<p>There have been a lot of great comments, so I apologize if I repeat/rehash what some people have said, but I will say a few things:</p>
<p>1) As others have said, the essay is a way for the admissions folks to find out about <em>you</em>. You don’t need a sob story – although sob stories are gripping. You just need something that shows more about you. As others have discussed, one great thing you can do is just talk about the things that you have <em>accomplished</em>. Since you’re not undergoing x sob story or y catastrophe, what sort of great things do you have the time/resources/support to do? </p>
<p>2) It’s cliche to say, but everyone is unique. You don’t have to be a 100% special snowflake to still have things in your life that are not quite the norm of everyone else. I think a lot of people (especially when they are younger) are not self-aware enough to recognize this, and so they mistake their own life as being too boring/uninteresting…when it isn’t.</p>
<p>However…</p>
<p>3) You are actually pretty self-aware. (First of all, I will say that anyone who recognizes their own privilege instead of looking at it as an accusation is ahead of the game. And I want to say this as a compliment. Self-awareness is such a great trait to have and to cultivate.) You recognize that a) you are privileged but that b) you have some things in your life that are not common. It’s just that you don’t seem to think that your unique circumstances are as ‘compelling’ as others (as you wrote in another comment, talking about being deprived of ice cream doesn’t seem like a good essay to put up against someone whose teeth are rotting out…)</p>
<p>However, I would suppose that there is more than meets the eye here. There may be something that you are not fully aware of, or that you are improperly discounting.</p>
<p>I can say that because in reading your background, I see a little bit of myself in you. Not totally, since my circumstances are different in enough ways, but just enough to make me wonder if there’s something that could apply. For example, you write:</p>
<p>"My parents are married. My father is an Aerospace Engineer with a Ph.D and my mother a Chemical Engineer with an M.S, (Although she doesn’t work outside the home anymore). I think we’re upper-middle class. I will be going to college as a third-generation. I am an URM, but I’ve never felt discriminated against.
I’ve never been hungry, or out of doors, or without clothes. I’ve never been raped. I’ve never even heard of anyone here using drugs. No one here is getting pregnant in high school. (I’m flabbergasted at others who insinuate that this type of activity is so common).
My parents are health nuts, vegetarian, and only shop organic. My mother never allowed any white sugar or meat in our house. I can count the number of times in my life that I’ve had ice cream. (I’m just trying to give you an idea of the type of environment our house is, and I know this is not usual because of what others tell me).</p>
<p>My parents are very strict about my education and I’m home-schooled my whole life with two tutors, an online curriculum, various classes at local universities, and my mother. Some would call my parents extremist, but they’re all right. They have made it clear that they will not lie for me, and I know what’s expected of me. I want to go to MIT or Carnegie Mellon and I’m passionate about linguistics, CGI, and computer programming.</p>
<p>TL;DR: If you don’t know any alcoholics or druggies, never were impoverished or pregnant out of wed-lock, what is one to do?"</p>
<p>So, I am also a URM (albeit, I guess that doesn’t really matter now that I’m out of school, does it?) with parents of comfortable socio-economic status (I dare not compare and contrast specifics too much…I mean, I certainly wasn’t deprived of white sugar or meat, and I went to public schools). I can also say that I have been pretty fortunate in not being hungry, out of doors, without clothes.</p>
<p>What struck me about this snippet I have quoted here is that it shows a sense of urgency and discipline from your parents. Maybe I’m just projecting from <em>my</em> experience, but I know that coming from a comfortable background, I always thought, “Why are my parents stricter than my [mostly white] friends’ parents? What is there to worry about? We are doing well, so what’s the big deal?” That’s the vibe I get from your parents too, so I wonder if you also think that way some times.</p>
<p>For me, when I dove into it further, I realized that there is a certain tenuousness here. There is a precariousness to being a URM that socioeconomic status doesn’t seem completely able to overcome. </p>
<p>I mean, as another URM, I think it would be great if you could go the rest of your life never having felt discriminated against. I think that would be great. But I feel like there is a pretty rich ground to discuss the sorts of things your parents have set for you to do to have the sort of life that you have vs what other parents set (and maybe since you don’t come from a public school environment, maybe you don’t necessarily see that?) I dunno. I think that would be fascinating. But maybe I’m just a nerd.</p>
<p>Anyway, these are just things to think about – things that not a lot of folks could necessarily write about, but maybe you don’t quite yet have the experiences to make it work.</p>