Would I have a chance ?

junebug91
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:33:08 +0000

hm… that definitely has the potential to be a really good topic. If you want to use if for your main essay for the common app, then I would suggest not doing a broad overview of the trip and talking about how much of an eye opener it was- although I know from personal experience that it actually is- but I imagine the admissions office gets plenty of essays like that. What could make that essay really work though, is if you focused the essay just on one experience from the trip… one snapshot that you could really go into detail with. You’ve just got to keep in mind that they’re reading thousands of essays, and you have to try to make your essay as memorable as possible.

Something else to keep in mind… the Davidson application has several supplemental essays. I did a service trip as well (in China) and my experience there actually worked perfectly for one of the supplemental essay prompts. I’m not sure if they use all the same prompts year after year, but a service trip essay might work better for one of the prompt essays rather than the ‘topic of your choice’ essay. That way, if you use a service trip essay for one of the supplemental questions, you have the chance to be really creative with your topic for the main common app essay.