<p>I've thought about the common app essays and have come up with two ideas. </p>
<p>For the prompt regarding failure:
I would write about the time I got rejected from the NJ Scholars Program. I had an interview which I prepared extensively for...I gave up my lunchtimes to practice & sought the help of numerous teachers and my guidance counselor. I went into the interview, thought I did great, and ended up not making the program.</p>
<p>I was devastated, but I went right back online and researched another program...one which I applied to just in time and got accepted into. I learned that even when I put in my best effort, I will sometimes experience failure...but as long as I don't let my motivation waver after this failure, I will find success.</p>
<p>For the prompt regarding my transition from childhood to adulthood:
I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a middle schooler and during high school my orthopedic told me I would need to wear a bulky back brace for over 20 hours a day. I didn't wear the brace...going against the orders of both my mom and my doctor. My curve got a lot worse & now I experience numerous complications..</p>
<p>"Adulthood" for me means suffering the consequences of my own decisions...like the bad one I made above.</p>
<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>I actually prefer the second one. I think that’s an interesting way to define adulthood. Medical issues are best left to your GC if you’re going to try to use them as an explanation for poor grades, lack of ECs, low test scores, etc. It doesn’t sound like that’s what you’re doing here. You’re not trying to use your condition as an excuse, in fact, you seem to be doing the opposite of that, acknowledging that to can’t use it as an excuse because you contributed to part of the complications by not following your doctor’s orders. I think it could be a very I testing essay. You could also make this work for the prompt about failure, since you failed to listen to your doctor’s orders. The first one runs the risk of sounding too arrogant or like a “first world problem.” I know people who are writing about failing to convert their dying family members to Christianity, failing to protect their older siblings from becoming addicted to drugs, and other things like that. Imagine an admissions officer reading that essay and then reading that your most life-changing failure was not getting into some academic program. And honestly, most people the lesson you learned from that is what most people who answer that prompt are going to say was their lesson: I learned that you can’t win them all, but you should always try. That analysis is too surface-level. I think the lesson you learned from the second is better and has the potential to be a much more interesting, insightful essay. </p>
<p>@430ktk Thank you for your help! I do think that I’d have more to write about my scoliosis…and I wouldn’t be using it to gain sympathy, because it was my own fault in the end.</p>