<p>I’m worring a bit over my Personal Essay. I’ve applying from the UK so I’m not entirely sure about the basic format.</p>
<p>The most recent attempt I’ve written is about How the British National Health Service (NHS) discovered and treated my diabetes, and has given me free advice and drugs for years. However I do not support the idea of a free health service, and the essay explains why.</p>
<p>Is this topic too detached from the “Peronsal” side of the essay? Or is the link of the NHS attending to my diabetes enough?</p>
<p>Any advice would be amazing. And while we’re on the topic, what were the topics of your personal essays?</p>
<p>I don’t know how well it would look, rejecting the ideology that might have saved your life, or at least helped you so much…if I were an admissions counselor, even if the people treating you were Nazis, I would not like the perspective you are tackling it from. But you never know…
You could give it a shot, but make sure that it is about YOU!</p>
<p>The admissions officers are not going to hold your point of view against you (unless you are blatantly racist, etc.). The main thing is that the essay should reveal something about you. If this essay sheds light on your character and if it is well-written, then the topic should be OK. If the argument only reveals that you have diabetes and gives a policy argument against National Health, then it’s probably not the best topic. I know that’s a subtle distinction, but it’s an important one.</p>
<p>AA makes a great point. The personal essay is not to be a forum for you to make a persuasive argument per se. It should reveal something about you – perhaps you should speak about the irony or personal conflict you may have faced given your suggested topic?</p>
<p>I wrote about how I betrayed a good friend’s trust (blurted out a closely kept secret of his) but managed to retrieve his friendship. I chose to write about that because in my 17yr old mind, it was a profound lesson I had learned.</p>
<p>2 decades later, I ran across the essay and can honestly say that it was a very revealing and vulnerable statement for a HS senior. Not dramatic prose or earth shattering revelation – but a good window into the makeup of this kid who was applying to Ivy league schools.</p>
<p>There are lots of books out there about how to write a personal essay for US colleges. I’ve never read one, so I can’t recommend one to you. It would be beneficial to get one of these books just to read the sample essays. I don’t know if you have read any books on the admissions process in the US, and being on CC certainly helps, but I’ve found that a lot of international students don’t quite get how the game is played here and therefore don’t make the best applications possible or wildly overestimate their chances of getting in. The wild overestimaters tend to come from countries that don’t have the same emphasis on extracurriculars and essays but tend to be numbers-based in their admissions.</p>
<p>ALL of Yale applicants will have phenomenal stats. Hopefully what would set us Internationals apart will be our ECs of course (which will be some what different and definitely more diverse) but also our perspective! That is what I’m hoping I would be able to convey through my essay.</p>