<p>My daughter is having trouble answering the question “Discuss any obstacles and/or hardships you have encountered and how you dealt with them.” She doesn’t think she’s had any obstacles in her life (must be nice, right). She is a happy, and likes her life, friends, family. She is involved in lots of service activities, and had done very well in school. Her parents are financially secure, and she has had a comfortable life to this point. </p>
<p>What do you say?</p>
<p>You don’t have to answer that question, or any other that does not apply. Or she answer truthfully “I am fortunate in that I have never had to overcome hardship in my life.” Adcoms will appreciate such refreshing candor.
I think both my Ss left that question unanswered.</p>
<p>wolfpackmom, I had the exact same issue trying to answer that question. We ruled out trivial issues like breaking up with a boyfriend, etc. and just could not come up with anything meaningful. We responded to the question by stating that we were fortunate to not have to face any significant hardships that were worth mentioning. I have never been so happy to not be able to answer a question.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys, and like you I am grateful for a child (especially a daughter) who does not have any major issues to deal with.</p>
<p>I really don’t think this has to be a major life issue. For example, even if you are a straight A student, was there a subject that required more of your time and attention? Or that you didn’t care for at first, but came to appreciate? I do alum interviews - one person told me about how there was a literal traffic jam in the school hallways in the same place each day and how she got the administration to address it. Talk about obstacles, LOL. I had other students tell me about how they faced challenges with being able to schedule everything they wanted within the confines of the high school offerings or how they had to choose between two activities they really liked. Others would discuss teachers with teaching styles to which they had to adjust.</p>
<p>I can’t tell by your question if this was an optional question for noting extenuating circumstances or an essay or short answer prompt that they expect everyone to answer. If it is the latter, I agree with roshke that a child doesn’t have to have had any major obstacles in life. I would say my kids haven’t had any either. But I often ask my advisees what is the most difficult thing they have ever had to do. For instance, one of my seniors explained to me how he had to choose between two activities he loved due to schedule conflicts. While my D did not have this exact essay prompt, I recall a personal essay she wrote about what it was like when her sister left home for college freshmen year (the year this child was applying to college) and analyzing and facing what that meant for her…overcoming it, if you will. One can lead a comfortable life with no major hardships but still have to deal with something that is difficult or challenging or different.</p>
<p>To omit the question is to forego an opportunity to reveal the applicant to the AdCom.</p>
<p>To omit the question is to forego an opportunity to show the AdCom that one can survive the inevitable difficulties that will arise in college.</p>
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<p>No obstacles? Nothing was ever challenging? Never competed and lost or underperformed? Never were challenged by art, playing an instrument, writing? Never had disagreements with friends? Nothing was ever difficult? Never stumped by homework? Never disappointed in anyone? Always see eye-to-eye with parents, siblings (if any), every single teacher? Never bored in church? Never treated unjustly? Never had to apologize? Enjoyed gym every day? Ever have to function on a lack of sleep? Never saw friends suffer? Never felt uneasy about anything in the history of this country? Never were the new kid? Never had a bad day? Never were nervous? Never embarrassed? Any problems with public speaking?</p>
<p>Basically what ADad said. I would be horribly unimpressed if someone told me they had never been challenged by anything. Challenge can easily equate to motivation. </p>
<p>I seriously doubt she´s never been challenged at all. There must have been some school project that she struggled to get a B or C or D on, or a play she had to memorize lines for, or a moral dilemna, or a friend in need, or something.</p>
<p>I think a lot of kids have difficulty with that question, because they think in terms of major life issues, and don’t want their smaller obstacles to appear trivial. My D wrote about dealing with a coach who wasn’t playing her much and how she diplomatically dealt with the situation. She was concerned that she would be one of many kids who wrote about the same type of problem.</p>
<p>The question doesn’t ask whether the applicant was challenged. It asks her to describe hardships and/or obstacles.</p>
<p>Challenge and obstacle can be interchangeable depending on the situation. An obstacle usually presents a challenge. If something is a challenge to you then it is somewhat of an obstacle in an otherwise smooth path.</p>
<p>I agree that it would be kind of hard for whoever is reading the app. to believe that the average high school student has never faced any obstacles/challenges in their life.</p>
<p>OP, has your D ever had a job? Mine could have written reams about that one.</p>
<p>Admissions representatives know that not every student has faced major life hurdles at 17. As with most essay questions, this can be interpreted broadly. If the question is on the main part of the application or comes up in an interview (and not, as soozievt stated, on some kind of addendum for extenuating circumstances) I think you run the greater risk of showing a lack of imagination and/or the ability to engage in self reflection by not answering. As for the wording of the question itself “hardships or obstacles” means one OR the other - and an obstacle can certainly be synonymous with a challenge.</p>
<p>I agree with the above. If the question is not optional and is meant as one of the essay or short answer prompts, or is in an interview, it should be answered. I think people tend to jump to the conclusion that obstacles can only be interpreted to be major life challenges which many kids have not yet faced. But an obstacle can be any level of challenge and not a life changing type of event! All kids have to overcome some sort of obstacle no matter how small. It does not have to be a death in the family, a hospitalization, a house burning down, a parent losing a job, a divorce, etc. </p>
<p>While not an “obstacle” prompt, but an “activity” prompt, one of my kids wrote about not making the soccer team junior year (there were no goalie openings and that was her position) after 11 years of playing on a team and all the training she did to get onto the team that year, and what she did instead that season (coached a youth soccer team) and how she did not quit the sport but came but came back senior year to be the starting varsity goalie, etc. In many ways, this would be an overcoming an obstacle essay even though that was not the prompt.</p>
<p>We took it as a question designed to explain extenuating circumstances for a less than stellar record or show how a student had achieved in the face of adversity.</p>
<p>My S could have chosen to write about what a challenge it was for him to walk from his k-8 school to the high school 4 days a week in order to take AP-Physics. But to him, it was not an obstacle to be overcome, more an opportunity that he greatly desired.</p>
<p>I recently met a young woman who had brain surgery then heart surgery after her sophomore year in high school. She had to relearn to walk and to speak, to use her left hand instead of her right hand. And she managed to graduate (one year late, to be sure) as valedictorian of her very competitive high school. That is an accomplishment worth highlighting. My S’s “challenge?” Not so much. Really, I don’t think that adcoms want to read about minor teenage dramas.</p>
<p>If it’s optional I would tell my kids to leave it blank if they really didn’t have anything of importance to say. There are some good suggestions from the above posters about how it could be answered if it is a mandatory question. I’m in the camp of keep it simple and to the point. When I read employee responses to surveys there are those that feel they just have to give you paragraphs of info when a sentence or two could have conveyed the exact same info. Too much extraneous blah blah blah can be negatively felt by the reader is what I tell the kids. I also agree with Marite.</p>
<p>One approach when you have overcome no big obstacles is to show instead how you have made the most of your opportuniites or lack of obstacles. That way you can demonstrate that you are an active person creating your own path forward and not merely letting life happen to you.</p>
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<p>NO, NO, NO. If it is a mandatory question*, there is a REASON they asked it.</p>
<p>Based on the purpose that this question had at my undergrad institution, she should absolutely NOT say that she’s never had any obstacles. At my undergrad institution, that answer is a HUGE red flag, because the point of the question is to figure out whether and how the applicant will deal with the obstacles that will be coming up in college. They want some assurance that the applicant has some level of perspective and resilience and won’t crumble at the first setback. Also, if the applicant has never overcome an obstacle, that’s a sign that she hasn’t challenged herself properly.</p>
<p>It does not have to be a major life hardship. Was she never in a sport or other activity where she struggled for competence, or had to recover from an injury? Did she never work for change on some political issue, whether a national one or a school-level one or anything in between, where she faced opposition, or recalcitrance from the powers-that-be? She does service projects - has she never had to contend with and overcome bureaucracy while trying to get a project off the ground?</p>
<p>Now, she should resist the temptation to make something sound like a worse obstacle than it was. Playing it up ridiculously won’t help the case that she’s resilient. You can write a fine essay about overcoming something relatively mundane without making it sound like you have no sense of perspective (in fact, if applicable, such an essay can touch on how you <em>gained</em> a sense of perspective through the experience).</p>
<p>*If it is an optional question, it might be intended for those who have overcome major life hardships, and so nothing I said here applies.</p>
<p>We received this question on the parent brag sheet that the GC provides. I agree that if the question was on a college application, we would need to come up with an answer. Our question referred to “unique circumstances” and our GC said it would be the place to list any significant hardships like divorce, death of a close family member, etc.</p>
<p>We routinely ask these types of questions when interviewing people for jobs at my company. There is a reason for it. It allows you to see how a person perceives and responds to adversity. I assume that colleges are looking for the same thing. </p>
<p>It’s not that hard to tell when someone is BSing their way through the question. Those who give thoughtful answers score the highest interview ‘points’.</p>
<p>I think it is a difference if the question is a required prompt or if it is an optional space to indicate any extenuating circumstances someone should note. A required prompt should indicate some challenge or obstacle. I haven’t seen the application. Some apps have a place for someone to note if any extenuating circumstances affected their life or academic performance and I can see leaving that blank. But if it is a prompt meant for everyone, it should be answered.</p>