Sometimes, no matter how vulnerable you want to be, there are taboo topics that just shouldn’t get brought up in your essay. While it’s important to show your most compelling side, there are a few topics that, even if you believe they are compelling, probably aren’t worth including.
Don’t politicize your essay
This is different than talking about politics. If you firmly believe your experience campaigning for a candidate or leading a political club over the past few years is important to you, that’s fine. What you don’t want to do is use your 500-650 words to defend (insert politician here). This is true regardless of party affiliation. No one wants to read about why you think (politician) is the greatest person since Jesus and no one cares about how you believe (politician)’s policies will make your country better. Keep the focus on you, your experience, and your learning experiences. It’s your story, not (politician)’s story.
Don’t brag about anything illegal or ethically questionable.
This is a little different than what most people say. Some will tell you never talk about illegal activity. I wouldn’t talk about the vehicle you stole or the credit card fraud you committed, but if you show repentance and how you’ve grown, it can work with carefully chosen words. This does not mean you should talk about crimes from your past. But if you consider them essential to your story and you’ve outgrown those moments, you can write about them—just tread carefully.
Don’t talk about your love life.
Self-explanatory.
Other than that, I don’t really have any rules for content. Common sense will help you a lot, but don’t be afraid to get personal and show vulnerability. That’s the difference between mediocre content and compelling content.
Just don’t get so vulnerable that taboo topics come up, or your reader will never get past your choice of topic.