I have a college essay question for my UC application that asks what the most significant challenge is that I have faced and how it has affected me academically. I have two topics that I think would fit this question. I would either write about my social anxiety and how I struggled socially throughout high school and how that affected me in school, or how I am gay and how that affected my view of the world (I’m not sure how this affected me in school though).
I want to keep my essay as positive as possible. Social anxiety affected me more in school than being gay, but I feel like the admissions officers won’t think of social anxiety as a serious obstacle. Which one of these topics would be better for this essay question?
It’s an essay about a significant challenge. It’s not supposed to be sunshine and roses - you don’t have to pretend to make it super positive. (Although you do want to end on a more positive note, showing how you’ve grown.)
Which one do you think is the MOST significant? It sounds like the social anxiety affected you more, so you should write about that. It is your job to convey how serious an obstacle the social anxiety was.
Admissions officers are human. I’m sure that they will understand that social anxiety is a significant obstacle. It sounds like your social anxiety is the way to go because it seems to have had a larger effect on you.
Adcoms can want to learn not just what you faced, but how you made contributions, had some impact, despite what your own personal challenges were. Or how, because of them, you were motivated to take action on behalf of others.
Don’t miss this part of the question: “what you’ve learned from the experience.” It’s still going to be, “Show, not just tell.”