<p>I recently decided to scrap my common application essays. They were weak and unoriginal. I was thinking should I write my essay as an obituary? Would it be too risky?</p>
<p>what’s your idea? like pretending you’ll die if you don’t get in? wah??</p>
<p>gimmicks fail 99% of the time</p>
<p>Actually, I had in mind a more intelligent idea. It takes the form of the 217 essay but in an orbituary. This way I am allowed more creativity. Thank you for informing my that gimmicks fail.</p>
<p>you are very welcome. i bet yours will fail, because that’s just statistics :D</p>
<p>Just about anything “can” work, if done well.</p>
<p>If the essay ends up being kind of weird, that might be okay for a school where the offbeat is valued. It would not be okay for every school. Years ago, I read admissions apps in a pretty conservative engineering school. The essay was supposed to focus on “who are you & what will you contribute to this school?” I will never forget one particular essay. It was very well written, but it was SO STRANGE — I knew immediately that the school was not right for him & he was not right for the school. But that was actually a very good thing! </p>
<p>I really think you should follow your heart, if you believe it’s a good essay. Don’t do something offbeat just to do something offbeat. innocentstalker1 is correct about gimmicks, and simply trying to command attention is gimmicky. If you can do your obit well & it conveys who you are, then go for it — again, just be fairly certain it will be well-received by the target school(s).</p>
<p>if ur gona write an obit to be unique, don’t do it cuz i know several ppl who are doing the same thing. but if u want to do it bc u know u’ll make it good, do it.</p>