"Education beyond academics: What I learned outside the classroom"

Hello there :)

The topic I've written about in the commonapp essay is
"Education beyond academics: What I learned outside the classroom"

In approx 750 words I've tried to describe the impact of different activities (sports, debates, organizations) on me. Now, I'm reading that I shouldn't "rehash" my resume into my essay, however, I've mainly talked about how these extracurricular activities have changed me during the past years.

Do you think that would be a problem?

Thanks

PS: I'm the kind of person who thinks of education not only as studying, but a realm of experiences, and most of the stuff on my resume are things that I really love to do, not just membership

Why don't you post the essay? And the specific prompt from the Common App?

I chose the first option on the common app:
Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

I'm a bit skeptic about posting my essay. Search engines would crawl it, making it visible to adcoms in a later time (though I doubt they would google it) and some people may misuse it... don't know, just my way of thinking :S

Okay, well in that case I'm not entirely sure that you are adhering to the prompt. Why don't you pick a single activity and expand on its impact upon you?

And I definately get your reasoning, although you can always delete the thread afterwards :)

Good luck!

well, I could, but talking about the impact of a single activity would be a bit redundant, right?

Not if you can incorporate anecdotes about a particular experience in the activity or different lessons the activity has taught you. It's only redundant if your writing skills are lacking ;)

Why don't you check out some of the other essays on the forum? I found seeing how others are responding to prompts helpful in establishing how to get started.

The essay has to have a message. It is true that it should not rehash your resume, but it will probably include insights associated with experiences reflected in the resume.

The important thing is to make sure the essay is purposeful, meaningful. It has to have a message to the reader, and the content of the essay is supposed to support that message. So establish a purpose other than listing your impressive activities. For inspiration about the powerful message you can send with an essay, check out Civil Disobedience by Thoreau, which you can find online. It is not anything like a college essay; it is purposeful... something written because an important statement needed to be made.

:-)

I hope that helps you get started!