Describe a challenging situation you’ve faced. Briefly state the situation, how you responded and why, would you have done anything differently, did you turn to anyone for help, how has it impacted who you are today?
I have been reading that essays addressing depression (mental health in general) and religion are a no-no. I’m sure it is considered a cliche to talk about the death of someone like a grandparent.
Would the safe option be to talk about an academic challenge?
Is this an optional essay, one of several prompts, or an ‘everybody has to’ essay?
If you have to / want to write to this topic, write it on any real challenge you have faced. Then do a search/replcace with a different challenge (so if you chose depression, search and replace all the 'depression’s with a different real challenge you have faced (‘3 chem teachers in 1 year’, for example). Does it still make any sense? It should, b/c the essay should not be primarily about the challenge itself, but about you.
A lot of students have had a serious challenge & imo a lot of schools provide this prompt as sort of a safety valve- it give the student a chance to tell their story, but leaving the main essay for other aspects of their life. That leaves some students who haven’t had truly serious challenges feeling as if they ought to have something there (b/c nobody gets through to senior year of HS w/o some challenges, right?!).
If that’s you, and this is an optional essay, don’t feel obliged to write something. If you want to write an essay, remember that the underlying purpose of all application essays is to show why you would be a great addition to the college community, and knowing how somebody problem solves or makes it through challenging situations is one way to assess that.