Build Your Tower from the Ashes: How to Write a “Rising from Adversity” College Admission Essay

Rising from adversity is one thing; writing about it is another. The first one needs a great deal of courage and faith; the second one requires inspiration and sincerity.

However, they need not be separated. You need the experience to be able to write about it. Yet again, here’s the catch: when you right about your “rising from adversity” experience, especially in a college admission essay, you’ve got to be able to send your message across, clearly and effectively. Successfully-delivered success stories usually move the reader to respect the main character in the story, and emulate the main character’s example.

Here are a few reminders in writing your “rising from adversity” college admission essay.

1. Be sincere. If you are sincere in writing your essay, the reader feels the authenticity of whatever you wrote in your essay.

2. Get inspiration to inspire. Get them from your own experiences, and those of others. There are lots of people who were able to make it big despite their hardship-filled beginnings. They opened their stories for the world to hear, and draw inspiration from.

There’s Steve Jobs, the founder and maker of Apple computers. He dropped out of college after 6 months of studying, but he stayed to attend classes that he found interesting. He had to sleep on the floor of his friends’ rooms and rely on coke bottle deposits to buy food. He had to go through a lot until he and Steve Wozniak started on Apple Computers in his parents’ garage. But even after Apple’s success, he messed up in his life, leading to his expulsion from the company he founded. He put up another company, which Apple bought later on. Soon, he got back to his first company and became more successful.

Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands Corporation is another person who overcame humble beginnings. He was one of those born to a poor family. He helped his family earn a living at a young age, selling newspapers on the streets. But as he grew up, he worked harder and harder until he managed to put up his own business.

Finally, there’s Li Ka Shing of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, whose early life was filled with memories of the tragedies of war. When his father died, he was left to care for himself at the age of 15. But he worked hard despite all the hardships, and eventually managed to put up his own company now worth billions.

3. Tell your story clearly and concisely. State facts, and do not try to dazzle your readers with fancy generalizations, cliches and motherhood statements.

Always keep your audience in mind.

4. Make sure that you emphasize the three key elements in your experience: the challenges or hardships that you’ve been through, how you got past them and what you learned from them.

Photo Credit : robinsan

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.