College admissions essays focus on Columbine. “The massacre at Columbine High School two years ago this month penetrated the psyche of American
teenagers in much the way John F. Kennedy’s assassination or astronauts walking on the moon did for their
parents’ generation.

The very word Columbine is shorthand for a complex set of emotions ranging from anxiety to sadness to
empathy. Nowhere is this knotted mix of feelings as clear as in the essays young people write as they apply for
admission to college.

From New Jersey to Virginia to Texas, Columbine is cited as life’s defining moment.” College admissions officers are considering asking applicants to write about something else already. Philadelphia Inquirer