Athletics and College Essays

Athletics and College Essays July 15, 2012 Did you score a winning goal in a soccer game this past year? Did you touch out all of the other swimmers in the 200 butterfly at state championships? Did you run a great anchor leg of a 4 x 100 relay? If you did, congratulations! Thats wonderful. Its a moment to definitely cherish forever. You can even tell your children and grandchildren about it. And maybe they can then pass it on to their children. But whatever you do dont write about this experience in your college essays! Athletics and college essays just dont mix. Unless your times are faster than Michael Phelps (they arent), dont write about athletics in your college essays. Seriously. Dont do it (photo credit: Bryan Allison). Want to know why? Its because so many students a huge percentage of college applicants choose to write about athletics in college essays. If youre writing about the same thing that virtually everyone else is writing about, how exactly do you intend to differentiate yourself from the pack of applicants? How do you hope to stand out? How do you intend for a college admissions counselor to go to bat for you if youre just like everybody else? By writing about sports, youre only making your case for admission more difficult. So just as   youre about to write about throwing for a touchdown in a league championship, think again. Dont you dare write about that. Its a major mistake, a mistake way too many college applicants make. Take a chance and dare to do something different. Thats the attitude that you need as you sit down to write your college essays. And college admissions counselors will be grateful to you for it. Do you think they really want to read another essay about sports? Not on your life! While youre here, check out this post on College Essay Mistakes.