I’m applying to NYU, Udub, UChicago, and a few others as a Psychology major and the UC’s as undeclared, and I am considering whether I should write about my experience as a 7Cups Listener. I could either write about my first experience (a dark experience that did NOT go well but I learned from it and grew) or I could write about my general experience and what I learned from it, OR I could not talk about it all. I’m worried about it being a risky subject, especially if I choose the first route where I discuss my first experience. It was super terrifying for me and I did learn from it but I’m worried colleges will dislike that my first experience was bad. I’m unsure if it’s something they would want to hear about at all. Any input/opinions/advice? Thanks!
The point of the essay is to show something about you. An experience from 7cups (with details changed to protect the anonymity of others can be a very good topic.
Some general problems with writing about difficulties one expediences are the tendency to tell the reader about the events, rather than show the reader. that they tend to be “I suffered trauma from this and this event, and that made me a stronger person”. All that these essays really tell the reader is that something happened to you, and that you responded in a manner which is fairly common.
However, with a dark experience in an online chatroom there are many ways that you can write about it which you can show a lot about yourself. Much of the reasons that such a chat become dark have to do with who you are, and how you approached the chat. It wasn’t something that simply happened to you, it was something in which you participated.
Others may disagree with me, but I think that you could build a great essay based on this topic. However, as I wrote above, make sure that what you write is not identifiable. So if the person in the chat read your essay, they would not realize that they were the other person in the chat (or, if it was a group chat, that would go fir everybody else in the chat).