<p>Good or bad? I'm 18, but I think the event that REALLY changed my outlook in life happened when I was 8-9. </p>
<p>Or should I just go for a more recent event?</p>
<p>Well, Im in your boat too because everything that happened in my life, leading up til now, makes me who i am because i learned young.</p>
<p>Id imagine that most admisisons officers would want something more recent though just because 18 and 9 are a big difference in age!!</p>
<p>If it was really that influential and you feel like you’d write your best around that topic, then you could go ahead and use it, but focus on how it impacted you leading up to now. Adcoms want to find out about who you are now and judge you on whether you’d be the kind of student they’d like to see walking around campus. Or, if possible, you might be able to get away with simply not mentioning that it happened when you were 9 or 10, and have the readers just assume it happened more recently, but it depends on the situation.</p>
<p>I was thinking of not telling adcoms that it happened 9 years ago. </p>
<p>I’ve also read excellent essays that didn’t have any specificity with regards to when their story started. So I’m still considering writing about a more recent event. </p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your opinion!</p>
<p>Just make sure to connect it to who you are now and I’d think it would be a good essay topic.</p>
<p>haha. lol. k. thanks :)</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter when the event happened as long as it was really meaningful to you. I wouldn’t expect it to hurt you if you mention it.</p>
<p>Hmmm… I’m writing my essay on an influential person… and that kind of started about 7 years ago… but I’m writing my essay about how it has affected me over time and how it affects me now.</p>
<p>Maybe you could make your essay more about how that event has affected your life more recently and how it affects you now? Make the essay more current by talking about what it does now for you?</p>
<p>That topic should be no trouble at all if it is really something that has shaped your worldview. Be prepared to give examples of how it has changed the person you are today. If I were on the Adcom I’d have zero problems with this.</p>
<p>@AUGirl
Yes, that is what I will do. </p>
<p>@CollegeATeam
Example/s would be definitely there. The reason why I’m not so confident writing about this is I’ve read on a site that writing about an event more than 3 years ago is a big MISTAKE.</p>
<p>I had some teachers suggest that to me when i couldnt think of a subject. but i would definitely make sure you tie it EXTENSIVELY to who you are now.</p>
<p>You’d go crazy trying to follow every little piece of advice out there on application essays. Those are all guidelines, not rules (even the ones on our website, haha.)</p>
<p>You sound pretty sure that this topic works for you, so go for it. As long as you think an admissions officer will like it, write about it.</p>