<p>I am writing my commonapp essay on the first prompt (a story that is very important), and I was wondering what the ratio should be for the story and how it has changed me. Currently, it sits at about 50/50</p>
<p>Mine is pretty much all story and people have told me it’s a good essay. How it’s changed you is part of the story and you shouldn’t write in a different way when you get to that part.</p>
<p>I don’t think that your essay show “tell” how you changed at all. The essay should show that.</p>
<p>In other words, the essay should not say, for example, I became more courageous. Rather, the essay should show you acting courageously, and allow the reader to figure out that, hey, you became more courageous.</p>
<p>There’s no formula. If you want I can take a look at your essay and let you know what you need more of and less of.</p>
<p>Usually for shorter essays where it’s like, tell us about how you cope with stress, or what you learned from an obstacle, I’d go 50/50 story to reflection. But common app should be ~ 75% story imo, and then a short reflection at the end. Of course, follow what ADad said, it’s what they taught me in grade schools: “Show, Don’t Tell”.</p>
<p>What i have is a story at the end of myself and it shows how i changed. So if i have two stories (one of the story, and another that shows how i changed), should i shorten the second part?</p>
<p>What do you mean by shows how I changed?</p>
<p>It shows a characteristic of me that appeared from the original story</p>
<p>Does it “show” the characteristic, or does it tell about the characteristic?</p>
<p>Shows. Then slightly expand by telling.</p>
<p>“Telling” usually is unpersuasive. Anyone can say or claim anything. What bad things do you fear would happen if you did not have a “telling” part?</p>