College Essay. Skiing?

get other hobbies

do not write your essay about sports.
almost everyone writes their essays about how they 'scored the winning goal' or 'caught the touchdown pass'. And whenever I visit a college, they always rip on all the kids that do this.

If you are going to write about skiing, talk about the dedication it takes (waking up at 6 on a pow day, negative 20 degree weather, etc.), or the originality of it. Don't talk about that time you landed your first cork 7.

I tend to disagree with the other people in this thread. I wrote my Personal Statement to Law School about skiing, and now I am in a tier 1 law school program....

Yea, my plan was to write it on my trip out to Utah, and how you have to hike to get to the good stuff, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right" and then relating that to school.

And to those who say get other hobbies, I run XC, am a 3 year varsity starter for my lacrosse team, I just feel that those are even more cliche then skiing

i wrote one of mine on skiing. and i got in. so yeah, do eet

Risky.

It depends on how good of a writer you are. If you pull it off, you might be able to come off with a pretty good essay. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend picking another topic.

so i just finished my college essay, well it's still a working draft, but i went through this same process. i wrote about skiing, skinning a couloir specifically

here are the two things to avoid

1. "when i gazed into the starving child's eyes i realized how little i know and how insignificant i am in this world and i knew that i wanted to help people for a living. three days later i got on a plane back from haiti and went home, made nachos, and played video games for the rest of the summer"

2. "skiing is really fun and it is a sanctuary for me to have fun and be myself. it lets me escape from this crazy world and reflect on my life. i am really good at skiing. i like it and do it a lot"

if you decide to write about skiing, pick something super specific within skiing. something that you think no other kid will have written about. for me, i know very very few kids my age who do a lot of backcountry skiing. i knew almost for a fact that i was the youngest person to do super c couloir in chile so i picked that, a relatively famous line and something that i could tell as a good story but also communicate things about myself as i faced challenges during the climb and the descent.

i broke my essay up into the 4 stages of a climb: the approach, the crux, the summit, and the descent and talked very specifically about each one and how it required a different trait and put my qualities and strengths to the test. i ended up with 4 body paragraphs that completely highlight a certain one of my qualities and explain how i put it to use. you need this to very specifically tell about yourself and remember to answer the common app question, don't choose 'topic of your choice' and just talk about skiing

be specific, original, and smart about what you write. choose words carefully, communicate a ton of very different qualities and strengths, especially ones that you see the school being interested in, and write well. an essay can be lacking in an amazing topic if you write very well. a lot of people think grades and test scores make or break the deal but at most schools the essay is the first thing they read. don't half ass it