I’ve written a draft of my common app essay and much of it is centered around how my change in surroundings lead to a change in my personality. Specifically, I write about going to elementary school in one place versus going to middle school in another. Someone told me once that colleges don’t want to hear about your life before high school, but I’m not really sure how well this stands. I would greatly appreciate advice on this because the common app opens in 5 days and I’m stressed sigh
Such an essay makes me wonder what your life has been like the past four years that you had to go back so far to find anything notable, relevant, impactful or interesting about what you’ve done or experienced. Unless something earthshattering happened early on, focusing on that time frame brings up more questions than answers. It doesn’t offend, but doesn’t sell you either.
The first thing that pops into my head is “ Find me someone that didn’t have a change in personality at that time of their life “. It is called growing up. As stated above this is a time to sell yourself, not explain yourself.
No. They are interested in who you are now.
You’ve got months to do the essay, so try not to stress.
@bananand College Confidential recently covered this topic in an article that may help answer your question. Read more here: https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/common-application-essay-make-strong-start