I hope people read this essay, or the title may give the wrong idea of the content. For me, the gist: The trauma and resilience narratives are well-worn at this point, and rather than exposing authentic vulnerabilities, instead increase pressure for a “pull yourself up from the bootstraps” mentality. These students wanted to rewrite, not for better quality in terms of admissions, but in order to be more honestly themselves and resist the pressure to be inspirational (and what they feel to be false) examples of overcoming challenges.
I thought it was a great article. Hoping some of the essay prompts might change.