Undergraduate /
Princeton Common App Essay: TCK (Third Culture Kid) [3]
Being a TCK myself, i thought this was really interesting. Watch out for being overly cliche at the beginning though (or maybe i only thought it was cliche because its exactly what i've dealt with). Make sure that when you use lines like "My first year in a new culture was eye-opening in many way" and " I really felt the shock of colliding cultures in my sophomore year" you don't sound too much like you're just trying to appeal to what they want you to think as far as diversity and whatnot goes. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem because you kind of break down stereotypes with lines like, "Diversity means that almost anyone is faced with the ever-tempting opportunity to retreat to his own kind, block himself off from the oddities of the host culture, and live like he never left his hometown."
also, i really liked your take at the end, when you say, "While some come to resent the Third Culture Kid label, I have ridden it for all it is worth and very much enjoyed the ride. For me, being a TCK means having friends from every continent, but still finding that my best friends are my little brothers. It means speaking at least two dialects of Albanian but still studying German to fulfill a language requirement, and actually using what I learn when my family travels to northern Europe each year" because that will show the admissions office that you can adapt, and well. Most people hate living abroad because you lose your sense of who you are, yet you manage to turn that into a positive. oh and more than anything i love the line "possibilities of American fast food restaurants like Burger King (or KFC? Taco Bell? Anything?)" because it adds a sense of humor the admissions office will want to see, while not disrespecting albanian culture at all (also its soo true. the only KFCs ive ever been to are the ones in prague, across from the sphinx in egypt and in zurich somewhere).
good luck. the essay is really good. it shows a good appreciation and analysis of your situation. Just make the opening sentence maybe more interesting, more of a "hook" and be sure to avoid cliches
