<p>I've been brainstorming some ideas for the CA, and so far this is what I've come up with. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>About finding gymnastics during my sophomore year in high school. I took a really keen interest in gymnastics during my freshman year and began lessons during my sophomore year. For those of you who aren't aware, gymnastics is a sport where you usually reach your peak some time between 15-19, so for me to be starting at this age is fairly unusual (I'm pretty much the oldest student at my gym). The essay would focus on discovering that sometimes doors close on you and there's not much you can do about it except enjoy what you can (as in, I'll never be a competitive gymnast, but I can still just enjoy gymnastics for gymnastics' sake.) This is an ok essay, I framed it in the context of finding the one place that I was truly "at home" as being at gymnastics. </p></li>
<li><p>About being strong. I'm very petite and have a small stature, but I can crank out push-ups like nobody's business (think about 50 or so), and in this way I've always challenged people's expectations of me. There's also some stuff in there about learning how empowering it is to be strong. I like this essay because it starts off with some dialogue and a story about doing push-ups in gym class and me beating all the boys :P</p></li>
<li><p>A story about me learning how to drive. I pretty much suck at driving, and this essay is kind of a humorous reflection on that and series of little stories and stuff about it. I kind of stuck it under the "failure" essay prompt, because I consider myself to be a failure at driving, but it's pretty loosely connected, and doesn't really have a "point" so to speak, it's more just entertaining. </p></li>
<li><p>About me trying to learn how to do a back handspring at gymnastics. This is funny, because I describe it in terms of the injuries I've suffered while trying to learn, the only bad part is that it's kind of exaggerated, and without the exaggeration, it's hard to make the essay work. It's still true at the heart of it, I did fall on my face a lot of times while trying to learn a back handspring, but I make it sound worse than it was. This is the only essay where the draft is within the word limit.</p></li>
<li><p>My most (really only) emotional essay, about me trying to save my sick guinea pig, Carver, the summer after my freshman year. I felt a little choked up while writing it, and since I'm not an emotional person, I thought that was a good sign. The draft is almost double the word limit though, which is concerning, and I'm not sure it comfortably fits under the CA prompt I was using (the failure one). I tried to spin it as a failure, because I didn't end up saving him despite my best efforts (4+ hand-feedings a day), and that I learned that even when you fail at something, that doesn't necessarily make it a failure. It's your feelings toward something that make it a failure. My other problem with this essay, is that it kind of reveals my family's upper-middle classness. I talk about taking Carver to a specialized veterinary hospital and getting medication for him, which I think could be considered pretty frivolous by any one whose family income doesn't crack 6 figures. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So what do you guys think? I like all of them, and with enough TLC, any of them could probably work, but is there any that sticks out to you as being an essay YOU would want to read? (Also, I know they always say there should be dialogue if possible, and I managed to incorporate it into 2,3,4 and 5, if that factors into your decision at all.) </p>