<p>So, I wrote my personal statement, and thought it wasn't too bad. I edited a few times, and finally got a final draft and that was that. Then the college counselor at my school had a personal statement workshop and the examples she gave were all so specific. Then my friend read me hers over the phone and I'm like, depressed because hers is telling a specific story and mine is just about my world.
My personal statement just does what the prompt says : "describe the world you come from, tell us how it shaped your dreams and aspirations." So I described my world, and how it's made me want to achieve more, and not just settle for average like I've seen others around me do in my life, and give back.
And everybody's at school is like focusing on a specific event or extracurricular activity or experience or whatever, and I'm like, I thought it said describe your world. Like, is the time you did this or that really your world? But then those seem to be really effective essays.
And besides, I don't even have a specific event that could qualify as my 'world'. I don't have a "my parents split up, and that affected me because....., my dad lost his job, and that caused me to........ , I moved here from ..... and that affected me because......" story. There's no big event/turning point yet in my life. Duh, I'm applying to college trying to get to a turning point in my life. It's only been 17 years.
So, like, what the heck am I supposed to be writing about here? A specific thing or just my "world" like the prompt says? Is it a trick question or what?</p>
<p>Well, like you wrote, if you don’t have a specific event to write about, then that’s that, but you should have a focus to the essay and not jump everywhere, like from home life to school life and then social life. College essays should be something that only you could write about (or something like that), and maybe their worlds were central upon that event. If yours isn’t as centered around an event or whatever, then so be it, but it really really really should be focused on a certain aspect about your life. </p>
<p>Personally, I think you’ll be fine not discussing one specific thing, but ask your English teacher or counselor if you want more advice that can be applied to your essay in particular (that is, if your teacher or whoever is reliable and knows what he/she is doing). You’ll be fine</p>