This blog post could be one word, “no.” But let’s talk about why writing about travel is a bad idea. We promise we aren’t shutting you down just to be mean. There is a real reason not to write about traveling on your common app. There are two major types of travel that people tend to write about: service trips or traveling with family, and neither do you any favors.
Let’s start with service trips.
The people who read the common app are looking for experts or extremes when you write about an interest of yours. If you want to write about community service, you look much more like an expert if it’s actually in your community. Working in your own community takes knowledge, passion, and connection. Anyone with money can go on a service trip. It doesn’t show much about you or your knowledge on a topic.
So much about going on a service trip relies on you having enough money to pay to go do voluntourism. And we generally try to downplay privilege in applications. Imagine if your job is reading hundreds of essays. You are likely overworked, probably underpaid, and you really just need a vacation. You then have to read an essay about going to build a school in the Dominican Republic (between trips to the beach and taking pics).
People also go on vacation in the DR. This reader knows that. They may have been saving up and making Pinterest boards of swimsuits and beaches themselves. They’re not going to be moved by this essay. So at best, you will come off as tone-deaf.
Leisure travel has most of the same issues.
If your family has enough money for international travel, that’s also flexing your wealth. Writing about traveling is kind of like writing about how your dad got you a Rolex. Or it’s kind of like those TikToks where people pretend to forget they have a movie theater in their house and give you a full tour to get to it. They always have comments of people dunking on them. We don’t want that for you. You would never write an essay about having a personal chef, so leisure travel is no different.
If you still aren’t convinced that you shouldn’t write about travel, consider that the common app essay is supposed to exemplify a few personality traits and show how you think. Getting taken on a vacation accomplishes neither goal. Also, you probably didn’t plan the trip, so this isn’t even a vessel for showing how logistically minded and organized you are.
The best essays are stories that could happen anywhere but usually happen closest to home. Learning to make pasta because you love cooking is great. Learning to make pasta because your dad paid for the whole family to go to Italy? Sus. Remember, above all, your essay should center you, and the backdrop should not be distracting.
We don’t love telling people 100% what they can’t write about, but for this one, we are comfortable shutting this topic down. If all you can think of is stories about travel, take a step back and give some thought about why you wanted to write about it. It might take a little brainstorming, but we know you can think of a different story that shows off the same characteristics you were trying to spotlight. Pretty much the TL;DR about writing about travel is don’t.
If you need more advice on what to write about, you can always reach out here.