<p>For my Personal Statement I'm thinking about writing about me moving High Schools and starting with nothing. No friends and a totally new life. My focus will be that I went to a debate club meeting one day, liked it, and that it eventually opened me up. I did a lot of stuff, Partner Debates, some comedy, and became a much more confident orator. </p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Is it too self-piteous? Boring/"Done before?" Not appropriate to the prompt? </p>
<p>Also, is there anything I should specifically not mention or themes I should shy away from? </p>
Did your new school have a gang of vampires posing as students? Even then, though…</p>
<p>I said “boring, at least the way you phrased it.” If you had four sentences to pitch me your essay and you told me what you wrote above, I wouldn’t be keen to hear the rest. I might even think something along the lines of “first world problems.” </p>
<p>Are you even interested in it? If you inspired by this idea, wouldn’t you have written your essay already? </p>
<p>Maybe you can make it great. Few do, so I’m not going to hold my breath. Nor should you…</p>
<p>
Take a few deep breaths. Don’t waste your hours trying to come up with the “perfect” essay. It’s not going to happen like that. The only way you’ll get anywhere is by writing a draft of this, or another idea you have right now. Maybe you’ll like it. Maybe you’ll think of something else to write halfway through. Whatever. It’s good to at least have something on paper. </p>
<p>I wrote opinion pieces in my college newspaper. Some weeks, the night before deadline I had not thought of a topic. One of these nights, I tried thinking for hours on what to write about, tried reading other newspapers for inspiration, but I just wasn’t getting anywhere. So I said “eff it,” and I turned off my display and just started writing. I think I wrote rough drafts on three different topics before truly feeling inspired about an idea. Had I never been inspired, I at least would have had three bad ideas, one of which I probably could have made acceptable. </p>
<p>At that point I thought I had written about all I had wanted to write about (that would make for a strong column). Try that for overwhelming. You are not at that point, because you have an idea you think could work and haven’t really written anything yet. So WRITE!!</p>
<p>It sounds to me like you want to go from self-pitying to boastful. You don’t need to tell the reader here about your great oratory skills. </p>
<p>Maybe try this approach: Think about someone you know who really likes you. If they were asked to describe something special about you - not an accomplishment or skill but about who you really are as a person - what would it be? Find an anecdote that really to those traits and present it in an interesting and humble way.</p>
<p>Hmm, I like that approach, I think I’ll try it. It’s going to be tough to find that balance between being a braggart yet still saying that I am indeed a good orator. Thanks!</p>