<p>I want to write a common app essay for college on "Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you."</p>
<p>Which of these experiences are best fit:-</p>
<ol>
<li>Dealing with my mom's death at the age of 10.</li>
<li>Watching my best friend get hit by a car in front of me when I was 6</li>
<li>Living in three different countries Sudan, Saudi Arabia and USA</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you for the answer ;)</p>
<p>Why can’t you include them all in one essay?</p>
<p>If you want to choose only one, choose that which had most of an effect on you. I doubt that a six year old’s trauma would have much of a sway on academic and personal development now.</p>
<p>Your mothers death is more recent and could be used to explain discrepancies, but be careful not to twist a story of loss into a pity party.</p>
<p>Those are all experiences - yes - but you need to look at what the essay prompt is truly asking. It wants you to explain why you can take advantage of what that school is offering with experiential evidence.</p>
<p>I thought of including all of them in the essay, but then the essay will be ridiculously long. </p>
<p>I could include (3,2) in one essay since they overlap, but I imagine it will leave the reader in a pity. So do you think I should go with the six year old experience?</p>
<p>You could include 2 and 3 in one essay as long as you segue into something positive about your experiences, desires, and goals. The admissions officers want to see how you will use their college, what your gifts are, and what you’ll be able to give back to the school. Loss can be a fine topic for that as long as it is done skillfully and with good taste.</p>
<p>If the Sudan and Saudi Arabia have made a large impact on you, it would be in your best interest to speak of that in another essay or mention it in the “Evaluate…” essay. Universities crave diversity in worldview and experience so if you think that your travels have shaped either, you should mention them.</p>
<p>I think I will write about my experience in the three different countries.
Thanks</p>