I’m a community college student right now, and I am currently writing some essays to transfer. The death of my romantic partner my junior year of High School is something I consider to be the changing point of my life. Although it did negatively affect me for a while, I’m not going to focus on that. I was going to focus on how her death has inspired me to do the things she would want me to do and how it inspired me to live life to the fullest and make the most of every opportunity. From there, I would then transition into talking about why I think I would be a good fit for said school and what I can offer.
My inspiration comes from the third essay down here http://www.collegeconfidential.com/admit/great-common-application-essays/. It mirrors how I feel about her death pretty similarly. But it did take me a while to get to that stage. For a while it brought me down, and was part of the reason I did so abysmally at my first University. However, it was mostly me trying to be superman and trying to be at home three hours away to help my family who had major issues at the time and trying to manage schoolwork at the same time. I’m just going to cite family issues and not bring up the grief in a negative light here, as I read that’s a huge red flag.
I see what you mean. You’re right that it’s probably over the limit. Should I just focus on why I’m a good fit then? I’m just struggling a bit showing personality with it and making it interesting. I’ll figure it out though, thanks for the help! Greatly appreciated!
@happy1 definitely sounds like a good plan. If I can keep it under 650 and still have it look neat and interesting I think I will go this route, unless someone says it’s a big negative.
My daughter wrote about the death of her 20-year-old cousin. She talked about supporting the boy’s younger sister (who happens to be D’s age) afterwards. In a way, D “lost” her older brother to schizophrenia, so she has gone through her own mourning process. It was a powerful essay - I think it helped her get more merit money than she would have otherwise. She approached it as @bjkmom suggested - wrote out a long version and then edited it over a period of time.
Something I consider to be the most important event of my life is the loss of my romantic partner my junior year of High School. While it did have a huge negative toll on me for a while, would it be okay to talk about the positive impact it had on my life? It sounds really bad to put death in that light, but losing her made me want to live for her, make the most of my opportunities and live to my fullest for her. From there, I was planning on transitioning on how that mindset on life would make me a good fit for the University.
One thing I should note is that her grief did a play a role in my initial failures at my first University. I hear that’s a big red flag to any school. However, the main reason I did abysmal academically at my first school is because I tried to play superman, I tried to help my family who was crumbling apart at the time and was home a lot, and I was attending a college three hours away, when I really should have just dropped out. I’m not planning to bring up her grief there though, and just discuss what I’ve learned from that.
Overall, does this sound like a good idea or should I find a new essay to write about. I got my inspiration from the third essay down here http://www.collegeconfidential.com/admit/great-common-application-essays/. The way the author puts a positive spin on a tragic events mirrors my thoughts for her pretty closely.