Over the past week or so, I have been writing rough drafts of my Common App essay. Right away, I decided that I was going to answer the first prompt, which asks about a background, identity, interest, etc. I have a heart defect, and as a result, I have had three open heart surgeries. Originally, I was only going to write about my heart defect because I feel as if that is an important part of my background- I can’t imagine not including it in my essay. Then, I thought about how my scar also plays a role in my identity (the scar is six inches long) because the scar is the result of my surgeries. So I wrote about both my heart defect and my scar, but now I’m concerned that this is too much for the essay. Should I write about my scar, heart defect, or both? I also thought about writing how my heart defect, surgeries, and time spent in the hospital inspired me to major in nursing. Would it be too much to include all of this in my essay? Thanks!
I think it’s worth writing out a draft and seeing how it looks. It could work; it just depends on how you do it.
I feel like writing about both would be too much to encompass in only 650 words. If I were you, I would make the scar the main topic of the essay. It’s something very mundane and miniscule in literal meaning. You can give it more depth and make it personal to yourself by incorporating your heart surgeries. If youre going to answer the first prompt then your scar would be central to your identity. Dont write like this: "I’ve had multiple heart surgeries. Its very important to me. It helps shape who I am. write it like a story. “show, dont tell”. Let your story and descriptions speak for themselves, readers will infer things about you, instead of you telling them directly. If you write like this then I think your essay will be incredible.
As for your rough drafts, you might write multiple drafts, you might only write two. I’m a senior applying to college, and over the summer, I wrote a total of ten different essays. I hated them all. They were all either cliche or boring to read. The week before school started, I wrote a rough draft about fixing someone’s bookbag. I edited twice and its almost perfect, in my opinion. So dont stress, if you keep having to write drafts. The right one will come.
@heisenberg2016 Wow, thank you very much! I really needed to hear this. Good luck with the application process and senior year!!