Can you learn and grow from your experiences?

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. This question is really about showing admissions officers how your background has shaped you. Can you learn and grow from your experiences? By identifying an experience or trait that is vital to your story, you’re also showing what kind of person you see yourself as — do you value your leadership abilities or your determination to overcome challenges? Your intellectual curiosity or your artistic talent? Everyone has more than one important trait, but in answering this prompt, you’re telling admissions officers what you think is your most significant quality. For example, if I were writing an essay on this topic, I would probably write about my life-long obsession with books. I’d start with a story about how my parents worried I read to much as a kid, give some specific examples of things I’ve learned from particular books, and talk about how my enthusiasm for reading was so extreme it sometimes interfered with my actual life (like the time I tripped and fell because I couldn’t be bothered to put down my book long enough to walk from my room to the kitchen). Then I would tie it all together by explaining how my love of reading has taught me to look for ideas in unexpected places. You don’t want your essay to read like a resume: it shouldn’t be a list of accomplishments. Remember that your essay needs to add something to the rest of your application, so it also shouldn’t focus on something you’ve already covered unless you have a really different take on it. Also try to avoid generic and broad topics: you don’t want your essay to feel like it could’ve been written by any student. As I touched on above, one way to avoid this problem is to be very specific — rather than writing generally about your experience as the child of immigrants you might tell a story about a specific family ritual or meaningful moment.