Should I write my college admissions essay about a politician I admire and how she has impacted me?Answered
I am a senior in high school trying to figure out what my college admissions essay should be about. I would like to write my essay on Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez, but I’m not sure if it is a good enough topic. It would be about her background growing up, what she believes in, and how learning about her and having her as a role model has greatly affected my life. Doesn’t this seem like a good idea or should I just come up with a whole new topic?
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3 answers
It is not a great idea to write about someone else. Your essay should be about you. It is awesome to show how someone affected and changed you, but you must keep in mind that the focus is your life, not hers. Great essays can come out of this idea, but it's easy to get lost on it.
Overall I suggest you come up with another topic.
Hi!
So many people have politicians they admire. So many people would want to write about these politicians. But I will give you a few general points with which you could use in deciding whether or not to write about Representative Ocasio-Cortez.
1. The essay is about YOU
Y - Your
O - Own
U - Uniqueness
Not Representative Ocasio-Cortez's uniqueness.
Now I understand that you may want to use the influence she has had on you to fashion a piece about how unique you are, but you have only 650 words, which could be less in some cases. Do you really want to spend that time writing on any subject that is not you and your resilience? I don't think so.
2. Politics and college applications do NOT generally mix well.
Imagine your application reader is one of the few socially and fiscally conservative Trump supporters who work as admissions officers. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. What I'm saying is that such an application reader would definitely not enjoy reading about how a prospective student was impacted by a politician who is completely opposite to the reader. To consider the situation in context, think of yourself as a student who wrote about being inspired by Senator Ted Cruz, or Senator Matt Gaetz, or even President Trump himself! Would many admissions officers love to read that? No.
So, I would strongly urge you to keep the politics at the barest minimum. Politics, as CollegeVine itself points out (https://blog.collegevine.com/can-i-talk-about-politics-on-my-college-applications/) is risky business.
3. What exactly would you write about Ms. Ocasio-Cortez that is not available on the internet? If you choose to write about her and her influence on you, it should be in a way no one has thought of before. Do you live close to her home in New York? Do you know her personally? What do you know about her that cannot be found on Wikipedia? Even if it can be found there, how do you twist it to do something that no one has ever done in the past?
The above are my two cents. Most admissions counselors would discourage this. But good luck, anyway, if you choose to pull it off.
Hi, like the other people said I think this would be a really hard essay to keep focused on yourself, so maybe try a different topic. But go AOC--I love her!
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Thank you for your feedback! I’ll try come up with another topic.