<p>I had a question about the essay. I've had two very different essays in mind but cannot decide on which to write about. </p>
<p>The first is about how loyalty and maturity are my greatest traits and how this showed even at a very young age. (Ex: When I was 5, I made a new friend who accidentally threw a ceramic plate at my face. This plate broke and caused lacerations and both his and my parents tried to make a big deal out of it but I told them that it wasn't a big deal in order to maintain my friendship with my new friend.) I go on to talk about how these traits helped me later in life when I was moving between different countries because of my parents' immigrant statuses. Finally, I talk about how these traits also allowed me to adapt to the many different schools I went to when I returned to America (3 different middle schools, 3 different high schools). I had to constantly move, often to the other side of the country, because my mother always changed jobs.</p>
<p>The second essay is about the role of video games in my life. I talk about how I have been into video games since I was very young and found them to be the coolest things ever. My parents were always working and thus, no restrictions were ever placed concerning my gaming time. This led me to believe that I could game as long as I wanted and I sort of became the "gamer-kid." In my elementary and middle school years, excessive gaming(about 5 hours a day) didn't hinder me from excelling academically and constantly being the top student. When I entered 9th grade, I did limit my gaming a bit. I joined sports teams and became a more social person, etc. However, video games were also a way to bond with my classmates and I could not completely escape my love of video games and it did hurt my academics (couple B's) a bit because of the degree of difficulty of high school compared to middle school. For example, I took Pre-Calculus as a freshman but only got a B+ in it because of the aforementioned things. I felt guilty and decided to do my best during sophomore year.
However, during the summer after my freshman year, my mom dropped the bombshell on me that we were moving to the other end of the country because she was changing jobs. I was crushed because I regarded my current town as my home (I had lived there for four years, the longest I've stayed in one place) and I was going to move away from all my friends. During 10th grade, while I did participate in intramural sports and the community service team, I wasn't a very social person anymore. I tended to be a shy introvert and moving to a brand new school only pushed me in that direction. I used video games as a coping mechanism and as a way of keeping in touch with some of my friends back home.
For 11th grade, my mom changed jobs again and so I had to change schools again. Again, I used gaming to cope with all the changes and to keep in touch with friends. I was bordering on addiction and it did hurt my academics (got A-s instead of A's). Also, I couldn't participate in school extracurriculars or sports because I had to babysit my baby brother after school while my dad was in a different state and mom worked long hours. This also worsened my gaming habits because I couldn't find many things besides gaming to keep me occupied while I was confined to the house to babysit my brother. I would get about 4 hours of sleep every night because I found video games to be the only constant thing in my life, whereas everything else was changing. I became increasingly isolated from my current surroundings and delved deeper into the world of gaming. No matter where I moved, this gaming world always remained constant.
I knew I had to change my habits the moment I got my AP scores in July after my junior year. During the year, I decided to self-study some APs and signed up to take them in May. In reality, I always put off the studying and found myself gaming when I should have been studying for them. Eventually May came and I was in a bind. I just bought and read the whole AP review book the night before an exam. So, I was compressing a year's worth of studying in about 14 hours. I took each exam with a couple hours of sleep and I felt absolutely miserable. The scores were a wake-up call for me. I had gotten 3s on the exams I took and knew I could've done much better had I actually prepared. The day I got my scores back, I decided to quit video games cold-turkey and spend time on something more productive. I have always been interested in math and science and I found my calling in computer science. I found this field, which combined problem solving with math, extremely interesting, and instead of gaming, I dedicated my free time learning how to program. While my mom did quit her job again, she decided to stop working for a while to take care of my brother and thus I could continue at the same school for my senior year. Being able to stay at the same school for two years in a row gave me hope. When school came around, I joined clubs and even became the president of the computer club. I was able to stop gaming, find my passion in computer science, and spend my free time in more productive ways. I believe a constant environment, such as the same high school for two years, helped me curb my excessive gaming and soon, I hope to combine my love of computer science and gaming in creative ways.</p>
<p>~Sorry for that wall of text. </p>
<p>In essence, should I stick to the essay about loyalty and maturity or go for the other one?
I think the second one tells much more about me as a person while it does make me seem much more vulnerable and even irresponsible. I find the second essay to be a gamble. I guess my question is "Should I write the second essay even though it makes me seem irresponsible?" I don't want to seem like I'm making excuses for a few faults in my academics or my lack of amazing achievements. I do have decent academics (3.8 UW GPA, 2200 SAT (2310 superscored), still waiting on ACT and SAT II scores, 6APs), but I could've accomplished much more had I been able to stay at the same high school for all four years. MIT is my dream school and I feel this essay could either push me over the edge or just completely destroy my chances. I've never been a strong writer and I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions and please be brutally honest. Thank you.</p>