would an essay about visiting myold abandoned huse in a south american country be good?Answered
I'm a high school senior applying to colleges in the fall of 2022
I also have other topics like what it takes to be human, one of my skiing trips where I learned about other girls who I had no idea were going through challenges in their life, or about other family or personal experiences.
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2 answers
I recommend talking about your experiences living in the South American country and how they have shaped your identity today. Identity essays are a favorite of admissions officers, so long as they demonstrate creativity and they are so vague that they become cliche, as if anyone could have written them. I believe that this essay topic has more potential to make you stand out than the other ideas you mentioned.
Describing the abandoned house would make for a great introduction to the essay. It could be an "in media res" intro that would transition to a record scratch moment, where you backtrack and explain how you got to that moment in South America. You could talk about the house as a symbol of your current identity. For example, you could mention that the foundation is strong, but vines constantly grow on the surface, just like your identity has a strong South American/[country name] foundation, but growing interests. Hope this helps!
Many of the college essays I read before pinpointed one event that showed evident growth in their character/mindset/taught them something. Some other essays had various small events in their lives tied together with a common theme, such as the love for writing, being a musician, singing to a crowd of hundreds and stepping out of their comfort zone, etc. If you can present yourself and show the admissions officers who you are with the old abandoned house, go for it, but I think that might be a little bit hard if you stray off-topic or add unnecessary descriptions of the house rather than you. For the skiing trip where you learned about other girls, try to focus more on yourself rather than other people since the officers are trying to look at what qualities you have and what you went through instead of what other people went through. Lastly, get some essay feedback from people who know you (so they can see whether this essay does a good job of presenting you and your best qualities) and from people who are strangers (since their perspective is most similar to admission officers instead of people who know you as the officer likely doesn't know who you are). Good luck!!
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Thank you so much this was such good advice !! I will take it :) I’m going to try and reflect on what stories that show self growth or my passions. Thanks again!