Does anyone have any thoughts on the horse related college essay? I’m sort of at a loss and have been majorly procrastinating on my common app essay and am unsure if having it be about horses is a turn off for college admissions officers, since there is a lot of preconceived notions about this sport and I feel like there’s a lot of room to come off as cliche even if obviously not intended. I wrote an essay about falling off and how it taught me to embrace my mistakes, get back on and try again, etc and briefly connected it to teaching me that it’s okay to take risks/chances in other areas of my life but I’m just not really feeling it anymore. (I submitted that to one EA school I’m so-so about and some safeties I’m pretty certain my grades alone will put me in the yes pile, but my list includes some EXTREMELY selective schools with deadlines fast approaching, including some of the Ivies and Stanford. My grades/ACT put me right around the 50-75th percentile so I’m in the place where the essay will probably make/break my app with those schools.) I’m pretty confident in my writing skills but I’ve just been unable to decide if I want to go the horse essay route and whether it can truly work for those types of schools. Any advice or thoughts on this? Much appreciated!
I have no professional qualifications, but I have 2 kids in college now. Although we did not hire a college admissions counselor, we did meet with one (an old friend) for essay advice specifically. With that background, here are my thoughts: There is nothing inherently undesirable about using horses as a topic. The bigger risk is choosing a theme for the essay that is cliched. No offense, but the admissions officers have read a million essays along the lines of, “I started this sport/activity or whatever, I faced a difficult challenge, but I persevered and overcame that challenge…”
If you want to do horses, you need a unique angle. My daughter was applying for computer science. She wrote (with some humorous anecdotes) about how her work with horses and dogs required her to learn the “language” to communicate with these creatures --positive reinforcement, cues with the rein etc. She then likened this to how computer science is about learning the language to make the machines do your bidding. Well, she explained it better than I can. I thought it was an interesting essay, but of course I have no idea if it played a role in her admission.
Good advice above.
The narrative of how I overcame a minor setback to become mediocre competent in an activity is so cliched I could probably predict each paragraph topic.
Your essay should be something only you could write. Dig deeper.
I can speak from a bit of experience here
I only did horses in school, since I was a small child. Thats it, no clubs, no other sports, nothing. Horses 24/7. Therefore my resume was a bit “empty”. What filled it was year end placings, ribbons at indoors, qualifying for young riders. None of this makes any sense or means anything to a non horsey person, and I needed the person reviewing my resume/essay to understand the amount of time I had spent on horses and that it was going to be the center of my life now, during college, and after college. This shows dedication, work ethic, and passion for something.
I can’t remember exactly what I wrote it on, but I connected it in a way to what I was planning on studying during school and how it would shape my life after college.
I know the essays vary, but is there a way you could talk about how horses have shaped you to be better than your peers for whatever your intended major is? For example, I was a business management major, so I know I discussed having been a working student and organizing/managing whatever needed to be done in the barn? As mentioned above, understanding non verbal cues from horses/animals, could put you at an advantage if you wanted to be a psychologist, a teacher for students who are nonverbal, etc? Try to make it seem like you have a skillset that you could have only achieved through horses.
Thank you all so much for the responses! I totally get what everyone is saying and I was definitely not going to submit the falling off one to any of my main schools, but the advice about seeing if there’s a way to connect horses to my major is something I’m going to play around with. I’m currently planning to double major (or minor in one) in biology and english for a pre-med track, so I think there would be some ways to connect that!
I was struck by your thought that there are a lot of “preconceived assumptions about the sport” and people who own horses. perhaps even horses themselves. You could make this a foundation to write about the harm preconceptions cause —judging before one is aware of the facts --a few examples might deck this out --from the horse world, balance with other examples from sports and even politics: Leslie Law, Olympic rider was, he said, a city kid from what we would call government housing, who became who he was with talent and the support of his family. I bet you can think of a few non-horse athletes with a similar story. Harmful preconceived assumptions are outside of sports too --President. Obama spoke as to how when he was at a hotel in Chicago, wearing a tux having been asked to speak at a formal function, someone handed him car keys thinking he was the valet. Make the theme of your essay “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” and then tie that in with how colleges teach students to look beyond the superficial. Anyway --just a thought.
There are so many ways to connect horses and premed. Even your falling off topic could be a good one - but make it about say how it made you interested in researching concussions. You can talk about the veterinary skills you learned caring for horses. You can talk about all kinds of biological topics that you became interested in because of horses.
When I was a kid I learned to customize Breyer horses - take them apart, put them back together in new positions. I learned a ton of anatomy and biomechanics to try to get it right. I was applying in engineering and that was what my essay was about.
PS: if you’re a California resident don’t overlook the CSU schools as a good backup option. They’re really pretty great places to get an education. Stanford is super tough - good luck but don’t freak out if you don’t get in. 
I wrote my common app essay about horses and the barn. Not sure if it’s changed in the last few years (I’m now a senior in college), but when I was filling out the common app one of the prompts for the essay was something along the lines of “if there is something that is so important in your life that you think your application would be incomplete without it.” When I read that I immediately knew I had to write about the effect the barn and riding had on me. It has literally shaped me in who I am today. I certainly felt my application would be incomplete without it. I wrote from my heart and my essay explained a lot of the life lessons the barn had taught me—that life isn’t fair, and neither is death. What “hard work” actually is. Humility. Respect. Unconditional love for something other than yourself. How the barn took my immaturity and gave me discipline. Perseverance. The list goes on.
PS—I was accepted into every school I applied for, except one. I say go for it
Definitely!
I compete in eventing, and my common app. was written about warming up for the dressage phase.
I demystified the process and its beautiful qualities, and I elaborated on how I formed a bond with one specific horse (chestnut mare about 155 cm tall, while I’m 191 cm–also blind in her r eye). I mentioned then a moment of tension prior to our test, and how we overcame it (with her). I likened my bond with this horse to my cultural identity as a dual US citizen, and I demonstrated how my riding and cultural identity / culture-related endeavors really built upon each other.
I got into Georgetown, 4 ivies, and many other unis with that C App essay, but I happened to have a strong GPA, 15 APs, and a 36 ACT / 36 writing test score.
I also wrote a successful Dartmouth supplement about green horses / connected that to personal growth & societal quandaries. We needed to respond to the statement, “It’s not easy being green” (Kermit the Frog).
I tailored my app. to highlight my ambitions to pursue a career in veterinary medicine / to work at the forefront of scientific research pertinent to the veterinary field. An equine focus was a natural fit for my application.
Think about crafting a story with every piece of your application. Be focused; synthesize; give the committee a succinct impression and don’t leave them guessing. I firmly believe that the equestrian world gifts us all with unique skillsets and life lessons - what have you learned and how will what you have learned complement uni?
Also, don’t tell your parents I’m telling you this, but procrastination isn’t a killer for these apps. I mean it. I maxed out the common app. at 20 (+ Georgetown), but wrote all of my applications between December 26 and January 1. For Brown, I began writing one of the supplement essays at 12:03 on January 2 & still got in. Don’t push it too much, but remember that this isn’t a make it or break it situation that you’re facing, and the process is really completely about personality (the grades and test scores are already behind you). Think about who you are. What do you want to share? Are you being honest (and therefore perhaps vulnerable)? Make them remember you & want you on their campus. Stand out…
Finally, the ivy league isn’t everything – you may find that you have compelling reasons to choose another school over what you were convinced was your dream school! You might change a lot from senior year to freshman fall, as I did. Take a deep breath & realize that you’ve hardly even lived long enough to have true regrets. Enjoy the process!
I agree with posters who have suggested writing about what horses have taught you about the human body (concussions, the effects of a fall), anatomy, and physiology, and even the strong stomach required to deal with minor human and animal injuries. I think the resiliency and cool head being a rider can foster does make you unique, since even many talented students struggle their first year with the academic pressures of college. Schools are looking for someone who can thrive and give back to their community.
Always remember you are making a case for yourself as an applicant who can give back to the school. Some applicants merely focus on adversity they have suffered, without explaining what they have learned, and how it has matured them.
I don’t know what your economic situation is, but the idea of coming off as too privileged is a real concern. Focus on the horse-human relationship, learning from horses, versus showing, and if you trade work for labor, you can casually mention that (but don’t make feeling like a poor equestrian the focus of the essay).
I wouldn’t touch the subject of people making economic assumptions about you due to the fact you ride. Regardless your income level, there will be students who are applying from very disadvantaged circumstances.
Have someone who is a strong writer but knows nothing about horses read over your essay before you submit it. Focus on an anecdote or good story to tell that can show off your writing style, don’t focus on technical aspects of the sport you’ll need to spend valuable space explaining.
My personal statement for Physician Assistant school got me an interview out of thousands of applicants, and accepted as 1 of 44 total out of a couple hundred interviews. I was told by the faculty that my essay stood out because I wrote about horses. I related all of the things the equestrian sport had taught me (character, determination…etc) and spoke about how those character traits would allow me to be the best medical professional I could be. Feel free to PM me.
As a person whose parents discouraged me from writing about horses and who is now a high school English teacher who has read thousands of college essays over the years, I can absolutely say that you should write about it if it has been a central part of your life. For me, riding really taught me to work hard at something I’m passionate about - none of it came easily. I was working full time at 13(horse camp counselor in the summer), with multiple jobs as I got older, and, because I have not a whole lot of natural talent, it taught me about growth mindset - that you don’t have to be talented to be good. These are really valuable lessons that admissions officers respond to; the ability to fail and keep trying is invaluable. Think about persistence- not just in getting back on, but in all the every day grunt work of becoming a true horse person.
I wrote two about horses. One was about leadership, based on being team captain at pony club nationals and going into the final day in last place. The other was about gut feelings and making the decision to scratch a horse from the biggest start of his life. Based on admission results, I believe they both went over well.
I wrote about the intricacies of foxhunting and the value of regularly engaging various stakeholder groups. My undergraduate grades were mediocre and GRE score above average, but not exceptional. A year into a graduate program and I ended up in a class taught by a professor who had served on the admissions committee. He remembered my name and entrance essay a year later.
I wrote about Breyer horses and babysitting. It was a metaphor and an opening to what horses meant to me, why they were important, and how its the constant in my life.
I received specific commendations on my essay from the top schools I applied to in my acceptance letters.
I think essays are more about a chance to learn something about you and the way you perceive the world that your resume can’t explain.
