Undergraduate / Unspoken standard? Inquiry about Common App Activity essay [6]

Hi all

Most essays that I've seen for the activity prompt on the Common App ("Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences in the space below (150 words or fewer)") are written in anecdotal form where the author develops his activity through storytelling.

Is this a sort of unspoken standard? Because personally, I don't like that style for answering such a straightforward question.

However, the question might be furtively specific, asking the applicant to "briefly elaborate" a single extracurricular experience... Am I preaching to the choir or speaking nonsense here? I don't know.

I'd like to write about water polo because it is so important to me, but do I talk about it in a broad sense and the effects it has had on me, or do I limit myself to a specific event, incorporating the lessons I learned from that experience?

I'll post my essay(s) in a bit. I'll do one for each way I brought up.

Thanks.