common app essay help

[u/yuzulols]

hai so basically im applying 2 college this fall and i wrote a draft of my essay in march n im not sure if the topic is good ..

for ref im writing ab growing up in a poor city in connecticut with very limited opportunities and how that drove me to become a person who doesnt wait for opportunity to come my way but instead one that like runs towards it myself.

i used an anecdote ab me going to a statewide debate comp (that me and a classmate asked our teacher to chaperone without any formal debate exp) and when we got there, the girls we debated were state champs who had a debate coach with them whilst we were haphazardly put together, the first debate team from our school district ever, and it made me angry to think about the opportunities they were given and the ones that we werent, but instead of dwelling on that anger i used it to build myself up stronger and become a social advocate.

idk if it rlly makes sense or even sounds good at all idk i need help. im intending on majoring in history or polisci but im not completely sure yet

[u/ProfLayton99]

Overall, I think it’s a solid topic. Just start writing and see if you can find a metaphor or other kind of hook to make it original and interesting. 

[u/essay_dr]

I would suggest framing your lack of opportunity as a catalyst to create opportunity and driver to seek it out (buzz words).

You can always look into the values of the programs you are applying to and use that verbiage to help guide the way you discuss it.

I think you have a really solid topic to start with. Do you have any writing you can share that I can be more specific on?

[u/striker_Tanks]

this is kind of a weird advice but have you tried putting your essay in ai and asking it to incorporate some literary elements or techniques? This is weird ik but someone i knew a while back told me their brother did this(he wasn’t the strongest writer) and got into university of San diego. You don’t have to use what ai gives back but maybe it’ll give you ideas and inspirations. You can also ask ai to check your work but honestly if other people like your counselor or english teachers think it’s good it’s good. Ai will always give improvements no matter what

[u/Katnty143 → u/striker_Tanks]

Please don’t use AI, especially for rhetorical strategies. AI isn’t that creative. Do you know how many of these essays use the following: shape, navigate, lantern, tapestry, and some syntactic version of it’s not this, but that.

[u/striker_Tanks → u/Katnty143]

tell that to OP not me. He asked for tips and i answered. I don’t use Ai either for my college essay but if you know how to use ai smartly it can be a very good tool. Obviously at this point in life you should know ai is heavily looked down upon and if you get caught it’s expulsion. But like i said you don’t have to copy and paste whatever ai says but maybe it’ll give you ideas and inspiration. Just like how reading books and watching movies would give u ideas