1
3 years ago
Admissions Advice

Is my UMICH essay topic too cliche?
Answered

I am stuck on UMICH's first essay prompt about being a part of a community. I couldn't think of any until I thought of my own Indian American roots and conflicts. But upon further searching, it seems this essay is written by every other Indian American basically the same way, just with different examples. Would it be okay to do this or should I try for another community to write about?

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Accepted Answer
3 years ago

Hi @shreyanp,

This is a good question to be thinking about as you craft your application essay for UMich.

Your inclination about writing about ethnicity is correct - many students choose to make this topic of their identity the focus of one of their college essays.

However, there are ways to make this facet of your identity more unique to you. You can write about a sub-community within your ethnic community, or focus on a singular event to make it more specific. By focusing in on a certain component of you ethnicity, you can still manage to craft a compelling essay with the focus being on your experience.

Alternatively, you can choose to write about another community that you're a part of. You can choose a sports team, extracurricular activity, or friend group, as long as your essay is about you and still demonstrates what the prompt asks for.

You can learn more about writing the community essay here: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-an-impressive-college-essay-a-step-by-step-guide/

I hope this helps!

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3 years ago[edited]

Yep. Sounds cliche.

I would focus on something else since East Indian Asians are in abundance in applying to Top colleges.

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