask the experts here before mentioning that taking a different slant might be more interesting (I’m sure it would be more fun for him to write anyway) to him. He’s applying to a fairly conservative top 50 public university and will most likely major in one of the engineering disciplines.</p>
<p>Humor can be very difficult to pull off in writing for an audience that does not know you, but that doesn’t mean your son shouldn’t give it a try if he’s more comfortable writing that way. Also, he should be careful not to sound as if he doesn’t take the essay seriously. As long as he uses the opportunity to expose his own personality, I think he’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Humor is good as long as your son is, as you say, naturally funny/witty. It is a good way to win over adcoms; I was talking to some adcoms at Pomona and they said people who made them laugh usually are viewed favorably for admission. However, they also said that some of the very worst essays are when students have an unfunny personality but try way too hard to be funny. In that case, they’d prefer a serious essay, apparently.</p>
<p>Without knowing the audience seems like way too big of a gamble. I’ve often heard that essays are more likely to weed someone out than to push them toward acceptance.</p>
<p>Let him write the essay he wants first. If it needs revising later, he can revise it. The last thing you want your son to do is write a forced essay that does not truly express his best self. Kids should write a well-edited essay that conveys who they are. If the admissions people do not think they are a good fit for the school, then they will find a school that appreciates them and is a better fit. Humor is always good IF it is funny. Someone who does not know your son should read it and tell you if it is funny… parents are not objective.</p>
<p>If he’s a funny guy, let him write funny. But don’t tell him or push him there if that’s not where he’s inclined to go.</p>
<p>And I’ve gotta ask – what’s with the deadline? He’s not going to submit this anywhere until at least September, right? Just my unasked for opinion, but imposing a July 1 due date sounds a bit stringent.</p>
<p>Furthermore, July 1st is when the new Common App topics come out. AKA the topics he needs to choose from to write his college essay. I think it’s funny you’re setting a deadline… my parents don’t really even know what I’m doing in school, haha</p>
<p>^No, this is for the ApplyTexas application, I’m sure, because I had to fill out the same one last year (I’m presuming he’s applying to UT-Austin, or possibly A&M). </p>
<p>Anyways, I think humor could definitely work to his advantage, as long as he as a natural talent for it. If done correctly, the adcoms will get it–they’re not stupid, obviously–he just can’t try too hard.</p>
<p>And the deadline is probably to get a known procrastinator to actually finish on time. Especially since UT (I don’t know about TAMU) has rolling admissions, and so the earlier you get accepted, the earlier you can apply for the desired dorms, orientation, etc, since all of those go very quickly.</p>