Common App Essay: Writing about Childhood

College Essays
1

<p>Hey guys! I was writing my Common App essay on the transition from childhood to adulthood, and was wondering if it would be okay to center my essay on an event when I was about 12 years old. </p>

<p>As college applications are centered on viewing an individual as they are entering college, I felt that perhaps this event would be too far in the past for admissions officers to feel it as a good representation of my current 17 year-old self. I mean, of course I will not be saying that I completely became an adult at the age of 12, but I wanted to talk about how that event drove me to begin the process of adulthood. My short conclusion was going to talk about the personality traits I developed as a result of the event, but I was afraid this would not provide enough information to admissions officers about myself at this very moment. Is this too old of an event to talk about?</p>

2

<p>For college essays, you don’t have to much to worry about: an event that occurred at the age of 12 could always be “altered” in your essay to have occurred in more recent times. Don’t be scared to make up things as long as you know what you’re doing. I essentially made up a dramatically life changing event that “supposedly” still affects me to this day and I got accepted into Colombian and Cornell! So good luck!</p>