I’ve been cranking and grinding hard on my essays lately, however, there’s one from Loomis’ gateway that I’ve been avoiding. It’s the family one for those of you who know it. But here’s my problem. I don’t know if I want to say something that makes me seem perfect or if I should write about my parents not being with me for 2 years and how that caused a gap between us etc so I’d appreciate it if someone could help. Thanks.
oh, and if you don’t the prompt was
“How would you describe your family and your role within your family?”
@Mercurrii - my gut is always authenticity. On the flip side, there is a helpful and non-helpful way to tell any story. Also — some stories are meant to be told when you have come out the other side and thus have a more complete view of the story’s value. Just because something is true doesn’t mean you owe the world access to it.
So, it’s hard to say without knowing more.
Are you comfortable sharing more about your story? Or maybe DM me (or someone else you trust)?
My suggestion based on what little I know would be: tell the real story but in a way that focuses on resilience, lessons learned from messy reality and finding the beauty in imperfection.
I know that is vague but I hope it’s helpful.
One sign that a story is NOT ready to be told in an interview/essay scenario is if you find yourself word vomiting as your write, or find yourself processing the story as you write. Writing IS cathartic but an admissions essay is not the place for that kind of writing; a journal is.
All just my experience. Feel free to ignore if it doesn’t speak to you as true.
Does that help?
IMO it is a bad look to throw your parents under the bus. Maybe they deserve it, but the college essay is not the place to make that argument. Every essay you write is a sales pitch on YOU and how you match to the college, or a chance to demonstrate a quality the college is looking for, show you’d be a good roommate, contribute to the campus. That isn’t to say you can’t take a risk, but you walk a fine line when making others look bad in order to make yourself look good.
Agree with both above comments. Authenticity is so important and AOs love stories about how something was hard but your resilience carried the day. However, if it makes someone else look really bad or “dumped on” that’s no good either.
Also agree with Calliemom, pm it to someone or have someone irl look at it for you. Pm it to an adult ? not one of the kids, irl person would be better though. Teacher at school???
okay, thank you, guys! I decided to just write something safer, but I’ll keep your advice as I go.
As my favorite peloton instructor says: You do YOU, boo.
I’m sure your essay will be thoughtful and insightful.
Not having your parents with you for two years might have also prepared you well for boarding school. It needn’t be written in a way that throws your parents under the bus or sparks controversy.
I would recommend to be genuine but as many have said there is a constructive way to say things. Every coin has 2 sides and you need to not throw people under the bus. However you can write about how not having your parents for 2 years has reinforced how you might want to be as a parent in the future. Our DS wrote some controversial stuff and we weren’t in favour but at the end he was honest about who he is and the mistakes he made and that he wasn’t perfect.