Essay topic - to use or not to use?

Applying to College
1

<p>One college essay topic goes something like this:</p>

<p>Newton’s Law of Motion states that an object in motion will stay in motion in one direction unless acted upon by an external force. Blah blah blah, positive external force in your life made you change directions, blah blah blah.</p>

<p>I failed a few classes my freshman/sophomore year in high school. I was diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder, had panic attacks during class and that lead to a lot of absences. Without going in to a big sob story and just mentioning it enough to get the message across, I’m thinking about writing my essay about the following:</p>

<p>Under the circumstances I mentioned above, I was doing pretty badly in school. I failed my Algebra class, and had a conference with the teacher to find out how I could make the course up for a better grade, to meet requirements for college. She told me flat-out, “What’s the reality that you’d be going to college, anyway?”</p>

<p>I stayed in that mindset for about a year, and my grades stayed the same - low. </p>

<p>But the English department chair believed in me and, even though I was recieving low grades, recommended me for AP Composition. My guidance counselor begged me not to take it, and told me I’d be sorry and ask to transfer out by the first week. I stayed in it, and got an A both semesters. </p>

<p>Basically, to tie this in with the essay, I was going to write about how that Algebra teacher made me feel like college for me was hopeless, and I got stuck in a rut. But the English chair showed me that I had potential. I started to believe in myself again, and finished the year off with a 4.17 and a journalism internship.</p>

<p>She’s also writing me a letter of rec, which I thought would tie in with the essay.</p>

<p>Any suggestions?</p>

2

<p>unless its really well written, i woudlnt use it. It seems like the type of topic most people write about. When i wrote my essay last year i wrote about something a bit more out there. I’m pretty sure that my essay was the onlyreason i got into 2 of the schools i did. (Middlebury and Lafayette). If i could give everyone whos in the middle of writing their essays one piece of advice ti would be dont pick a sob story or a story of how you “oversame the odds” unless its a required essay topic… Or unless you could put an interesting twist on it. Ex) My boyfriend had a topic along the lines of “if you could give an incomming highschoool freshman one piece of advice what would it be?” and he wrote about how he would suggest to them to learn how to sing cause it just may save their lives. and then went on to write about how he and his dad during a trip in alaska were told to constantly be singing or making noise to let bears know you were there so they wouldnt suprise them, and how that saved his life lol. it dosent have to be deep, just witty and have an interesting spin on it. twist the question to your likeing. beleive me, the people reading your essay will be glad for a nice change.</p>