Oct 15 7:09 PM – (speechless… gathers self) I have just read the most amazing personal statement that I have ever seen. (which I can’t post yet because I don’t have permission).
I thought I had a solid idea of what a good essay was–but K knew all that and had the right raw experiences as well. This essay, if anything, belongs in the 50 Harvard Essays book.
K’s essay deals with an experience that is uniquely hers, but it overflows with emotion that is universal to us all. As I read the beginning of her story, I was more than sorry for her–it got to me much deeper than that–I felt as if I knew that same pain. Friends, happiness… everything that she cared for was stripped away, and challenge after challenge was piled on. Feeling sorry doesn’t go far enough to explain what I felt as I read her essay–I felt as if I knew what she felt.
“I cried, for days and nights, begging my parents to let me go home, but it seemed like nobody cared.The little tree was on the verge of dying.”
Had the essay been any longer, I might have had time to cry for her… because four years ago, I did exactly the same thing. If that was the end of the story, I would have said that she was an amazing person–tragically destroyed by circumstance. But it wasn’t the end of her story–emotionally destroyed as she was, she didn’t give up. She was determined to rebuild what she had lost. A phone call from a new friend–this small accomplishment was everything to her. She was so close to giving up but the little things kept her alive. Her writing went on beautifully; I heard the voice and saw the person of the story. She more than survived–she prevailed. As I saw her triumphing in the face of these seemingly insurmountable problems, I was overjoyed! I smiled on the outside–inside, I was ecstatic. Her essay caught my heart from the start, and put me back into emotions that I hadn’t been in for so long–and it moved on–further than I myself had come. Had I read this essay four years ago, I would have felt a surge of hope–now, as hard as this may be to believe, I feel so proud of her! I’ve read so many failure stories, and I was so close to being one myself that I was thrilled to see her success. I’m so happy for her that I feel like I already know her, and I want to just go up to her and give her a hug of pure joy! If only she was here when I read it.
Another thing she conveys with excellence is her humble beginnings and understanding end–she knows what she’s accomplished, and her clean pride is just stunning. When she talked of her growing challenges and her accomplishments–there isn’t a speck of bragging that can be sensed. And the story continues until the very present of her life. She had gone through so much, and through it become the person she is now. So many levels to appreciate. She found herself, and built everything back up from scratch–and now she’s proven to the reader that she’s capable of defeating ANY challenge. And once she’s accepted to every college she applies to, she will have proven that to herself. She more than deserves to succeed, I WANT her to succeed. She had better get accepted into every college she applies to–because… (smiles again)… just because…, K… you’re so awesome!
Now I have a story of my own to write about.