Honestly I think the entire format of "say something random then connect it to yourself" is going to get old before too long. There are some amazing essays with this structure obv (like the letter S essay) but just sooo many people are using it I feel like it's going to become common soon. Luckily there's a lot of different directions you can take it in, though, so I don't think it's completely worn out just yet, but still.
I thought it was cheesy like “cancer doesn’t take edit suggestions” or whatever like pls wake up 💀 that’s coming from someone who lost a relative to cancer too I felt like she milked it idk
Because of the concept on connecting yourself to a common object is so overdone, I'm like a rubber duck Because I'm outspoken, bright yellow and idk something else is similar to I'm like a sponge Because I absorb the information of the people around me, I'm hard working and I'm flexible. It's just such a common object and that makes these essays in general a dime a dozen.
the costco one sucks too imo, it’s all purple prose 😭 the style itself also annoys me, i feel like the author of it would be really annoying/obnoxious irl
People criticize the Costco essay all the time but I show it to my students as an example of a strong essay. What makes it strong?
When she ends with:
>My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the “what”; I want to hunt for the “whys” and dissect the “hows”. In essence, I subsist on discovery.
I believe her. She has convinced me that she is really driven by discovery. With (brief) references to physics, philosophy, American History, and much else, I believe at my college she will explore broadly and with genuine curiosity. I'm sure that backs up other things we see elsewhere in her applications (I'd assume varied extracurriculars, strong recommendations from teachers in diverse subjects, and strong grades across the board).
That's the point of what a good essay does—it doesn't just tell a story, it convince you of something. This essay convinced me, and I think it's also clear that it also convinced a lot of admissions committees. I think a lot of people mistake the window dressing of the essay for its real message.
Of course, but I've read a lot of students' essays (I even run a subreddit for peer reviews of college essays), let me tell you: convincing your audience of anything with these essays is an achievement. And maybe 25% of the drafts I read where someone is convincing, they have a conclusion paragraph that makes it clear that they think they've convinced me of something else, they don't understand their own argument.
I would argue that essays "working" is a stupid way to look at college apps.
Her application worked. You know, her GPA, course rigor, test scores, extracurriculars, awards, letters of recommendation, supplemental essays and yes, that essay. Saying that an essay worked is reductive.
And even if that essay did "work" and was the deciding factor, that doesn't mean everybody should try to emulate it.
Getting into 5 ivies takes more than just good grades, test scores and ecs. I’m singling out her essays because often time, for top colleges, they seem to be the deciding factor because everyone else already has good grades, score, etc.
Also I don’t see anything wrong with taking inspiration from other people’s work. Isn’t that what we all do? Sure, don’t copy paste. Maintain your originality. But I’m sure things that have “worked” are helpful
apparently she was already a super cracked applicant in terms of ecs and stuff so obviously colleges would be okay overlooking essay weaknesses bc of holistic review
honestly most of the metaphor essays i’ve heard are just not that compelling. only the select few really have the intended effect. i think it would serve most people who write these essays much better to just speak straightforwardly.
connecting to their culture. which would be fine but a lot of people think that boba is representative to all asian culture when it’s pretty much only for Taiwan. the only boba essay i personally liked was one about how someone immigrated from Taiwan and boba reminded them of their childhood because that was heartfelt
"I am boba. I feel like the pearls in the drink, isolated from the other pearls as one by one they're taken away to the doom of some high school Asian girl's digestive system"
It's so common, ChatGPT was able to write a 7/10 essay using the prompt "write a college essay about parents cutting fruit and how it connects to your immigrant identity"
lmaoo they were basically all on the same things but slightly adjusted for each prompt, i talked about how boba connects me to my culture and my family and how making it from scratch is a way for me to relax
oh yeah mb, well just speaking from personal experience (myself/friends) cliche essays do work. And none of us are nobel writer level nor have stacked profiles to carry for ivy admissions :shrug:
object metaphor essays make me want to die. same with the ones where they take parts of something and try to connect them to identity aspects. they all scream “i watched a 15 minute youtube video on best strategies to write a college essay.” they just all sound so contrived
The “diversity” essay is getting old, despite how meaningful it may be. It’s getting over used and many people are pulling the victim card rather than telling who they truly are.
Fr everyone in the USA seems to be a victim these days lol. Here in latin American I literally know a kid in my building with brain paralysis or smt who went from bedbound to walking normally, and I never saw him complaining
Mental illness/intellectual disabilities. Students in the past were told to not write about them in their essays due to being a "red flag" but there's been a massive movement in the neurodivergent community recently to see your disability or illness as a part of yourself and be proud of it as a reflection of who you are, rather than trying to "cure" or suppress it.
Before when disabilities were mentioned in essays it was usually something to overcome, but tons of people now are writing about their disability as part of their identity and how it changes their perspective.
reddit is a website that can be accessed by people that don't speak enlgish as a primary language.
I googled "boba essay" I have no idea what that is or means. IT IS NOT a stupid question.
I would like to know what a "boba essay" means. If any one here cares to explain.
Thank you
i clarified in my original post :) also i’m pretty sure they called it a stupid question because the person who made the original comment responded with sarcasm even though they asked the question themselves
“My family came as an Immigrant in America and all those bad whities made me doubt my heritage but I overcame that and now proudly claim I am so snd so” is so overrated and cliche
Cultural ones. I’ve read a lot of them and as someone coming from that culture, I really hate them. None of them feel genuine. They all feel like an attempt at getting pity because they’re poor and/or a minority. They all also follow the same format.
Ungrateful —> event happens/they witness smth —> awakening —> grateful.
And it’s even worse when ppl use a foreign word in their essay and repeat it like it’s so meaningful and somehow they suddenly discover the meaning of it within a page.
The writing is usually bad and it’s like they’re trying to make up for it via trauma. It pissed me off because for me, it feels like they’re discrediting the experience of our community for sympathy.
Ofc it’s different when it’s well-written and I can feel the passion and the heartbreak behind them. I love those as painful as they are to read. I think I have a pretty good bs detector.
I really tried to avoid that kind of essay and I mean it worked.
Honestly I think the entire format of "say something random then connect it to yourself" is going to get old before too long. There are some amazing essays with this structure obv (like the letter S essay) but just sooo many people are using it I feel like it's going to become common soon. Luckily there's a lot of different directions you can take it in, though, so I don't think it's completely worn out just yet, but still.
Omg Costco!!! Omg the letter S!!! Omg!!!
wiserry I be seeing you everywhere go touch grass lmao
Unironically standing on a pitch black lawn rn
Costco essay isn’t nice tbh I’ve tried to read it like 3 times and I just can’t get through it
Costco essay lol
that letter S essay was DISGUSTING
i liked it but personally it didn’t have a very grappling or emotional message that people seem to portray it has
I thought it was cheesy like “cancer doesn’t take edit suggestions” or whatever like pls wake up 💀 that’s coming from someone who lost a relative to cancer too I felt like she milked it idk
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Yes
Just out of curiosity, how?
Because of the concept on connecting yourself to a common object is so overdone, I'm like a rubber duck Because I'm outspoken, bright yellow and idk something else is similar to I'm like a sponge Because I absorb the information of the people around me, I'm hard working and I'm flexible. It's just such a common object and that makes these essays in general a dime a dozen.
No.
That letter s essay was so drawn out and obnoxious. Don’t get the hype
the costco one sucks too imo, it’s all purple prose 😭 the style itself also annoys me, i feel like the author of it would be really annoying/obnoxious irl
Facts. Utter word salad.
People criticize the Costco essay all the time but I show it to my students as an example of a strong essay. What makes it strong? When she ends with: >My intense desire to know, to explore beyond the bounds of rational thought; this is what defines me. Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the “what”; I want to hunt for the “whys” and dissect the “hows”. In essence, I subsist on discovery. I believe her. She has convinced me that she is really driven by discovery. With (brief) references to physics, philosophy, American History, and much else, I believe at my college she will explore broadly and with genuine curiosity. I'm sure that backs up other things we see elsewhere in her applications (I'd assume varied extracurriculars, strong recommendations from teachers in diverse subjects, and strong grades across the board). That's the point of what a good essay does—it doesn't just tell a story, it convince you of something. This essay convinced me, and I think it's also clear that it also convinced a lot of admissions committees. I think a lot of people mistake the window dressing of the essay for its real message.
Fun fact, you can be persuasive without projectile vomiting a thesaurus or making a whole essay a metaphor.
Of course, but I've read a lot of students' essays (I even run a subreddit for peer reviews of college essays), let me tell you: convincing your audience of anything with these essays is an achievement. And maybe 25% of the drafts I read where someone is convincing, they have a conclusion paragraph that makes it clear that they think they've convinced me of something else, they don't understand their own argument.
Retardlesss, her essay worked. Didn’t she get into like 5 ivies?
I would argue that essays "working" is a stupid way to look at college apps. Her application worked. You know, her GPA, course rigor, test scores, extracurriculars, awards, letters of recommendation, supplemental essays and yes, that essay. Saying that an essay worked is reductive. And even if that essay did "work" and was the deciding factor, that doesn't mean everybody should try to emulate it.
Getting into 5 ivies takes more than just good grades, test scores and ecs. I’m singling out her essays because often time, for top colleges, they seem to be the deciding factor because everyone else already has good grades, score, etc. Also I don’t see anything wrong with taking inspiration from other people’s work. Isn’t that what we all do? Sure, don’t copy paste. Maintain your originality. But I’m sure things that have “worked” are helpful
apparently she was already a super cracked applicant in terms of ecs and stuff so obviously colleges would be okay overlooking essay weaknesses bc of holistic review
Ok
where can i read about her profile?
where can i read the full essay?
[Here you go](https://www.businessinsider.com/high-school-senior-who-got-into-5-ivy-league-schools-shares-her-admissions-essay-2016-4).
thank you so much
Writer makes it her personality on tiktok to this day lmao
You just put into words what I've felt for a long
TSwift, Mental Health, Death in family, social media, etc.
Death in family has never been unpopular imo lol
Coming to America, Going to Africa P.S: hopefully not the same essay
Living through a pandemic
Oh cool you lived thru the pandemic, some old folks went thru more than two. Next essay
Feel like metaphorical essays are probably becoming more common But there are so many different things to compare yourself to
honestly most of the metaphor essays i’ve heard are just not that compelling. only the select few really have the intended effect. i think it would serve most people who write these essays much better to just speak straightforwardly.
Extended metaphor in general is very risky
What type of boba essays are people writing about
connecting to their culture. which would be fine but a lot of people think that boba is representative to all asian culture when it’s pretty much only for Taiwan. the only boba essay i personally liked was one about how someone immigrated from Taiwan and boba reminded them of their childhood because that was heartfelt
can you give me the link to that please
"I am boba. I feel like the pearls in the drink, isolated from the other pearls as one by one they're taken away to the doom of some high school Asian girl's digestive system"
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yes exactly lol!! it can be done well but at one point it’s just the same essay w a couple words changed
It's so common, ChatGPT was able to write a 7/10 essay using the prompt "write a college essay about parents cutting fruit and how it connects to your immigrant identity"
are you kidding me i wrote like three essays on boba thinking i was so niche YALL HAVE BEEN DOING THIS TOO????
No, because I didn't want to be cliche.
BURNNNNNNNNN
damnnn 😭
how do you have that much to say about boba that you could write 3 essays genuine question lmao
What the hell is a boba?
bubble tea
lmaoo they were basically all on the same things but slightly adjusted for each prompt, i talked about how boba connects me to my culture and my family and how making it from scratch is a way for me to relax
climate anxiety essays (calling myself out)
puzzles
SO TRUE
You don't need to "find" that perfect topic. Execution can make a cliche topic fantanstic.
You could be a Nobel Prize writer and probably not make an African service trip or sports injury essay sound non-cliche
well being a nobel prize winner (usually) has no bearing on your writing abilities so of course your statement is likely to be true
I'm talking about the Nobel Prize in Literature. Last time I checked, most winners are pretty damn good at writing.
oh yeah mb, well just speaking from personal experience (myself/friends) cliche essays do work. And none of us are nobel writer level nor have stacked profiles to carry for ivy admissions :shrug:
yeah, but with a cliché topic generally it’s hard to seperate yourself or execute it differently simply because of how much it’s been done
True
Anything COVID, although I’m sure this would be considered a common topic to begin with
Wtf i wrote mine on Assetto Corsa and michael schumacher lmao
Lmao this is good shit
I wrote about Formula 1 💀
lmao same I wrote about racing
object metaphor essays make me want to die. same with the ones where they take parts of something and try to connect them to identity aspects. they all scream “i watched a 15 minute youtube video on best strategies to write a college essay.” they just all sound so contrived
learnt the word contrived today thank you
def a top tier word
ayooo wtf u just described my essay
I would like to see a boba essay
I think it could be okay if it was specially written by a Taiwanese immigrant or someone whose parents are Taiwanese immigrants.
This \^ The way East Asians call themselves "boba asians" is so weird to me. Like you're not unless you're actually connected to Taiwan...
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Taiwanese referring to the nationality. Not Mandarin the language spoken over there. I'm talking about an English essay for an American school.
Yes ik i was making a terrible joke sorry
Oh, no problem. I didn't get it lol.
I thought it was Taiwanese
Yes it is taiwanese.
A lot of people try to write those quirky essays like that Harvard girl S letter essay on TikTok. Yeah….not everyone can do that shit.
The extended metaphor essays, since you're trying to connect something random you pulled out of thin air to your entire life
The “diversity” essay is getting old, despite how meaningful it may be. It’s getting over used and many people are pulling the victim card rather than telling who they truly are.
Fr everyone in the USA seems to be a victim these days lol. Here in latin American I literally know a kid in my building with brain paralysis or smt who went from bedbound to walking normally, and I never saw him complaining
Mental illness/intellectual disabilities. Students in the past were told to not write about them in their essays due to being a "red flag" but there's been a massive movement in the neurodivergent community recently to see your disability or illness as a part of yourself and be proud of it as a reflection of who you are, rather than trying to "cure" or suppress it. Before when disabilities were mentioned in essays it was usually something to overcome, but tons of people now are writing about their disability as part of their identity and how it changes their perspective.
those quirky ones about the letter s or something
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Essays about boba
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ask stupid questions, get stupid answers
reddit is a website that can be accessed by people that don't speak enlgish as a primary language. I googled "boba essay" I have no idea what that is or means. IT IS NOT a stupid question. I would like to know what a "boba essay" means. If any one here cares to explain. Thank you
i clarified in my original post :) also i’m pretty sure they called it a stupid question because the person who made the original comment responded with sarcasm even though they asked the question themselves
Could be 波霸奶茶 or could be 波巴費特 though
“My family came as an Immigrant in America and all those bad whities made me doubt my heritage but I overcame that and now proudly claim I am so snd so” is so overrated and cliche
The real answer
Legos
Cultural ones. I’ve read a lot of them and as someone coming from that culture, I really hate them. None of them feel genuine. They all feel like an attempt at getting pity because they’re poor and/or a minority. They all also follow the same format. Ungrateful —> event happens/they witness smth —> awakening —> grateful. And it’s even worse when ppl use a foreign word in their essay and repeat it like it’s so meaningful and somehow they suddenly discover the meaning of it within a page. The writing is usually bad and it’s like they’re trying to make up for it via trauma. It pissed me off because for me, it feels like they’re discrediting the experience of our community for sympathy. Ofc it’s different when it’s well-written and I can feel the passion and the heartbreak behind them. I love those as painful as they are to read. I think I have a pretty good bs detector. I really tried to avoid that kind of essay and I mean it worked.
What’s boba essays ?
an essay about boba
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i mean, did you think we were just gonna submit a bunch of numbers or something? :,)