Which Essay Category would this fall under?

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

Hey Guys! I was curious about which prompt my essay idea would best fall under. My idea was based off me facing a hard struggle after being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which destroyed my dream of serving as an officer in the military, from which I was able to overcome my obstacle, leading me to achieve great things since then that I did not think was possible.

I figured it would fall under prompt 1 or 2. Which prompt do you think I should write it under?

  1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

  2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

2

Do #2! The first one is the most commonly used one so it’d set your essay apart (marginally) from most others right off the bat.

3

Do you mean that you were medically disqualified from the military? If so, that’s not a failure, just an unfortunate circumstance. I’d go with prompt 1. In general, it doesn’t really matter as long as your essay is impactful - the reader is taking ~5 minutes to see how well you’d fit in at the school, not how well you fit the prompt.

4

Number 1 for sure. A disease is not a failure.

5

Unless type 1 diabetes is THE defining thing u want the adcomms to characterize u by, then pick prompt 2.

6

I’d go with #2. You want to focus on how you overcame the obstacle and I think prompt #2 fits that bet.

7

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