I am currently a Junior in high school and I’m planning for my personal essays next year. I am the only deaf student at my school, and have been the only deaf kid growing up. I was wondering whether or not I should incorporate this into my essay… I mean sympathy points may be nice, but is that what admission reviewers look for in the personal essays?
By the way, I’m from California and looking at UCs, and other schools around the west coast.
I think if you can answer one of the common app essay questions honestly and with an interesting essay that references being deaf, go for it. If not, you can choose to have your GC mention it in their recommendation if you want to.
No college likes sob stories, but that is a popular misconception because those who talk about their story had to come over a huge hurdle in their lives, making the best of their situation. Now this overcoming is what colleges like to hear, which is why the misconception that sob stories work came to being in the first place. The saddest stories lead to the strongest, more mindful people who aren’t just numbers.
Adcom likes to see how people respond to challenges in their lives and how these challenges develop us into more tenacious people. I’m sure that being deaf has held a huge influence on your life, changes the way you perceive things/the world, and your future goals. You’ve had to go through a lot-- don’t undersell yourself by only doing it for sympathy points!
for my UC/Common App essays, my “hurdle” was being a low income student (not a very unique challenge, still difficult nonetheless) and I talked about not being able to afford healthcare as an inspiration for bioengineering.