<p>I have two most meaningful activities – photography and biology.
I have won lots of awards for both topics; however, it is obvious that biology is more … well, difficult… if you know what I mean – you use your brain more.</p>
<p>The thing is, I have a good essay about photography already, and I’m afraid that if I write something about biology it’ll be okay, but might not really stand out because… well, there are a lot of biology enthusiasts out there.
On the other hand, photography doesn’t really straight-out show that I’m an intellectual person…
Since I can only write about one of these activities, which would you recommend writing about?
Would you rather have a stand-out but slightly less academic essay, or would you have a more typical but intellectual essay?</p>
<p>Definitely write about the photography. Adcoms will take a more interesting package/essay over the typical and mediocre “intellectual.”
Don’t be discouraged from writing about things that don’t make you appear to be a superhero. I got into my first choice by writing one essay on a walk in the park and another on a conversation I had with a patient (and the latter topic didn’t get all intellectual and stuff…was much more emotional).</p>
<p>What school are you applying to? If it’s a school that promotes the arts (LAC maybe) then the photography essay won’t hurt at all.</p>
<p>However, if you’re wanting to major in Biology, you might at least try and write the bio essay and see how it comes out.</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster that you should go with the better essay, but you might be suprised once you start writing how good your bio essay is.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what your academic strength overall as presented in your transcript is, what you did in the field of biology, and the amount of passion you have for each. If, through your transcript, they can see that you excell in biology/academia in general, then it would be advisable to go with photography. However, keep the other two in mind, even if this is the case; if your work in the field of biology involves something remarkable, or you truly have a deep passion for the subject, you should probably go with biology, especially if photography can be classified as a hobby instead of a passion (which is the case for most people, as far as I am aware).</p>
<p>Adcoms don’t seem to be looking for intellectuals anymore - they look for intelligent people. Present yourself as a person, not a category, in whichever way this applies to you.</p>
<p>I think you should probably stick to photography, but if you can think of a way in which your passion for biology can be incorporated in your photoraphy, then maybe you should do that, like try and interconnect the two. Possibly something about anatomy and the movement of the body and how it relates to the composition of a photo? like how the way the body moves is captured in a photo? idk, I’m not a photography expert, but I’m sure that as a photographer you know a lot about what makes a good photo, and taking like action photos, which obviously have to do with the movement of the body. I think that could work. But only do it if you have experience in taking action photos and have experienced the use of biology/anatomy in your photography first hand. If not, it could sound fake.</p>