help me choose between two essay topics for apps

[thomsbrain]

ok, i have two options:

1. "Write about your intended major and your previous experience in the field." I'm doing computer science, so I would write about how my experience doing freelance computer work and taking nothing but programming classes has taught me the need for balance in order to enjoy the field and my life.

2. "If there are any circumstances not evident in your application that may have affected your academic performance, explain the circumstances and discuss how you responded to them. " After my first quarter at a UC, I was suffering from depression and had to drop out. Over the next year, I messed up a few classes here and there, but I'm better now and my grades show it.

So I guess I'm weighing the pros and cons of the second option. it has the advantage that it explains away a few poor grades, but the disadvantage that it admits i "couldn't handle" a big college the first time around. i don't know if admitting to a prior weakness, even if i overcame it, is such a good thing...

what do you guys think?

 

[laFiera]

If you have some good stories on how u improved your grades or what led you to the improvement, then I would do two. Otherwise, 1 seems better. But i would stay away from number two! A lot of people get depressed in college and they still make good grades without dropping out, or having bad grades. I even had a friend whose dad was shot and killed her first year in college and as depressed and unmotivated as she was, she still pulled a 4.0 that semester! I would stick to question one all the way!

 

[xuanman]

i would do BOTH b/c it sounds like you have compelling things to say about both topics. or just do the first one, and call your second essay something like "Additional Info"

 

[LANMAN]

#1


That would be my choice. Easy....

--LANMAN

 

[thomsbrain]

i'll start in on the first one, i guess

 

[YayYay]

Your supposed to title your personal statement?

 

[Azraele]

Do number 2.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: Azraele
Do number 2.

too late, i did number 1 and sent it in. but i did work in some amazingly good bullsh!t about how I withdrew from some courses to discover a need for balance between my technical and creative sides, and how it's made me stronger and ready to take on life and my major with new vigor.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: YayYay
Your supposed to title your personal statement?

no, not that i know of.

 

[YayYay]

What school is that for? Im having a hell of a time doing my conclusion. It hard to do one without summarizing, using cliches or stating the obvious.

 

[thomsbrain]

it was for the University of California system, I was doing transfer apps.

 

[YayYay]

Im working on it right now... Im hoping for UCLA but I got a weak GPA (3.5). My essay was explaning how I managed to pull a 2.7 to a 3.5 at 40 units.