Adversity or Not?

Applying to College
1

I’m in sort of a conundrum. I understand that the banes of essay writing are: 1) death; 2) cultural duality; 3) Sports Injury, etc. However, I am wondering if I should really write about adversity in my optional essay when it’s really the truth.

I don’t know if you would consider this adversity, but it has always seemed normal to me.

My parents immigrated her in 1992 (so did like a million other families) with literally next to nothing on our backs except for the gold my mom saved by swallowing it in her stomach when we left Vietnam. I came here when I was five, after having lived in a refugee camp for 3+ years. My family of 6 was crammed in a one-bedroom apartment for several years. I"m the first one in my family to attend a four year university. My sister went to community college. My brother is in the army. Only my dad works and he currently only makes $29,000.

I feel that I can get in on my own merits and do not want to deviate into the sentimental crap or wallow in self-pity. However, I’m not sure if it will hurt me or help me when applying for need-blind institutions like Harvard or Princeton? Since they didn’t ask for my family income, will it hurt me if I report it in an essay? Will they say, this kid will just leech off our financial aid, why have him here?

Oh, and since I’m Asian, it’s going to hurt me. Do you think I should write about this adversity or do you think I can get in on my own merits, which btw are, if you’re curious:

SATs 1480 (770 v, 710 m)
SAT IIs: 760 USH, 710 Writing, 660 Math 2c (retaking in January)
Rank: 1/600+ in a very bad school (so it doesn’t say much); we were almost not accredited just this last year

We have a horrible AP program, low pass rate, which is not really an excuse, but nonethless:

Chem - 3, Physics - 3, USH - 4

Senior Classes:

<li>Acadeca</li>
<li>AP Studio Art</li>
<li>AP English Lit</li>
<li>AP Biology</li>
<li>AP Government</li>
<li>AP Calc AB (which doesn’t explain my bad 2c score)</li>
<li>Teacher’s Aide for MUN Teacher</li>

ECs:

<li>Model United Nations (4 years); Secretary General</li>
<li>Academic Decathlon (4 years); Team Member</li>
<li>Key Club (4 years); Vice-President</li>
<li>Mock Trial (3 years); Head Prosecution Attorney</li>
<li>MESA (math engineering thing) (3 years); President</li>
<li>Badminton (3 years); Varsity, coaches award </li>

Summer:

Interned at Law Firm over the summer (2004)

Here is my school breakdown:

Harvard: Uber-reach
Princeton: Uber-reach
Stanford: Uber-Reach
UCLA: Reach
Berkeley: Reach
Irvine: Match/Safety (guaranteed admission)
San Diego: Match/Safety (guaranteed admission)

I guess, this turned out to be a what are my chances posting. So there.

2

<p>that's an amazing life story, being able to overcome those obstacles. judos to you.</p>

<p>i can't really help you though because i don't know how the ivys would look at it but i'm still wondering/surprised at this (at the risk of sounding dumb and nonsensical): your mom swallowed gold?</p>

3

<p>It's actually a very common story among refugees. As melodramatic as it may sound, our ship was actually accosted by pirates, so what the people on board did was swallow all their valuables. Since gold doesn't decay in your stomach and passes relatively easy through your digestive system, you can easily recover it from your feces (i know, it's disturbing). We survived the pirate attack because they realized how little we had and the fact that there were so many kids on board. What the people on my mom's boat did was place all the kids (myself included) in a long row on deck to show them that innocent lives were worth saving. I guess even pirates have feelings because they spared everyone. But then back to my original question, do I risk the chance of being a pity party by describing my adversity?</p>

4

<p>I think it's an amazing story that can definitely be turned into a great essay.</p>