The question for the essay I’m thinking about is: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience
I want to write about a time when I was in sixth grade and happened at the end of lunch. I was on my way out and I saw someones ipod on one of the lunch tables. There was noone around and everyone was leaving and I grabbed it. So I had it in my next class but the class after that, I felt the guilt of holding something that belonged to someone else so I left in that class underneath my chair. The next day, I was called down to the main office and was told that I was the suspect for stealing someones ipod. I was still a little confused but when I was shown the video, my heart dropped. I brought the administrator to the classroom to find the ipod. So after that, I was told I was going to be serving a in school suspension, which i did for the remainder of that day and the next day.
This one of my most memorable failures because of how clearly I remembered what happened. However, I dont know what to write about how it affected me. It definitely changed me as a person because it disciplined me but I dont know how I should word that and what else to write.
Can someone please tell me if this idea is a good one for an essay and give me some thoughts on how to answer the second part of the question: How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience
I would not write about this. This was in 6th grade, and it’s all but mandatory that you write something that happened in high school. Besides…do you really want to send in a story about you stealing an iPod? I think this has red flags everywhere, and may get your application thrown in the trash. Do you have any cool hobbies? Those tend to make pretty good essays. I’ve seen a kid write a really nice essay on playing DND, showing that any hobby can be pretty interesting essay material.
That’s why I’ve said “all but mandatory”. It could be about something outside of highschool, but the best essays are within the past two or so years, sometimes having a minority piece being earlier. It’s your essay, I’m just saying that I kinda cringed while reading your description of this essay that talks about you stealing and getting punished for it. I would avoid talking about that at all costs.
I just read this and you made the right choice. Find a topic that shows how much you care about something or someone and paint a picture that the school can see and understand.
It isn’t restricted to just HS, but it is rare that an experience in middle school is something they really want to hear about. This is the one time when answering the prompt isn’t really what they are looking for. Know that college admissions staff reading your essays didn’t write the prompts. I’d look for something more recent. If you haven’t read these yet, check them out: