What it is: The essay that distills life’s greatest lessons from sports while highlighting the author’s accomplishments in his or her athletic competition of choice.
Sample (not submitted by actual applicant): “When I was younger, I used to pretend I was a quarterback and the clock was ticking through the final seconds of the 4th quarter. I’d pretend to grip the pigskin and make the 35-yard touch down pass that would win the game. But standing underneath the lights, my senior year, as starting quarterback, I didn’t have to imagine anymore.
It all came to this. Ten seconds left on the clock and we were down by seven in the last game of the season. Little did I know that I would learn the greatest lesson of my life that night: that when it comes down to the wire, all the hard work pays off.”
Why you wrote it: You’re a good student, but maybe you think you shine a little better on the field or court than you do in the classroom. It’s only instinct to gravitate towards what you do well when asked to write about yourself.
Why admission counselors hate to read it: We’ve read this essay a thousand times and very rarely does one ever stand out. Why? Most student athletes write about how their sports experience taught them an important life lesson or made them exceptionally proud of their accomplishments. Truth be told, a lot of admission essays focus on life-affirming events, but when sports are used as the vehicle, your essay is fighting an uphill battle against mediocrity. There are simply far too many sports essays vying for attention when we read applications. When you’re up against hundreds or thousands of other applicants, you’ll want your voice to rise above the rest. And many of the sports essays read as if they have interchangeable parts: “Playing (insert sport) helped me learn that (insert life lesson). It was the most (insert emotion) I’ve ever felt. I will apply this lesson at (insert college).”
Solution: Just because sports essays are a dime a dozen doesn’t mean you should avoid the topic at all costs, but you should seriously consider two things before you begin. One, is your experience truly extraordinary? Two, is there anything else you can write about? Remember, the object is to stand out, and writing a sports essay almost always puts you at an immediate disadvantage. Unless you’re confident you have something remarkable to say, say something else.
“Cliché Essay” is a new series of posts reflecting on the stalest admission essay topics we’ve received at Centre. Watch over the coming days for more entries as we reveal the top five topics you should reconsider before committing a crime of mediocrity.
