<p>Is the 300 pg autobiography supposed to be up until now, or through your entire life, including the future. Basically, is this where you see yourself in 20 years or what you did a few years ago?</p>
<p>I think you can do whatever you want, just make it interesting. As long as it tells the adcoms something about you youll be fine.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of handling this essay with a "humble" approach, only because I see myself living a humble, but fulfilling life in 20 or 30 years. I don't want to incorporate only what I want to do as a career, but I also want to make room for my future family, where I'll live, hobbies, etc. How does this sound? I don't want to sound too cliche by doing something like this, but I don't want to come off as "dreamer who dreams but does not act" and I don't want to come off as some sort of bum who doesn't do anything after college. I want them to know me, my realistic goals, and what will satisfy me. How will they react to something like this?</p>
<p>For example, my older sister (now 21 years old) can be immature and unappreciative of what my parents have done for her. I want my children to grow up with character, values, and maturity. I know this doesn't necessarily come out of college, but nevertheless, I think it's important to be able to show others how to appreciate others. How does this sound?</p>
<p>"I want them to know me, my realistic goals, and what will satisfy me."</p>
<p>I think thats the attitude you want. Tell them about yourself. Would you want to go to a college that couldnt accept the real you (even if it is UPenn)? Besides, not everyone who goes to UPenn owes it to them to become a millionaire.</p>
<p>hmm, i heard a lot about "telling sth about myself" and what not, though I agree with it, how do I do it exactly? For instance, if I were to talk about quickly adapting to boarding school as an entirely new living environment, how difficult it was, and how grateful and thankful i am now that i learned so much from it...how EXACTLY do i make this personal and make the adcoms have lots of adjectives describing me after reading it? thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Me.mv..in the p. 217 essay, as with any other college essay, you want to be as descriptive as possible. First, think about what qualities you want to highlight about yourself. You've already identified that you want to talk about how you adapt to new situations/boarding school. But you can't just write an essay saying 'boarding school was rough but I adjusted so I know how to adapt and that'll help me in college.' Instead, you want to write about an anecodote from boarding school which will show the adcom that you know how to adapt. For example, you can talk about your first week or your first semester at school and the challenges you faced. You can contrast your first week at school v. a typical week at school now to show the adcom how much your life has changed while explaining to them why it has changed--for example, did you adapt by joining a lot of clubs/sports; did you adapt by having a strong link to your family and you past etc.</p>
<p>Basically, when you write the essay, proofread every paragraph and every sentence and ask yourself 'what does this tell the adcom about me.' Its not enough to have an essay saying things like 'i'm dedicated or i persevere.' You have to write an adcom which will SHOW the adcom these things by example. I hope this makes sense. Feel free to post/PM other questions, essay ideas etc.</p>
<p>Ahh.. aj725, thanks for the advice. How many anecdotes would you recommend? Two or three? I'm afraid my essay may be too long if I add any more than that.</p>
<p>I'd recommend 1-2 anecdotes. Any more than that and it won't be an anecdote, it'll be more like a list; remember that you know the story really well so you can tell it in a few sentences but an adcom member wasn't there and will need a full explanation to understand what was going on. You can even center your essay on 1 anecdote that takes up a paragraph or 2 and then spend the rest of the essay explaining it/what you've learned from it/how it influenced your life.</p>
<p>I was hoping to tell about one of the first tennis matches I played as a child and how it boosted my confidence. I know this may sound a little cliche, but I really don't know what else to do :(</p>
<p>Mine was about a game of poker and how I lost.</p>
<p>I wrote it from the perspective of ten years from now. The way I see it, the first 17 years of your life can't cover 217 pages.</p>
<p>Krabble..lots of people say that you should never write about sports because its cliche and overdone. However, I think that you could write about your first tennis match and do very well with that. You can write about basically anything if you bring a honest and unique perspective to it. The overdone essays are the ones that are about how you had the winning shot that caused your HS to clinch the state bball title. But with this, think about how long ago this tennis match was and why you've carried it with you all these years--what was so significant about it, what does it show about you as a person--does it show any specific qualities or does it show how your attitudes changed from your childhood to your teenage years...</p>
<p>I don't want to bore you, but just to give you an idea of what my experience was like:</p>
<p>During the match, there were definitely times where I had surprised even myself (being able to run down balls that I didn't know I was capable of). Now, when I play other people and I'm able to run at balls or hustle for them, it is more routine for me but it will shock others to see me able to hit some of those tough shots.</p>
<p>I had lost and I was more bitter than appreciative of the quality of tennis I was playing. However, because I was playing a friend, I learned how to step down and learn instead of continue to feel bitter, etc. I didn't notice at the time, but earlier this year I had noticed that there is no single person who is naturally a 'leader'. A person can be a leader at certain things but not everything, and until one can accept this notion, it will hinder he/she from learning, improving, and succeeding.</p>
<p>Tell me what you think so far. I don't know what else to include, since it's just a single anecdote, and I don't recall too many that well.</p>
<p>i think that's wrong... people can leaders.. I don't think its a "special case" thing, ya either got it or ya dont</p>
<p>I'm saying, Einstein is obviously not going to be the leader in a group of basketball players. Michael Jordan won't be a leader in a group of theoretical physicists. This is an exaggeration, but I hope I'm making it somewhat clear, ya know?</p>
<p>i was thinking of writing about when i'm like middle-aged. cuz the average person lives like...72 years or somewhere around there. then, page 217/300 is like...2/3 of your life, then take off 10 years because you're not gonna be writing this book when you're dead</p>
<p>i met with a admission rep this past monday and he said that there is no significant on the number 217...it can be 30 or 70...u can do any period of your life!</p>
<p>metaphor - thats what i was thinking!</p>
<p>i might do the pg 217 essay, and if i do it im approaching the question as - tell me something about yourself! in my opinion, there are no restrictions on this essay since it does not have to be about a risk or a first experience</p>
<p>i am probably going to focus on a specific theme, activity, event and write about its development in my life using a couple examples from my personal history and experience.</p>
<p>I'm writing this topic too.. personally think that sports may not be the best thing.. esp if you have listed this sport under your 'activity list'... it may seem that you life just revolves round those few activities you have listed.
Just adding on to the question, what's everyone's take about writing a fictional story that, in the process shows a quality that I want to show the adcom? will that be fine? or it must be a true story.. since it's an autobiography.</p>
<p>i think im gonna do this one too. Im probably gonna write it about my awful second grade math experience, how my first school hadnt prepared me at all in math and the effort I had to put and the time I had to spend to be able to learn and fully understand math (one of my favorite subjects today). It definitely taught me the importance of determination, perseverance and education. I think its gonna come out quite nicely done. lol, hope so...</p>