<p>My mom just totally came out and told me my essay sucks because most of its negative up until the last paragraph where I explain how I have changed and how I want to be different in college.</p>
<p>My commonapp essay is about how I have had problems communicating with people and that I used to be a jerk but now I am a nice guy and want to leave my old problems behind when I go to college. </p>
<p>Is this a bad idea to mention negative stuff like this?
My runner-up essay is also similar to this but it covers more how one of my teachers helped change me from my former personality type.</p>
<p>by the way, this is for Nov 1st deadline, so if you can shoot a quick answer it would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>a good rule of thumb is you want to be as least negative as possible. so it looks like you have 2.5 hours to revise it…</p>
<p>It depends on how you spin it, in my opinion. I’ve been told that the essay is not the place to bring up weaknesses and self-negativity but I know of one person who wrote her essay on her poor ability to socialize in high school; she ended up discussing how she didn’t like the superficiality of relationships in high school and how she hoped to create deeper and more meaningful friendships in college. She ended up getting into some really good places like Carnegie Mellon and Notre Dame. But it was very well-written in my opinion and didn’t linger on weaknesses, instead she described why it was so important her to have deep relationships and really show what kind of person she is. </p>
<p>All people have negative experiences but what you want to do is show how you’ve really learned and what you’ve gained from yours. Perhaps emphasize less on the negative and focus more about who you are as a person today, not the person you’re not, if that makes sense. </p>
<p>I just realized this is for the 11/1 deadline… this might be a little late :(</p>