Is it a cliche for my writing portfolio to be about two topics only?
I am an international student from the middle east and I am crafting my writing portfolio. The thing is here it is a crime to be gay and as I am applying to my school, I am declaring that normally. For my writing portfolio, I wrote a short story about a moral conflict relating to God's judgment as I was applying for a writing competition. The second piece is a historical fiction about an LGBT individual and his story in the 1800s in the military in Egypt. The third and fourth pieces are memoirs about my life; one is about me almost getting caught being an LGBT and what happened to me regarding the domestic violence that happened with some shreds of the type of domestic violence I am dealing with normally. The other one is about my love life, how it did affect me and how it helped me gain more experience regarding my emotional intelligence, and how is it related to my upbringing. The 6th piece is a 40 line poem about my journey discovering my identity and how is it related to my religious status. The 7th piece is an essay about a fictional character I want to meet which happens to be Chuck AKA. God from the series supernatural.
The thing is these are all genuine pieces out of my life and experience and I am so scared of putting them together as it will be much of a cliche and it will sound so pedestrian.
Is it okay to craft the portfolio like that or should I make it more diverse and if so, what pieces should I remove?
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1 answer
I don’t know how qualified I am to answer this but American schools want unique people and that story is most certainly unique.
Personally if you drop the Chuck AKA piece it is my opinion you’d be better off. A writing portfolio shows the college the types of writing you’ve done. If you can have a cohesive theme I’d say that is very good and is a boost to admissions. I’d say it is fine as it is as you show different writing styles and from what I can’t tell you have done that.
Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!
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Hi there, could you clarify what you mean by "writing portfolio"? Are you talking about your college essays, or an extra portfolio you submit to be considered for a college's writing programs?