How Much of Your Personal Life Needs to Go on Your College Application?

You’ve probably heard the adage “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Many college essay prompts ask students to discuss their lives and experiences—and, of course, many students have trouble saying “nice” things about their lives. We all experience setbacks and hardships; for some people, those hardships can define their high school years in less than positive ways—especially if they have battled serious physical or mental illnesses, dealt with the illness or death of a family member, survived abuse, struggled to stay above the poverty line, or worse.

For these students, getting accepted to a college—something that might seem easy to a student who has never had to struggle with a serious personal or family problem—can seem both incredibly important and nearly impossible. How do you explain to a college that you’ve been getting Cs in science because you had to go to the hospital every day after school to sit with your sick father? How do you tell them that your SAT scores are less than perfect because you had to work part-time to help your single mother pay the rent every month?

 The tendency may be to shy away from sharing these sorts of details on college applications. In this era of Facebook and Twitter, we’re all sensitive about “oversharing,” and we are especially anxious about being judged by others. However, the college admissions committee isn’t going to judge you because you’ve had a harder time than other students. In fact, finding the courage to share your personal battles on an application can actually help the admissions officers gain insight into who you really are. Most colleges know that SAT scores and GPAs don’t define applicants—so helping them understand what does define you can be incredibly valuable. While you don’t have to share every aspect of your personal life on an application, you shouldn’t feel that you have to run away from it, either.

Sometimes it may actually be necessary to share aspects of your personal life; if your grades suddenly dropped during your junior year, or your standardized test scores were far lower than they should have been, these flaws can be interpreted negatively by admissions offices unless they know the context. The college admissions committees will draw their own conclusions if you don’t provide an explanation—so if you find yourself facing a difficult situation, don’t be afraid to share it. Though not all hardships can be spun in a positive way, you can at least use your personal struggles to both strengthen your application and reveal your strength and determination in the face of adversity.