<p>One's attributes need not be totally unique to make the essay effective. It is their voice and pesonality that needs to come through. For instance, I can think of some attributes that various essays my kids wrote focused on.....being well rounded, taking a setback and making the most of it, leadership, creator/initiator, risk taker, passion in an area, and so forth. Those characteristics are not "unique" but were who they were as people and so they focused the stories they wrote for the essays around who they were, so the adcoms could get to know them. Again, when the reader is done the essays, he should be able to describe the kid and have learned something about the student. The quality of the essay and the message is important. The attribute or characteristic itself need not be unique but HOW it is written, THAT matters and should stand out and not be ordinary.</p>
<p>I personally don't think being short is such a disability and I would not focus so much on that. I would pick her strengths and run with those. Perhaps weaving in that she happens to be short and maybe is not taken seriously in whatever it is that the essay is about might work but I would not make it the focus. </p>
<p>That said, when writing about overcoming something, the "something" need not be major. My younger D also wrote an essay about the effect on her when her sister left for college this past fall. It is a wonderful essay. It is not what one would think of in terms of a "hardship" but it was a more "normal" event yet still had an impact on her. Often when you get that essay prompt and you have led a fairly "easy" life with no big hardships or setbacks, you can still find things in every day life that you dealt with...my other D wrote one essay about the year she was unable to be on the soccer team having played for 12 years and what she did instead. Made a great essay the way she wrote it. My younger D and I joked when she was in intensive care several weeks ago about how she NOW had a big setback she had to overcome (from injuries sustained in a terrible car crash) and how too bad her college essays were now over with! But really, often it is the "smaller" things that can sometimes make a great essay for college and most of all, have the child's personality shine through. </p>
<p>Susan</p>