Admissions officers will often emphasize that they do not care what you choose to write about in your essay. They stress this because most writers err on the side of unoriginality, having tried too hard to meet the expectations of their imagined readers and discarding all of their own personality in the process. Of course, there is truth in their advice: You should write with the goal of expressing your own values and conveying the qualities most important to you. You should frame this discussion in a way that highlights your unique character. However, you must exercise your creativity with a definite eye toward the themes and points that will justify your suitability for college. Your ultimate goal is not just to stand out as a likeable person, but also to obtain admission to your college or university of choice.  

d.  'Favorites' Essays

Usually a topic of short-answer essays, Favorites questions ask you to write about books, songs, art, people, and just about anything else you can think of, focusing on how the topic of choice has made an impact upon your life. As mentioned before, do not pick a subject because you believe it will impress admissions officers. Instead, choose something special to you, something that you can use to relate who you are in a unique fashion. 

If you choose a popular subject, be prepared for the challenge. You will have to work harder to stand out from other applicants who are also writing about, for example, Albert Einstein as the most influential person of the twentieth century. Choosing a topic closer to home could prove more successful, since you will be able to provide more personal insights. Be personal. Be specific. Be yourself.

Well Done "Favorites" Essay

Note: This essay appears unedited for instructional purposes. Essays edited by EssayEdge are dramatically improved. For samples of EssayEdge editing, please click here.

When I was in the eighth grade, my backpack disappeared from my life. I can't remember what happened to it. I may have lost it, or perhaps my sister took it. Anyway, I found myself backpackless. I need a backpack to carry all my books, binders, pens, pencils, highlighters, protractors, calculators and compasses (sometimes I go a bit overboard with the tools I bring to class). I began to use this strange pack of my dad's, which was actually more like a soft-sided briefcase with back-straps. That pack was truly the ugliest piece of luggage I have ever seen. It embarrassed my friends and made me feel like a fool, but I had no choice but to wear it. I couldn't find any alternative where I lived in Saudi Arabia, so I promptly ordered a backpack from L.L. Bean. 

I really enjoy pouring over catalogs, so I enthusiastically decided on the nine-inch deep L.L. Bean Deluxe (I need a roomy backpack). For the color, I debated among eggplant, forest green, pine, and the other excitedly named shades, but eventually decided on mallard blue. It was a shade of blue that bordered on iridescent. I knew no one else would have a backpack that color. I sent off my order form and eagerly waited. 

It takes a few months for L.L. Bean to get something all the way to Saudi Arabia, but my backpack eventually arrived. I realized that mallard blue had been a bold choice. The color could definitely be called ugly, and its brightness could not be denied. It was also huge, especially on my eighth-grade body. The crowning detail was my initials "H-A-W" embroidered on the back. Yes, it spells "haw." However, it was clearly an improvement over Dad's dork-case. I loved it, and it has since gone with me everywhere. 

My bag has acquired a great deal of character since eighth grade. There are little marks and scratches all over the material. There's a small sparkly bead flower I sewed on once in a fit of procrastination; the flower was originally accompanied by a diagonal line of sparkly beads above the reflective strip on the bag, but I decided that was just too much and removed the line of beads. One can faintly see where I wrote "excess" on the bag. I don't know why I wrote that; I just went through a phase when I thought "excess" was a cool word. Also on the bag is leftover stitching from where I had attached a Saudi Arabian flag, which I removed because I feared it made me vulnerable to terrorist attacks. On the back pocket, I added a patch proclaiming me to be an "advanced" diver from the scuba class I took during the summer. When I have time, I plan to add another patch from NOLS, the National Outdoor Leadership School, where I spent part of my summer. The final touch is a little guardian angel pin that my aunt gave to me. It looks silly in its shiny golden newness next to the rest of my rugged ragged bag, but I could think of no better place for the pin, which I'm supposed to keep near me at all times. 

I think my backpack is a good representation of me. Just like my backpack, my personality is full of random, loud elements that don't really make sense together. Their only unifying force is the fact that they all belong to me, so I like them. Just as my backpack has picked up a patch here and a beaded design there, I have picked up ideas here and insights there throughout our travels together. It records my history more personally than a diary ever could, and although I know it is just a material object, I would be at a loss if I were ever to lose it.

Comments

Though not as strong as some of the other "Well Done" essays, the success of this applicant's work lies in his unique subject matter--his backpack. The introduction is a bit stolid and too conversational, causing the reader to lose interest. However, the unique topic helps keep the reader's attention. The writer shows his ability to relate precise details in the second paragraph and adeptly (and indirectly) relates that he is a foreign student: "It takes a few months for L.L. Bean to get something all the way to Saudi Arabia, but my backpack eventually arrived."

The applicant shows his maturity and attention to current events through the relation of his concern about "terrorist attacks." Talking about the patches and other details of his backpack provides the opportunity for him to relate some of his qualities and past experiences. 

He saves his explicit conclusion for the end of the essay--a much more successful (and interesting) strategy than relating the point early on. Though his realization could have been more insightful ("Just like my backpack, my personality is full of random, loud elements that don't really make sense together."), he is genuine in his expression of confusion. Not everyone will know exactly who they are or what they want to do with their lives. For students such as this applicant, college will indeed be the place for him to discover more about who he really is and aspires to become.

Poorly Done "Favorites" Essay

Note: This essay appears unedited for instructional purposes. Essays edited by EssayEdge are dramatically improved. For samples of EssayEdge editing, please click here.

"Have you ever noticed that the people never rip the paper off their gifts? The boxes are rigged so that the lid will simply lift off." Some time after sharing this insight with my friend Jennifer, I received a birthday present from her wrapped in such a way that the top came off without tearing the blue paper. I kept the special box and placed my birthday cards in it along with a few other letters I regarded as treasures. Since then, I've moved across the country twice, but the box remains on the top shelf of my closet, now joined by two other shoe boxes, a pink, heart-shaped container, and a hand-woven Guatemalan bag--all overflowing with the letters that chronicle so much of my life and so many of my friendships. 

My inability to part with any of my letters--from the shortest note from Grandma to one of the hundreds of letters from my friend Melissa--cannot be easily explained. Certainly the love letters play upon my conceit, gently building my fragile teenage self esteem. Beyond these, however, lie the babbling prose of girlfriends, the one note I received from my camp roommate, and the letter accompanying the black and white photo of John, Paul, George, and Ringo which I won in the "Eight Days a Week" Beatles sweepstakes. I treasure each of these and hold tight the history locked within them in my changing world; to quote the opening of one of Melissa's letters, "Life is so wonderful, and so unfair, and so confusing." 

Throughout my life, I have clung to any concrete portion of the world I could get my hands on, and I have developed a deep trust in, and yearning for, the written word. Unlike spoken words, written words have a timelessness; they hold a promise forever, and they bind the writer to his promise indelibly. Smashed between a slumber party invitation and a post card from Florida, my great grandmother will always be waiting "with love" inside a card decorated with lavender flowers. When someday I get married, my first boyfriend will still miss my "soft voice and soft eyes." I rarely need to check these reminders that I can never stop being loved, being a friend, and making a difference in the lives of others. I am always conscious of the gathering that awaits me in the dusty boxes. Each time I receive a new letter, I carefully place it into the little life museum perched on my closet shelf.

Comments

This essay lacks interest, especially because it begins with trite language: "Have you ever noticed…" Though the applicant does a good job of providing specific details, she goes overboard, providing too much disconnected information that she ties together into a generic idea: "…I have developed a deep trust in, and yearning for, the written word." Though there is nothing wrong with this statement, the writer never intimates if or how she has expanded her love of writing--aside from keeping every letter she has ever received. This could be construed as a negative character trait: the inability to let go ("Throughout my life, I have clung to any concrete portion of the world I could get my hands on…"). College is a time for rethinking oneself, and such a fervent focus on reveling in the status quo could cause an admissions officer to infer slight immaturity in the applicant. The deathblow comes with the use of clichéd rhetoric near the end: "…making a difference in the lives of others."

Next Topic: 'School Targets' Essays