This is the prompt:
Describe a challenging situation you’ve faced. Briefly state the situation, how you responded and why, would you have done anything differently, has it affected or shaped who you are today? (Max word count 250)
This is my response:
As co-president of my school’s gay-straight alliance Spectrum, I am expected to lead in the development and organization of a Homecoming float for our club. The other co-president and I along with several members slaved for about a month after school: brainstorming, painting, building, and rehearsing. After repeating this process for 1-2 hours every day, including weekends, we had finally finished preparing a float and a routine. On the day of the Homecoming game, we were informed that we did not have a trailer. Stress levels mounted until the other co-president began wildly improvising, attaching this to that using only duct tape. It was then that I decided to walk out of the project. Many would consider this rude, however, my response warrants an explanation: it was not fun anymore. It was more stress than reward and, as it is only the beginning of the year and many of our members are freshmen, I did not want to give an unreasonable amount of stress and expectations for a club designed to create a safe space. This experience has taught me when it is acceptable to admit an overload of stress, even if that requires abandoning a long-term project; for me, it was never about winning a float contest or even getting recognition as a club. The experience of working and getting to know and help others on a personal level and having fun doing so served as a reward in itself.
An older friend of mine has told me to think of a new experience to write instead of this one, but my application deadline is coming up soon and I’m really stressing out over this essay (I’ve already finished 2 for the VCU Commonapp application).
Can it be saved?? Any help is really appreciated.