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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
NP here.  It does seem like, if a teenager has come from a modest background with few advantages, he or she might as well write about that in the college essay (even if he or she is not trying to play the victim.)  It is admirable for a teen to overcome those obstacles and be motivated enough to work hard and figure out how to apply for college and financial aid when there is no college advisor paving the way.

But if you come from a relatively privileged background, you still need to write about something on your college essay.  If I were an admissions official, I would find it annoying if a kid wrote about how he knows he lives in a bubble.  Maybe a privileged teen could write about teachers that have influenced him/her.

It's a lot to ask teenagers to write a detailed essay about themselves.  I could write it about myself now (at age 47), but it's hard to have perspective at age 17.  It would be nice if there were an option to just submit a research paper in lieu of an essay about yourself.  We don't ask job applicants to do that, after all.[/quote]
I don't know if the first PP was a troll, but I certainly hope you are.  There are many ways to demonstrate self-awareness and growth.  And there are many things that spur it besides coming from an underprivileged background.  My parents are wealthy, I went to a top private school, and my sister tried to commit suicide when I was in middle school.  Everyone has hardships that shape them.

But don't feel jealous of my harsh life experience that gave me the opportunity to write a great college essay.  To my dream school (one of HYPS), I submitted a poem I had written about a sunset and got in.  I don't think anywhere in that application did I mention my sister.  Everyone has hardships.  You don't need to tug on emotional strings, however, to demonstrate that you are not frivolous.[/quote]
I think the first PP was a troll, but not the one to which you were responding. As a person with bipolar who has contemplated suicide several times, I must say that the thought of family members using my illness in a college essay is hurtful. I didn't use my condition as a means to get into a (lesser) Ivy, but a story about my grandmother's trips to the Goodwill and the tarot reader. [/quote]
I understand this POV, but I also think it's valuable to recognize that if you had siblings growing up it wouldn't be about using your illness to get into school...it would most likely be about writing about their own formative experience. It is impossible to understand who I am without understanding my experience growing up as the sibling of a child who suffered from depression and an eating disorder.  It shaped almost every moment of my childhood and adolescence.  Any introspective essay would have to touch upon it one way or another.  I was 11 y.o. when I called 911 to save her life and had to explain what happened to the operator.  Regardless, this is way OT.

My point was that only on DCUM could growing up underprivileged or having a sibling who almost died be viewed as an advantage of any sort.[/quote]

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