URGENT: Prospective Yale Transfer Student has Question

yalie343
Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:57:56 +0000

Succinctness is always better – especially in a college essay. Do not make it long-winded!!!

You really need to clarify your story in your actual essay. I can understand why for personal reasons you wouldn’t want to do it in an online forum, but the whole “child I don’t know about” seems rather ridiculous and like mental illness without a proper context (I would hope that there is one…). What you want to ideally do in an essay is not talk on and on about your troubles; discuss how you have grown and how it has shaped your worldview, etc. Don’t overwhelm the reader with sorrow – it is okay to push them down a little but be sure to lift them back up w/ “inspiration” at the end!