It's the start of the college application season, and 12th-graders are searching their lives for subject matter for essays, writes Robert Pondiscio. They're told to come up with a quirky, challenging and/or character-shaping experience that shows "how you have embraced your differences to become stronger and more resilient."
But what about the middle-class kid whose parents worked to protect him from adversity?
Pondiscio offers a sample essay for overprivileged, undertraumatized college applicants. Ask to be rejected, he advises.
He imagines a student who gets a C on a chemistry test, studies harder and does better. He is cut from the soccer team, accepts his mediocrity and tries debate. He doesn't get a part in the school musical, but joins the stage crew.
"These experiences, while formative in their own ways, fail to meet the epic standards set by modern college essays," he writes. "Let your rejection be the crucible through which I forge my story of overcoming adversity!"
He's already drafted next-year's essay: “Rejected from my top choice, I faced a crossroads. With grit and determination, I transformed this rejection into a launching pad for my personal growth.”
My daughter started at UCLA. In her sophomore year, she applied to Stanford as a transfer. Her essay said: "Save me!" She was rejected. She took a year off to work and then to study at Oxford. When she applied again, her essay thanked Stanford admissions officers for rejecting her. They'd given her the opportunity to work, learn and travel, the essay said. If she was admitted to Stanford, she'd make the most of it, she wrote, providing details. If not, she'd be fine. She quoted Mick Jagger: "You can't always get what you want. But, if you try sometimes, you get what you need." Of course, she was accepted.
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