<p>I was arrested for minor possession of marijuana. I know it sounds bad, but I learned a lot from that experience. It was a "Wow what am I doing? I need to wake up and change myself" experience. I'm a good kid, but I just made a bad decision. </p>
<p>Would colleges read it and dismiss my application or would they understand where I'm coming from if I write it well enough?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take the risk unless that incident led to something of greater significance such as getting involved in community outreach to prevent the use of drugs.</p>
<p>It’s definitely a risk, but it could make your application stand out if it is extremely well written and really shows have you’ve matured beyond your peers with the whole situation.</p>
<p>Weigh the consequences. Where do you need your application to stand out? For example, unless you’re URM with a 4.0 and a 2400 on the SAT and cured cancer, you probably aren’t a shoo-in at HYP. While your story might cause you to be rejected, it might also cause your application to stand out of the masses that they see. If I were in your situation, I might consider sending them the essay about marijuana because it’s such a crapshoot and any number of things could cause you to be rejected. It’s probably worth a shot to make your application stand out and have a chance of getting in rather than write a normal essay and be rejected for something else. (As I’m rereading this, I realize it sounds sort of negative. I’m not saying that you can’t get into Harvard, I’m just saying that most people don’t and you sort of need something to stand out amongst the other 34203947289347 fully qualified candidates you’re up against. If you have the credentials that gives you a better shot than the rest of us of getting in, stay conservative with your essay. If not, see if you can use the situation to your benefit.)</p>
<p>On the other side, I wouldn’t send an essay like that to your safety or even some of your match schools. Same reasoning as before: if you can get in without it, I wouldn’t risk being rejected because by chance a conservative adcom reads it and can’t get past the “marijuana possession” part.</p>
<p>Follow your gut though. If you think you can write a kick*** essay AND standing out will make or break your application, go for it. If not, it might be better to go with a more traditional essay.</p>