<p>I'm debating between the topic about "failure that affected/changed you" and "event that marked a transition from childhood to adulthood." </p>
<p>Failure:
My GPA is was well under 3.4 (and I think even 2.7?) in my 7th and 8th grade. I didn't pass Algebra I in 7th grade and was forced to retake it. I didn't receive an honors chord (which over 30 people out of 130 received in my eighth grade graduating class). </p>
<p>In high school, I'm rank 5 in a 580+ class, received virtually straight A's with rigorous schedules. I caught up in math through summer school and passed AP Calc with a 5 and all A's.
I went from regular geometry in 9th grade, summer school in Alg 2, then Trig Honors, AP Calc AB, and now AP Calc BC. I received/will receive A's in all these math classes after being one of the 4-5 students who failed Algebra I.
(It sounds really cocky but I'm just trying to get my general topic across, I also won't brag about my high school grades and stuff. I just want you guys to understand how I changed from my failure).</p>
<p>Transition:
My dad had to leave my family to just my mother, my younger brother, and me to work out of state. It taught me responsibility, esp. to my younger brother. (I'll obviously elaborate a lot more but again, just trying to get the general topic down).</p>
<p>Which one would be a better writing topic for the Common App prompt? How would/should I approach it and what should I focus on?</p>
<p>Your first story is so much like mine that I cannot believe it. I was a B-/C+student all the way through seventh grade. I finally received an F in a math class (my first F) and was shaking like a leaf taking that report card home to my father, who would absolutely explode when he saw that. I convinced the teacher that my life was in danger (not really, but I was intensely scared) and vowed to myself that I never wanted to go through with that again. The teacher changed the grade to a D, somehow knowing that I would change. And I did. From that time on until I graduated from high school, I received only one B and the rest A’s. I graduated 9th out of 635 students in my class. To this day I can still remember my fear/chagrin/embarrassment. It’s one of my strongest memories.</p>
<p>And that’s the point. Forget the idea of which topic will be best. Instead think about which moment is the strongest in your memory. A single powerful memory can lead to a powerful essay done right.</p>
<p>How to approach it? Use that powerful memory of a single moment. In my case it was the school bus ride home wondering how I was going to explain this to my father and the sheer fear and embarrassment I felt. And make that moment the opening paragraph of your essay. Like the “cold open” of a movie, it draws the reader(viewer) into the story right away. Do this even before explaining how that moment came about.</p>
<p>The rest of the essay should come easily once you’ve tackled that first paragraph.</p>
<p>Yes, I chose the first one. I was actually weeping and sniffing the whole time I wrote the first one. My friends mocked me in front of my teachers.</p>
<p>I was one of the 2-3 students denied going on a field trip and and cried at home. My teacher called me out in class the next day about why I was too much of a coward to show up to school.</p>
<p>It was very touching and easy to write after the first paragraph. Thank you!</p>
<p>Would anyone be nice enough to read/critique it if I PM it to them? I was crying the whole time I wrote it, so it might have some awkward parts in it.</p>
<p>Let me see what you came up with.</p>
<p>You can PM your essay to me if you like.</p>