avantgardener

How can you spin a traumatic experience to not make it sound like you just want the admissions officers to let you in because they feel bad for you, yet still explain how this affected your academic performance?

In my case I was sexually harassed for being gay in my sophomore year and became severely depressed and my grades suffered because of it. I may or may not write my actual application essay about this, but I will definitely write about it in the space where you can explain inconsistencies/etc in your transcript.

I'm worried, though, that they will think I'm just whining...

tweety218721

I have a similar problem. I was raped at my old high school my freshman year and it really affected my grades. I think that if you are going to write an essay, don't talk about it too much and don't really go into a lot of detail. What I'm doing is for three of the colleges I'm applying to is writing an essay and basically just putting that that I am a survivor (not victim) of a violent assault. Then I go into how I recuperated after the attack by talking about releasing emotions through dance, thinking about my future, and how much my family and friends supported/helped me through the recovery process. My college counselor is also going to say in her recommendation letter that I was assaulted and it affected me emotionally and physically and I couldn't perform to my full potential and leave it at that.

It's nice to find someone who has gone through something similar. I've felt all alone with having something traumatic happen. So, where all are you applying to? I'm applying to Scripps, Pepperdine, Mills, the University of Denver, possibly a few more religious schools and a few state schools.

If you ever want to talk or have more questions, I'm here.

tweety218721

Also, I have no problem with gay people, but the person reviewing your application might. Just to be careful, I would probably just say you were harassed and that it affected you psychologically. I hope this helps.

srabiee

I think it would be ridiculously narrow-minded if the person discriminated on the basis of your sexuality. But it makes sense that it could happen. Horrible

I know what you mean about being whiny. I don't want to write about the abuse I suffered in my childhood because of that and the fact that it brings back terrible memories. I'm trying to think of a nice neutral topic that I can still write uniquely upon.