Common App Education Interruption - Help??

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

<p>The Common App asks you to explain any education interruption :</p>

<p>""Education Interruption</p>

<p>If your progression through secondary school was or will be delayed or interrupted in any way, please check all that apply.
did not/will not graduate
did/will graduate early
did/will graduate late
did/will change secondary schools
did/will take time off
did/will take gap year
did/will receive GED</p>

<p>Provide details on the item(s) checked above." </p>

<p>I have changed secondary schools and took time off school. Do i need to write a whole essay explaining my circumstances or just bluntly give the facts. Here is what I have written but I'm not sure if I have written too much. Could you read it and give me feedback?</p>

<p>-</p>

<p>As Egyptian-Americans, my family have constantly found the urge to relocate between countries which has greatly affected my progression through high school. For my freshman year , I was enrolled in the IGCSE secondary education program in Amgad International School in Cairo, Egypt, where I was only permitted to take four core courses. After successfully finishing these courses my family began to receive news about their application for American Permanent Residency. With this they made plans to move back to America (where I was raised for 8 years of my life). However, due to the very expensive costs of my private school in Egypt and the possibility that I would not complete my sophomore year courses, my parents decided to hold my education for the first semester of my sophomore year until I received my permanent residency in America. During this semester, I did not attend school but rather studied on my own for the classes I planned to take when I relocated to Alabama the next semester. I obtained my green card the end of December, 2010, and flew back to Auburn, Alabama, the town I grew up in, January 5th, 2011. I was immediately enrolled in Auburn High School where I was deprived from Advance Placement and Honor courses due to the graduation requirements and core classes I needed to complete. After completing my sophomore year and enrolling in the International Baccalaureate program for the following year, my parents once again announced that the family was relocating to the Metro Atlanta area for my father to pursue his career. This was a necessary move for my family as my parents had both been unemployed since moving back to America so this move provided us with more financial stability but once again interrupted my progression through high school as I had to change schools once again where I was not allowed to join the International Baccalaureate program due to the lack of room on my schedule caused by the overload of Georgia graduation requirements I had to complete. I have since attended Tucker High School, my junior year until present, consistently with no further interruptions and have had the opportunity of taking Advanced Placement courses and joining and leading extracurricular activities.</p>

2

<p>What you’ve written sounds fine. It’s a little bit wall-of-text-ish though, so try breaking it up into paragraphs or something?</p>

3

<p>bump* </p>

<p>I will also graduate late – would you mind having a look at my essay?</p>

4

<p>This needs to be pared down and condensed. It is so wordy the reader cannot quickly grasp the essentials.</p>

5

<p>^ Right, give them the gist right up front. The explanations I’ve seen are usually a few lines. I can’t even follow this.</p>

<p>They read fast. You don’t want them to miss a point because they can’t stop to figure it out. AND, you don’t want anything that suggests a problem- eg, the interruptions and inconsistency. I don’t know where you are applying, but how you choose to state it is also an indication of your judgment- and organized thinking. Create the right impressions.</p>

<p>Is it really this? You couldn’t simply finish IB because of the state course requirements, so made them up and added APs? Something like that?</p>