Is it too early to start writing college admissions essays and will the Coronavirus experience make a good college application essay?

Will the Coronavirus experience make a good college essay?

For 18 years I’ve been predicting two years ahead, what kids will write about in their college essays, and every two years, we (Education Consultants) get a note from the colleges telling us to “Cease and Desist” – that they are fed up of the topic.

Many years ago colleges pushed back on the subjects of death, divorce, and drugs. Terrible as those subjects are for a young person to face, the readers were tired of feeling so sad all the time.  Students then started to write about other difficulties faced such as failing to make the soccer team, or flunking their driver’s test, or messing up their sophomore year grades due to a burgeoning social life. We got the “Cease and Desist” on those topics too. 

For the next few years it was “how I became more worldly and compassionate by building guinea pig cages for villagers in South America or playing soccer with the little kids.” Yes, you got it, paying $5K for your kid to go on a mission trip isn’t as compelling as it used to be.  So now what?

None of my clients are allowed to write about predictable topics. I absolutely refuse to allow them to be one of a thousand essays – similar and unimaginative in every way.

So, what about COVID-19 as an essay topic?  Only, and I repeat only if it is, yes, unpredictable and imaginative.

There are a lot of opportunities to write an essay about COVID-19, based on Michael’s article on how colleges are stepping up to fight the virus. Here are a few:

1. Your fascination with the economic impact of the virus on colleges and how they are opening revenue streams, managing budgets and trying to plan for the future….
2. Your passion for public health and the intersection of PH and the FDA process…
3. How locations are morphing into healthcare facilities, and how you see yourself morphing also, in light of the external factors in your life…
4. You are a PPE and you are scared. It is 8am and you’re back to work with no sleep. Discuss…
5. You learned about bioethics, biostatistics as possible career choices and you now realize….

Call us to learn about our Unpredictable and Imaginative College Essay Package! We’re ready to go.