Would you check out my essay please?

<p>This is my college essay, I would like to get some feedback on it if you wouldn't mind, my teachers liked it but I don't know if it is really even that good. PM's would be cool to, any form of feed back would be great...thanks =]</p>

<p>"Falling Through Time" by jc009</p>

<p>The ticking of the clock,
As the time spins around
I’m falling from a majestic grandfather clock
The grandfather of time…of my time.</p>

<p>Images on a movie screen flash, flash…
They appear, barely recognizable
A fading blur in the misty air
I’m frozen in flight, consumed by memories.</p>

<p>I catch a glimpse of a happier time.
I am four years old and free of worries.
My mom’s face splits into a wide smile,
Healthy, vibrant, full of life.
Those precious times when we never left each other’s side.
Singing “Lime in the Coconut” through any weather.</p>

<p>I’m shocked back in reality, and falling further away.
The clock spins violently out of control,
Soundless, motionless. I’m frozen again,
Another memory has pulled me under.</p>

<p>I am six, and with my mom
A different time, a different place.
Not the kitchen in which we sang,
But a place for the diseased,
A nursing home, from where she is sure to never return.</p>

<p>Again, I’m brought back to my pain-stricken time,
Falling through the rain-drenched air
The memories swirl, awaiting my halt
Once again, I’m sent back to the world I left behind
Now, I’m eight, and the disease has progressed
I stand beside her, in her bed of feathery cotton.
I heard the words, spoken for the last time
The words I long to hear again to this day.
A simple “I love you” escapes her lips.</p>

<p>And then I never heard them from her again.</p>

<p>And now I’m back, falling further still
The hands slowing down to a sluggish pace.
Time is running out.
But there is still enough,
For just one last memory.</p>

<p>Back in the present,
My current and continuous remembrance.
I’m standing in the same place I stood eight years ago,
The same place I heard those final words
Now, I look, and see her, but she’s not the same
She’s merely a body, a shell of her former self,
Alive by a solitary feeding tube.
The tears I have fought to hold back since the beginning
Are trickling down, like grains of sand in an hourglass,
Upon her hand, clutched in mine
I’m trapped in this memory for infinity.
Eternal.
Everlasting.
Forever.</p>

<p><strong><em>Continued on Next Page</em></strong></p>

<pre><code> "Shattered Dreams"

The poem I attached to this essay contains the only memories I have of my mom that I can remember. She was thirty years old when she was admitted to the nursing home, I was only six years old. At that age, I didn’t really know any better. I still saw her a couple times a week (My parents were divorced), she still talked…there was nothing really different. Then her condition worsened, and two years later she stopped talking altogether. Of course, at eight I was finally told that she had Multiple Sclerosis and would no longer be able to speak. The years passed and as I grew healthy and strong, she became worse and worse
The older I got the more aware of my mom’s condition I became. I’ve learned that she can live as long as she has a feeding tube, with no hope to recover. With this news she lost her own dream of becoming a famous actress as well as seeing me grow up. I, however, have lost the dreams of having her attend my high school graduation, see me off to college, witness my college graduation, be at my wedding. I have also lost any dream of hearing her speak again. The last words I heard her say were “I love you”, and I have not left those words.
Despite her condition, I went through school happy, the way I knew she would want me to. I went into high school as a freshman with a totally clean slate. I knew right then and there what I wanted to accomplish. I worked as hard as I could to receive honors and be accepted into the advanced program. I joined numerous clubs such as literacy team, math club, yearbook, drama, and yearbook, student council to keep me active in the school community. I later worked up to become assistant stage manager of crew, achieve honors in my honors classes, social committee boy in student council, and president of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). I have taken an interest in the humanities (outside of the United States), philosophy of ancient thinkers, ancient European culture, mathematics, science, creative writing and other areas of English. I am interested in learning the cultures of places outside of the United States (especially the language). I dream of snorkeling and exploring the Great Barrier Reef, climbing Mt. Everest, hang gliding over the Grand Canyon, step dancing in Ireland, exploring the pyramids of Egypt, visiting the seven wonders of the ancient world and skydiving under the northern lights.
I want to do be an author, a traveler, a teacher, an engineer, a pilot, an actor, a director and a girl’s mister wonderful. I want to do everything my mom couldn’t do, be everything she couldn’t be, see everything she couldn’t see, learn everything she couldn’t learn. I want to live my life in a way she never could, like I know she would want me to do and knows I can do. I’m going to live my life to the fullest and it all starts in the fall of 2009.
</code></pre>

<p>It's definitely memorable, for the fact that it begins with a poem.</p>

<p>It makes you want to go "aww."</p>

<p>The only things I can see the admissions people thinking negatively on would be 1) the fact that it seems like you're just listing stuff that you've done, instead of a focus on a few events or 2) that you're trying to get sympathy for talking about an ill relative.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, some admissions people do think that for the latter.</p>

<p>But I like it.</p>

<p>aww, very sweet. the poem depresses me.</p>

<p>i don't think that the admissions people will think too negatively about you focusing on a relative, since its obviously been a huge effect on you. but, idk, i'm obviously not an admissions counselor.</p>

<p>i like it :D</p>

<p>Hilsa is totally being honest. I think the poem was stand-out... a little "corny", per say, but you have a way with rhetoric. You showed that you can have syntactic variety and your have a decent vocabulary. Half-way through the essay you just started listing stuff... And somewhat bragging; your essay is heartfelt. I think you should have aimed to let the admissions people "know you" in this essay. It kind of feels like you wrote an introduction to a book (biography... I'm possibly contradicting myself by saying that.) rather than an essay. But you did show your aspiration which is always a plus.</p>

<p>I never thought of it that way...again, an example of my school screwing me over. The little letters we got, and the teachers told us that we should talk about a personal issue, that we should say our accomplishments, that we should say how we overcame the issue...i gave it to 4 or 5 teachers and they said it was great.</p>

<p>I wish i posted this BEFORE the application was due, then maybe i could have made something truly college worthy...</p>

<p>The poem was written WAY before the essay though, and that i truly love....but i shouldn't have done the listing...i wish somebody caught that before, instead of telling me it was "awesome" -_-</p>

<p>Well, this is how I feel about college essays...</p>

<p>20,000 essays are being written... Make yours stand out. There are gonna be essays about tradgedys, not having a dad aaround, deceased family members, etc. You need to think simple but abstract.</p>

<p>I know this guy who wrote an amazing essay on showing 4th graders how to make paper planes.</p>

<p>By no means is your essay bad... It stands out because of your use of language and the poem, but the topic is bland. No offense to your mother... I'm sure she was an outstanding woman.</p>

<p>You didn't need to list the activities because that's what the additional information section is for!</p>

<p>Agreed...I didn't realize that, and like i said apparently others didn't either...but i should have looked at it more.</p>

<p>I never thought about the facts, like you said, 20,000 essays...family tragedies etc, but it was the only thing i was "passionate" about i guess...i never thought of writing something abstract, i didn't think that was an option, if you know what i mean</p>

<p>Do you think its going to be a big problem with being accepted?</p>

<p>Yes, that's the only somewhat major problem. You're just listing stuff you did, stuff you want to do, and stuff you want to be. It lacks depth. If you would have just focused on one EC, one goal, and one career aspiration, it would be been a bit better.</p>

<p>Don't think I have amazing intelligence in literature or something, though. But my AP Lang teacher last year drilled into us that quality is better than quantity, as cliche as that sounds.</p>

<p>My essay was about Spongebob and sexual therapy. I understand passionate, but you could have been passionate by thinking of some abstract booty-stuff and had a passionate drive in creating an abstact essay.</p>

<p>You should still at least try writing another essay for colleges with deadlines on the fifteenth about cursing someone out in an FBLA competition--seriously, you could have written on your mom in great detail about the nursing home and noting a woman "who took off her shirt and ran rampantly around the room with her boobs swinging wildly."</p>

<p>Your essay can be fabricated. I suggest re-writing it for places like Wake Forest and WashU and add in humor and other stuff and keep the thing about you wanting to be everything your mother couldn't.</p>

<p>I'm not suggesting you won't get into Vanderbilt, because I am praying for you and everyone on here to attend. I'm just wanting you to write a better essay! You know? Trying to be a big brother.</p>

<p>Thanks alot, your giving me some hope...</p>

<pre><code> If i rewrite it, would you mind giving it a look for me? It would be greatly apprieciated...I'm not sure if i'm going to have the time to do it, with midterms this week and other papers, but i should be able to do it hopefully, i want to find one more school to apply to XD

Also, should i keep the poem?
</code></pre>

<ol>
<li>Of course I will read it. <a href="mailto:vagina.power@gmail.com">vagina.power@gmail.com</a></li>
<li>You're welcome. I am here to help everyone.</li>
<li>Keep the poem.</li>
<li>I will help you as much as possible man. And we will use that essay as a supplement to your application. Okay?</li>
</ol>

<p>"Your essay can be fabricated. I suggest re-writing it for places like Wake Forest and WashU and add in humor and other stuff and keep the thing about you wanting to be everything your mother couldn't." </p>

<p>I wouldn't fabricate your essay, if I were you. You lose your voice, which is crucial in an essay [read the Vandy Admissions blog].</p>

<p>Humour doesn't really mean a better essay. It's why some comedy movies suck and others win Academy Awards/Golden Globes. </p>

<p>Jc2009, if you're a funny person, then yes, adding humour might be good. But if you're not [which isn't a bad thing], please do not put that in your essay.</p>

<p>ok....sounds good, thanks alot! </p>

<p>i hope i can find a school or two that i like with a deadline that hasn't passed yet</p>

<p>I mean fabricate as in make up the damn essay. I made up mine haha. It is totally not a true story. He can use the same premise but add in things that didn't happen... just as long as it sounds like something he would say.</p>

<p>But Hilsa, you do have a point.</p>

<p>Hilsa, i read your essay on your myspace.....and it was amazingly good, put mine right into the ground XD</p>

<p>Do you have any suggestions for me? Other than take the activity part out, what can i do?</p>

<p>Ok. I would pick one activity out of the list and emphasize on it, putting in as many details [not necessarily adjectives] as possible. The more descriptive an essay is, the more interesting it is.</p>

<p>You found my myspace? Interesting. I'm glad you liked my essay. I think I'll post it on here to give other people an example of "simple but abstract."</p>

<p>Scrap the whole essay and use only the "I want to see everything my mother hasn't seen." Keep the premise. Eject the EC's. Keep the poem. Rename the title... It's too generic. And just be yourself man. Type how you speak, but with grammer. Like if I were to write the essay I would say:</p>

<p>And then I watched my mom lay there... silently. She cut her eyes at me and mumbled, "I love you." As the tears filled my eyes, knowing something was wrong with my mother, I grabbed her hand and tried to reply. My lips didn't move, maybe they were glued shut from the gum resting in my jaw.</p>

<p>Try to be somewhat INformal.</p>

<p>I wrote eloquently... kinda, and it has a distinct voice.</p>

<p>I never thought of it like that. Kind of like a story...I will try it, and I'll see how it goes then send it over to you and Hilsa....thanks so much</p>

<p>Also, is the poem ok, or should i change it?</p>

<p>The poem is okay. You know, maybe you should shorten it to four lines? To make it stand out. Kinda of like you're trying to say something important.</p>

<p>When you argue
Hold them tightly
When they cry
Cry with them</p>

<p>Or even try a haiku.</p>

<p>Dead mother lays
Many tears fall
Sadness.</p>