<p>So, I'm a senior in high school and its about the time to start applying to colleges. My English teacher has actually just assigned the personal statement as a class assignment as well. The thing is, I seriously believe I have nothing to write about. For example, the first prompt tells me to describe the world I come from and how its shaped my dreams and aspirations. Ever since I was a little kid, I just went to school, came home, did all my homework, and then played video games or watched TV for the rest of the day. That pretty much just sums up my pathetic and worthless life. I haven't done any extracurricular activities, done any volunteer work, joined any clubs, or anything productive at all. However, I do have good grades, I've managed to keep straight A's throughout my whole high school career, but that is only because my parents wouldn't let me play games if I didn't. Also, I am pretty dang good at making up stories and making them sound convincing. So should I just lie and write about some interesting made up events in my life? Because I honestly believe that is my only option.</p>
<p>I would search deep in your past for events you can use to create a personal statement. Lying is never a good option. Perhaps you have a relative that has made an impression on you.</p>
<p>First, you don’t have to send any particular prompt for the actual college essay, so this is a practice assignment. Practice being honest and finding meaning in things, no matter how small.</p>
<p>What values do you have? What circumstances in your life shaped these values?</p>
<p>There are no interesting events in my past that I can use in my personal statement. As for relatives, I do not really have a family. I’m an only child, and the only relatives I know are my mom and dad. They work a lot and I rarely ever get to see them at home since they come home late at night when I’m already asleep. Its been like this for so long that my parents are kinda strangers to me now. A good, well-thought-out, and believable lie is probably my best bet at this point.</p>
<p>Did your teacher tell you to write from any of the prompts or just prompt #1? If you can choose any of them, then I can tell you that most kids are choosing #4. Try that one. Everybody has a happy place.</p>
<p>When she first read them, D swore that would be the last one she would ever write because it was so lame. Turns out, it was easy for her and it’s ready to go. Got the thumbs up from the college advisor this week.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to be helped and are closed to suggestion, don’t bother posting.</p>
<p>If you’re good at making up stories it means you have a rich inner life, a colorful imagination…additionally I bet the video games you play have dramatic story lines and strong characters. Why don’t you write about what it’s like to have this routine seemingly pedestrian life, but a whole world of creative action happening in your head? You can tell your story, your “lie” but it wont be a lie bc in your essay you’ll be fessing up. You can basically be saying, this is the essay I wish I could write about my life. If it’s done well with zero self pity it could be amazing. The prompts are there as a vehicle for adcoms to get to see you, see into you. Use the one that inspires you the most.</p>
<p>There are way too many hazards involved in actually lying in the essay, and besides you don’t need to. If you’re a storyteller, tell a story, not a lie.</p>
<p>Most schools do not require personal statements/essays. Limit your applications to those.</p>
<p>I would write about how gaming changed your outlook or attitude. You can exaggerate or make up a little bit from your experiences, but creating content for an essay can easily be noticed by readers.</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to be cute in my answer in post #8. At this point, any essay that you’ll submit to a college will certainly exhibit your banality and lack of depth. I agree with you: it appears you have nothing to write about – that is unless you reflect seriously. Otherwise it’ll be a wasted exercise. </p>
<p>What you need to is to think what you want after graduating HS. If it’s college (Yes, I know you’re an all A student – but your attitude seems to point to having nothing invested in your academics), then craft a list of nearby and affordable schools that you can envision yourself attending. LIke I said 90% of US colleges don’t require essays. And college isn’t for everyone – even straight A students.</p>
<p>Well all right then. Since not all colleges require personal statements, I should just be worrying about the fact that I’m going to get graded on this as an assignment in my English class. I believe lying should not be a problem then.</p>
<p>All the Common App schools do require a personal essay, though.</p>
<p>“Pretty dang good at making up stories”…is this one of them?</p>
<p>“Rarely getting to see your parents” and parents that are “strangers” sounds like a good essay to me. Especially if you rarely see them AND they somehow enforce no games until homework is done. My D loved to play the “you are never home” card, but she did manage to find something else for her essay .</p>
<p>Having “no family” might be interesting too, especially if it feels that way, but it’s not really true.</p>
<p>Agree with Shrinkrap here :)</p>