Hello Everyone!
I’m curious to know what you guys wrote about a significant challenge in your lifetime. I just finished writing mine for an application for an internship, and was wondering what you guys wrote. Was it something big like facing financial difficulties and prevailing? Or was it something small? How did you overcome it? 
Well, I wrote my main essay about what it’s like returning to everyday life after mental illness
My essay was actually about financial difficulties. I went to a public school with “rich” kids, who could afford almost everything. I wrote about how I could not afford the same opportunities as them, yet, I was able to prevail. Hopefully, that’s a good essay topic.
wow! Compared to yours, mine seems pretty bad. How was your experience and how did you overcome it?
It seems weird that most of the time, no one wants bad stuff to happen to them, but when these essays come up, we wish that we had overcome something really epic.
I think one of the most challenging things I have faced personally was being shy. While I have faced many problems with my family. Not that I don’t get along just you know financial problems and immigration.
ps please help answer my question http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1737886-what-can-i-do-to-improve-and-do-i-have-a-chance.html#latest
I actually had to write on the topic twice. The first was about my financial struggles and how that affected my competency in my school orchestra. The second was about overcoming living in my older sister’s shadow
Being born 15 weeks early and overcoming a host of medical issues associated with prematurity
You are so right. When I was writing this essay, I was looking online and found such dramatic stories, wishing that I had an unfortunate life. I was always hoping that if something bad happens to me, I would literally die, because my whole future would be ruined. Now, when writing it, I totally wish that my life was more dramatic.
I’ve wondered about that a lot. I think if people actually go through real adversity though, they invariably would conclude that not having to go through that adversity would be better than getting an essay topic out of it.
Whereas people who haven’t gone through real adversity don’t think about it in terms of actually having to feel pain and be set back. It’s just an advantage in their eyes.
Edit: I am not saying that what any of you are talking about is not real adversity. Merely that even with real adversity how easy it can be to wish you had something more astounding to talk about.
@slights32, That’s very true. I never really thought of it that way. I guess it’s true now that you have pointed it out, I just see it as an advantage. Yeah, experiences make us who we are, and an essay that people that go through it make them so much stronger. It’s really touching to look at it from a new perspective. Thanks for your input!
@albert69
@slights32 That is so true about the adversity thing. It’s like, in one moment, you’re thankful for not being homeless, as an example, but when it comes time to applying to Harvard and Yale, you sure wish you were homeless so you could write about it. Adversity can make for good essay material, but I find that ordinary topics can work just as well. It really just depends on the content of the essay itself.
I originally wrote my college essay about losing weight and how cross country helped me overcome a weight problem, but it wasn’t my true voice. I found the essay to be the standard believe-in-yourself sort of essay, and it was pretty cliché on the second read. I stopped liking it because I was trying to manufacture hardship and it didn’t sound that great.
I ended up submitting an improved essay to colleges on my love of the library, and how books help me to discover new worlds and keep me curious. I think it’s a truer representation of my personality. It’s simple but I like it a lot.
I wrote about being rejected of an International Baccalaurete program being my last chance of studying outside of my country. It’s not a tragedy, but it really hit me strong when it happened.
Anyone else got anything that they would like to share? I love hearing your stories!