I am currently a senior in high school. I'm graduating a year early. I'm not incredibly confident that I'll get accepted at my dream school. Recent lack of optimism for various reasons is to blame for that. And I've heard it's pretty tough to get in. Also, my mother has said that she may not even let me go there since I would have just turned 17 when I left for college. However, I'm applying anyway. It's worth a shot in my opinion. If I don't get in... well, at least I tried. My question is... What exactly should I write about in the writing section of the application? I have to write a Personal Statement... 1. Discuss how your family's experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals. - OR - 2. Tell us a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it. And a Short Response... 1. The University of Washington seeks to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints. How would you contribute to this community? - OR - 2. Describe an experience of cultural difference, positive or negative, you have had or observed. What did you learn from it? The word "culture" is used a lot. I'm not exactly the most cultural person. I'm an over-sheltered, middle class white kid from Memphis, Tennessee. That doesn't exactly scream culture. Unless I can write about my psycho parents, gang activity in my neighborhood, or the hundreds of people from around the world I have met during the many hours I've spent on the internet because of that previously mentioned over-sheltered thing. My GPA is pretty great, I think. I can't remember what it is at the moment. I don't really feel like remembering because it's 10AM, I feel terrible, and I haven't slept in too many hours. And, hopefully, I did okay on the ACT. I just took it this last Saturday so I haven't gotten my scores yet. I'll be taking it again though. (And studying a lot harder for it.) I only know I did terrible on the Writing part. Thirty minutes is NOT enough time for me to write more than maybe 10-20 sentences on some silly topic that I really don't have much of an opinion on. Everything else I did great or will do great on. I have typed way too much. Sooo... yeah. Anyway... My worries: writing section of application, whether or not my lack of activities/achievements/skills will seriously hurt me, and if the writing section of the ACT is super important if everything else is great and I write an awesome essay for my application.
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Well first of all, don't be disheartened. With a good GPA, a good personal statement and strong references, you have just as good a chance as anyone of else of being accepted. Try and stay confident, as confidence will show through in your writing, and also help to boost your spirits. Also, if you do get accepted, and your Mom is against it, then explain to her all the reasons as to why you are mature and sensible enough to go, and how beneficial it would be to you. Okay, so to answer your questions... If you choose: "Discuss how your family's experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals." then you will need to find some kind of cultural niche to talk about. Maybe you could research your family heritage. There may be a relative from another country and you can describe the impact of discovering this in your answer. Or, you can talk about your own culture, and your own family background, and how living in a secure and loving family has shaped you and given you the support to go out into the world alone and try and be successful. If you choose: "Tell us a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it." then you will need to think of one particular event in your life which has been significant. Perhaps one where you overcame adversity, despite being faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. You could even use the experience of trying to go to college, against the odds. For the second part... If you choose: "The University of Washington seeks to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints. How would you contribute to this community?" then you can talk about how much you enjoy learning about new cultures, and you find that being around people from other backgrounds is an enriching experience. You can also talk about how you feel you have your own experiences to add into the mix, and share with those students. If you choose: "Describe an experience of cultural difference, positive or negative, you have had or observed. What did you learn from it?" then again you will have to describe one specific event. Perhaps travelling abroad on vacation, or the arrival of a transfer student at your school would be something to write about. So, just stay calm and don't worry about it too much. And make sure that you get enough sleep, as that will help you feel better overall. To address your worries...you can retake the ACT, the writing section of the application you will do fine on if you follow the points that I gave you, and you need to be more confident in your skills, and try to focus on the positives, and not the negatives. Colleges do look for some extra-curricular activities though, so it would help if you had at least one or two (or even things like self taught musical instruments, or language skills, any sorts of club, even an online blog). Anyway, best of luck!
