Work at getting it off the record, or reduced to something that you don’t need to full on explain. If you have to explain it, you need to do so in a short, concise way that demonstrates an acceptance of responsibility and doesn’t blame the “racist environment” around you. What year are you in HS?
It looks like you are a freshman, and this has just happened, since you write that you are supposed to attend a followup meeting a year after the event, and that meeting has not yet been scheduled.
Meditate on your actions, and ways to better cope with the bullying you are experiencing now. Work on developing a positive relationship with the student(s) you targeted with that slur. Perhaps together you can help improve the social situation at your school so as to reduce the bullying.
Two years from now, when you are endong your junior year, will be the time to start thonking about what to include in your application essays. If you use the intervening time well, you will have many, much more relevant, topics to choose from.
I’m confused – you say that since you’ll have to write an explanation for the Common App anyway, you feel that you might as well make it your essay? So you’ll write the explanation, and then you’ll also have your essay be about this same incident?
That sounds to me like an EXTREMELY bad idea. For one thing, you’ll be telling the same story twice, which is not a good idea in the first place (admissions offices are reading your application to learn more about you, so you should use every opportunity in the app to convey new information, not repeat the same facts twice). For another, this incident is one you want admissions offices to FORGET about, not have fixed in their minds! And finally, as someone else said, if this is really the most important thing about you, why would any college be interested in you? “I’m no longer the kind of person who tells racist jokes” – yay?
I appreciate that you’ve grown and matured as a result of this incident, and I understand that it looms large in your mind. However, the fact that you now have enough maturity to realize that racist jokes aren’t a good way to “fit in” is a pretty low bar.
This it not a slam on you – I’m sure there are lots of great things about you. But how will colleges know that if all you tell them is that you used to be the sort of person who thought telling a racist joke was a good idea?
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP has long since left this conversation, so I am closing the thread.