Hi everyone!
For a scholarship, I have to write an essay on the common app topic: Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you in less than 500 words.
I chose the auto-industry bailout. Please read it over and give me any tips/suggestions or grammar mistakes!
Thanks :)
The auto industry really stands out as an example of the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure". During the economic crisis a couple of years ago, and even today during the presidential debates, somehow an issue of whether or not to help out an industry that supports hundreds of thousands of people became an issue of socialism, labor unions, and the downfall of American values. The lives of people like me, whose families depend on the industry, got lost in a game of politics. Even though it occurred over three years ago, the bailout of the auto industry is still quite prominent in my life, and in my home state of Michigan.
When the industry collapsed, I was only in the 8th grade. Before then, I had no reason to worry myself with the economy, politics, my future, or the future of the people around me. But suddenly I started noticing my parents were watching the news more than usual. I found out what was happening to the Big Three automakers, and it didn't take much more to piece together the logical sequence of destruction that would follow. General Motors was filing for bankruptcy. My mom, who worked for GM, would be out of a job. My dad, who worked for an auto supplier, would be unemployed as well as his company lost clients and joined the other suppliers in a domino chain of failed companies. All of my friends whose parents worked in the industry would find themselves in the same situation. My parents would have to find new jobs. So would my friends' parents. We would all have to move. How would we sell our house? Other people all over the country were already worried about their own job security, how would they feel about thousands of engineers moving to their hometowns, competing for their positions? Then, with everyone moving out of Michigan, my friends whose parents were doctors, or bankers - their parents would be out of work too. What would become of the great United States of America if an entire state became unemployed, all because of the downfall of an industry?
You can imagine how our lived were pinned to that bailout package passing Congress. The entire worst-case, yet extremely plausible, scenario could be avoided, and was avoided, with its passage. Yet, it still had its opponents, some of whom are campaigning for President in my home state at this very moment. To every person who opposed the bailout, I encourage them to think about us, the other man, the people who treasure the auto industry because it provides for their families. I want those opponents to view the bailout not as trash, not as the collapse of the market economy, or the rise of socialism, but as helping out me, the state of Michigan, and everyone else tied to the auto industry - people who are very grateful to be given a chance to survive.
Hi! This is really good. It's really personal, which is what people tend to look for in a scholarship essay.
The only change I would make is to maybe talk about the opinions of the people who opposed the bailout, and specifically why you think they are wrong.
