<p>so
For the mit essay about a personal challenge, I know what I want to write about. I want to write about helping my best friend deal with her abusive father. It’s sort of a hard thing for me to write, but I don’t want to come off as narcissistic or exploiting my friend’s situation. At the same time, I can’t spend that many of the 250 words talking about her- it’s supposed to be about my challenge. I don’t know. Ideas?</p>
<p>well, just think of a time that was particularly confusing or stressful for you</p>
<p>Pick a particular situation where you helped your friend. Write a tightly-focused essay around it-- don’t worry about the word limit, just make it focused and concrete and to the topic. Then rewrite it, but get rid of anything that’s “fluff”-- anything you could get rid of without completely obscuring the meaning of the essay. Rewrite and pare it down like this until you just have the essential parts of the essay. You’ll realize you probably don’t need a long-winded explanation of your friend’s situation to get your point across.</p>
<p>[edit] also, it’s likely that you won’t come across as narcissistic if you intend for your essay not to seem like that-- just try getting your thoughts down first.</p>