Weird Family History and College Applications

Parents Forum
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<p>Hmmmm…^^what Jmmom said.</p>

<p>Personally, I would advise you to take one personal essay prompts from your reach school and write about the essence of your experience. Get to the heart of the experience–the emotions and the impact. That would make a great read–and that would convince schools that you will add a wonderful dimension to their student body.</p>

<p>Skip the business about Brigham Young. Bragging isn’t appropriate.</p>

<p>You’ve got some of the best CC editors responding, btw. Also–I hope that isn’t your real name??? If it is, PM mods to change it.</p>

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<p>Marite: I am guessing you don’t know the relationship between TJ and UVA. It worked at UVA, I am guessing, primarily because of this.</p>

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<p>^^^Bedhead, I’m bettging that marite’s knowledge of the TJ-UVA connection is exactly why she asked the speculative question.</p>

<p>So, one of us is guessing wrong. If it’s me, I’ll meet you in Sinner’s Alley and treat you to a mint julep or sweet tea in honor of the state in question ;).</p>

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<p>^^Bedhead is the one who needs to treat jmmom to the mintjulep. :)<br>
By the way, 30 years ago, when we visited New College, Oxford (“new” only in relation to a couple of even older Oxford colleges), the lobby displayed a recipe for mint julep donated by an American student back in the 18th century.</p>

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<p>Have you thought about structuring it somewhat along the lines of "college is a time to try on new identities and reinvent yourself – something that I happen to have a bit of personal experience with . . " something like that?</p>

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<p>all the advice here is great. just wanted to add that my personal statement (for professional school, but i think the same would apply for undergrad) was about religion–about how i worked part-time during college cooking kosher meals, and how it increased my religious observance; i tied it into how the detail-oriented, mulitasking nature of this would help me in grad school and my future career–and i got into plenty of schools, including my top choice. so i don’t think religion is a total no-no, so long as your story is compelling, well-written, and demonstrates that your experiences will be an asset to you and your classmates in college.</p>

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<p>Just as most people say… I would not touch so much on the fact that you were living there and escaped but more on your life for the past 9 years and how you have overcome the previous state of mind that you had about life and about your want to continue to improve your life by applying to college.</p>