Which topic should I Use for the Common App Essay?

College Essays
1

<p>I need help deciding which topic to use for my common app essay (I know, I’m a failure for writing it this late). I’m trying to answer the first essay prompt on a significant experience that had an impact on me (I’m a senior BTW). </p>

<p>Option 1: Doing Poorly on the AMC 12 Math Competition - Last year, I studied hard for the AMC 12 Math competition (spent a week reading my Art of Problem Solving book) but still did rather poorly on it. My failure made me realize that it takes practice and effort to win math competitions, and the people who good at them have spent years honing their skills to get where they. After the AMC, I decided that I wanted to become good enough at Math Competitions to make AIME this year and win other math contests. I took an online math course over the summer and started solving practice problems on my own. </p>

<p>Option 2: Performing at the Kennedy Center - During my sophomore year, I performed as part of the orchestra pit for a Cappies awards gala at the Kennedy Center (Cappies is a high school theater program). I was a bassist and an electric guitarist. When I first joined the orchestra, I was intimidated by my other bandmates. I judged them to be better than me, and as a result, I did not try to make friends with them right away. During the three weeks of rehearsals before the show, I started talking to them more and more, but was still rather shy. On the day of the concert however, two of the people in the orchestra randomly came up to me. We started talking, and soon were engaged in full-blown conversation. We talked about the schools we came from, the shows that we had been part of, the music we enjoyed, and who we thought would win. After that, I found it easy to talk to everyone else in the orchestra. I didn’t mind that some of them were a good deal better than I was because they were just normal people. </p>

<p>I want to pick option, but I don’t know if actually learned anything from it (or changed in some way). I did become much more open with the rest of my orchestra, but I don’t know if that counts as learning or growing.</p>

<p>Option 1 looks far less impressive than option 2, but I know that I learned a lot from doing poorly on the AMC 12. I think it would be easier for me to write about option 2 in my essay.</p>

<p>Which one do you think would be better? I want to finish this essay soon lol.</p>

2

<p>I think you should pick an essay (whichever you think is easier for you to write) and just see how it goes. If it flows naturally, then keep it. If it doesn’t then move on to the next one.</p>

<p>Before I started writing my common app essay, I had a good 5 potential topics. I wrote out my introductions for 3 of them, and I really only felt comfortable with one, so I went from there.</p>

3

<p>I like option 2. </p>

<p>I would like option 1 if you had actually come back from that experience and did really well in a math contest, but you haven’t done that yet. </p>

<p>At least with option 2, you have discovered something about yourself and have a new perspective about things that you can write about now.</p>

4

<p>@rualum, I’m curious, what part of option 2 do you think is good? I feel like it makes me look a bit too weak and insecure. Do you think this is alright provided that I describe how I overcame my insecurity/shyness within my essay?</p>

5

<p>maybe you can write an outline for both, then see which one’s better.</p>

6

<p>id say you write down both of them as if you would send them to college. then relax for a day. then take time to choose which one is the best from the examiner’s point of view. well my cousin did this for his application to cornell and he got accepted!!!</p>

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<p>I’ll try doing that akashdip. I know that I need to start writing soon tho.</p>

8

<p>“I’m curious, what part of option 2 do you think is good? I feel like it makes me look a bit too weak and insecure. Do you think this is alright provided that I describe how I overcame my insecurity/shyness within my essay?”</p>

<p>Feeling insecure is a common feeling; the fact that you feel you overcame it in that particular setting is interesting. </p>

<p>Definitely get to the point about how your feelings changed regarding your insecurity: that’s the point of your essay.</p>

<p>Write it all out as if no one will look at it, and then go back after a few hours and see what you need to edit or revise. You may have to do this a few times so start now.</p>

9

<p>Ok rualum, I took your advice and wrote out an introduction for option 2. What I realized though was that I don’t know if it had a significant impact one me.</p>

<p>Here’s what I came up with for the impact of option 2. I’ve separated all the ideas I came up with by a semicolon: I made friends with the other members of the orchestra pit. Before, I was insecure around them because I was not as good as them; I realized that I should not let a person’s skill prevent me from becoming friends with them; I stopped worrying about what others could do, and learned to just focus on what I could do (I think)</p>

<p>I’ve come up with a number of ways that this event impacted me, and almost all of them are only partially true. I know I have to be honest in this essay, but I’m struggling to find one thing that I can honestly say I took away from this experience. I keep trying to find the “impact,” but I haven’t been successful so far.</p>

<p>As you can see, I’m really behind on all of my college applications. I’m a decent student (I have a 2320 on the SAT and I’ve taken 10 AP exams), but I’m really lost on how to write these college essays. </p>

<p>Here are some of the other ideas I have come up with. Can you CC’ers take a look at them and give me some feedback?</p>

<ul>
<li><p>In the summer, I worked as a Software Developer in Mumbai, India. My family is from South India so I speak Tamil, but in Mumbai, the main language is Hindi. I want to write about how not being able to speak Hindi inspired me to learn more about my Indian heritage and become proud of it. Its a rather cliche topic that has been done to death, but I think the ‘not speaking the language’ part might make it sound a bit more interesting.</p></li>
<li><p>My boss at my internship, and how he influenced me. I had to carpool with him everyday to work, so we spoke often. Almost every car ride that I had with him was an educational opportunity. He taught me about finance, business, technology, the Indian educational system, and Indian politics. </p></li>
<li><p>One of the software projects I did. It was a difficult assignment and I wasn’t able to finish it before my internship was over. Again, not sure what it really means to me (if anything at all).</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Could you guys help me decide? I’m really behind on all of my college applications. I’m a decent student (I have a 2320 on the SAT and I’ve taken 10 AP exams), but I’m really lost on how to write these college essays. I’m incredibly worried that I don’t have the time to finish them all, so please help me if you can.</p>

10

<p>bump, bump, bump</p>

11

<p>Don’t panic, because you’re not the only one in this position. One of my cousins got 2400 on SAT and still hasn’t finished her essays. </p>

<p>Okay so you have 5 things to write about for your essay topic. Try to pick the thing you can write 500 words about.</p>

<p>Option one, where you talked about AMC, is good. Try to include some drama/adversity you faced during the competition. My common app essay is a little similar to this; I wrote about my experiences with a robotics team and how we did bad. Did your experience in the AMC competition help you pursue your academic goals in school? I feel you have a lot to talk and reflect upon this.</p>

<p>I won’t go to option 2, others have commented on that.</p>

<p>For your other ideas:</p>

<p>3) The problem with this is that you may not write a lot about yourself and you end up being very verbose about the assignment.</p>

<p>2) Good idea, are there any other events/dramas that you had when you built a strong relationship with your boss?</p>

<p>1) This is good too. It is not cliche as long as you can write a lot about it. It lets you talk about how you were inspired to learn more about not just the language but also the culture, what it means to you, and to make comparisons between other cultures you may have been exposed to.</p>

12

<p>thanks Techhexium. If anyone else has any suggestions, please feel free to post them.</p>

13

<p>And to answer ur question Techhexium, I did spend a day with my boss touring the Data Center of the old company that he used to work for. It was an informative experience, and I got to know my boss a bit more because of it.</p>