<p>Hi parents! Posting here for your recommendations.</p>
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<p>So I'm applying to tough schools like NYU Stern ED2, CMU Tepper, etc. my GPA is low - around a 3.3UW with a heavy upward trend (4.0 as a senior UW). SATs are in line and fall in middle 50% for Stern.</p>
<p>I have one major EC: I opened a business after 8th grade and amidst my family going through severe depression, my mother having two surgeries and various health problems after my fathers sudden death ten hours after healthy release from an ER. </p>
<p>Anyway, My business is successful, five figure, no debt. I own it and am CEO. How would I portray this exactly - I did a lot in my essay as this is a topic but I want to really emphasize it. It's my only chance.</p>
<p>My responsibilities are mainly fiscal, legal. I manage all accounts payable and receivable, corporate taxes, merchant accounts, legalities, etc. I don't use an accountant. We own two patents and our projected growth for 2012 is 5000% 2011. I also balance my schoolwork and work and have a business partner who is my age and does programming. We are looking to do Initial Public Offering (Stock) by 2016. </p>
<p>How would I list this without lookong like I'm applying for a financial job. Seems to complicated for a resume. Would it be in the EC essay?</p>
<p>The EC would be a great place to address it since it’s your major EC. My son had a much smaller business (making origami earrings) and ended up writing about it for his main essay, but his emphasis was what he learned from folding origami so it focused on personal growth. Your business might work as a main essay, but it seems like ideal fodder for the EC one.</p>
<p>I did write about this as my main essay as well - how I overcame my fathers death and opened a company, how I went through it and what I learned. I related this to how I think today and my personality.</p>
<p>If I had to choose one, it’d be the college essay/ main one. Why? 1000 characters is not enough to describe my struggle and business endeavors, and this really is my passion and has shaped my personality. It’s really my only hook and colleges do read the main essay with more weight.</p>
<p>If you need 1000 words than make it your main essay. Admissions officers read everything and you don’t know what will spark the desire to accept you - it could well be a teacher’s recommendation and the essays only reinforce the impression that the teacher made. I don’t know if this will work for you, but my son picked a bunch of things he thought he might right about - his interest in origami, a volunteer job he had archiving neighborhood papers, and then figured out which slots to put them in. He had originally thought he might use the volunteer job as a main essay subject, but decided it wasn’t personal enough. When he made the switch everything fell into place.</p>