<p>Hi everyone! :)</p>
<p>So I will be a senior next year an I am trying to organize the essays for all my college applications. One of the main things I kind of want to address would how my parents' divorce affected my grades (a lot of B's but in all AP and honors classes) my freshmen and sophomore years, and how I have overcome that (now have straight A's in all AP classes). However, I don't want it to come across as a sob story. One idea I had was to show how I have overcome the traumatic period outside of school.</p>
<p>During the summer before my junior year, after everything with my parent's had calmed down, I made the conscious decision that I wasn't going to let the situation affect my anymore and that I needed to make some changes in my life. This thought process was applied to both my grades and my life outside of school. One of the major changes that I made was getting healthy. Through eating clean and exercising regularly, I have since lost over 100+ pounds and have been able to help my family (my mom and my siblings) get healthy as well. </p>
<p>I have read that essays about weight loss can be risky as they can make a person come off as superficial. I know this really changed my life for the better, but would it be a good topic for an application essay to top colleges?</p>
<p>Bump. Please help!</p>
<p>Admissions counselors want to read interesting essays that make you stand out as an individual and as an asset to their community. I think writing about weight loss (congrats, by the way! Losing over 100+ pounds is incredible. Good on you for being healthy) would be a fine topic if you focused less on the weight loss itself and more on how it impacted you and your future.</p>
<p>What did you learn from your weight loss journey? How will you bring these lessons into your future at whatever college you apply to? What did you learn about yourself, your ability to overcome challenges, and your ability to relate to others on a global perspective? Introduce the circumstances surrounding your low point in life (divorce, grades) and then spend the rest of your space talking about how the things you learned will make you a better, more aware individual.</p>
<p>It’s a great idea to address your (minor) dip in grades and then follow it up with your improved grades following your weight loss. If you want to avoid turning your essay into a sob story, avoid focusing too much on the divorce - say enough to give your reader an idea of the circumstances leading to your big life change, and then focus on how it relates to you and what you can bring to your prospective college community. </p>
<p>Plan on writing your essay and then having someone unrelated to you read it to make sure that your points and personal growth are clear. </p>
<p>That’s all I can think of. Good luck!</p>
<p>Weight management has been thought of as only weight loss by many. Weight management covers all aspects of attaining and maintaining optimum weight for a healthy lifestyle. Health professionals now realize that prevention of weight gain as well as weight loss and improving health status are important goals. These goals must be individualized for success. At the outset of treatment, the patient and health care provider should discuss and agree upon goals. The goals must take into account the food habits, exercise behaviors, psychological outlook and support systems of the individual.</p>