Additional Comments Essay: Math has never been my cup of tea

This essay is for the additional comments section for the common app so if you could look it over and give any feedback that would be amazing! This is really last minute so sorry about the rush! Oh, and if it's too corny or cliche please let me know, Thanks!! :)

Math has never been my cup of tea. Solving for x, finding cosine, and determining the area of a pyramid, all seemed irrelevant to me. I listened with disbelieving ears as teachers repeatedly reprimanded me, burning the idea that math is applicable to everyday life into my brain. I couldn't fathom how knowing the circumference of a circle could help me with anything. I trudged along in math class, desperately trying to decipher the squiggles on the board but inevitably coming up short. I thought that I was a lost cause, forever handicapped by my sub-par mathematics skills, but that was before I had realized my full potential.

My sophomore year of high school I was enrolled in Algebra 2 Honors. Even though I knew that I constantly struggled in math, I yearned for the challenge and forced myself to take the more difficult path. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. My teacher was patient, understanding, and occasionally very sarcastic. After a few agonizing weeks of polynomials she noticed my perpetual state of confusion and confronted me. This time, I wasn't made out to be an idiot, I wasn't undermined, and I definitely did not feel embarrassed. Unlike others she encouraged me, reassuring me that I had great potential that just needed to be discovered. She reminded me that her door was always open if I ever needed help with math or even just someone to talk to. I opened up to her about my academic insecurities and she welcomed me with open arms into her after-school tutoring sessions, which I attended almost every day.

Slowly my grades began to improve as I became more confident in and out of the classroom. I requested to sit in the front of all of my classes, finding it easier to concentrate and more difficult to get lost. I watched with a grin on my face as the scribbles gradually transformed into simple formulas which came naturally to me now. I am no longer crippled by my fear of mathematics, but instead I am empowered knowing that whatever obstacles life may throw at me I will always be able to overcome them. It's funny to think that the thing I hated most in life would turn out to be one of my greatest personal successes. As it turns out, I might actually be a coffee person.

I like it. Its a good explanation of what you want to convey. it's well written.
Minor details: u either find the surface area or volume of pyramid.
where u say, "I wasn't made out to be an idiot, I wasn't undermined, and I definitely did not feel embarrassed" i think it would be best to say i wasn't embarrassed just for purposes of flow and rhetoric.

The coffee thing seems a bit tacked on. i would suggest that you don't really need it but if u want it maybe talk about the tea once again so the reader remembers the connection u made in the beginning

Over all, its a good, quick explanation to the readers, giving them enough information to understand ur view.

Thanks for the feedback! LOL I totally didn't realize the volume surface area thing ;D
thanks for the heads up haha!

Hi Cocamb,

A couple of small mistakes:


During my sophomore year


she encouraged me, reassuring reassured me that


weeks of polynomials, she noticed


or even justwanted someone to talk to

Small suggestion: maybe deleting part of the general description of how awesome your teacher was and insert a little anecdote, to visualize the picture a bit.

Also, if I were you, I would spend a little less words describing how much you hated math. Or maybe you hatred deserves so much space, in that case, just ignore me :)

I love your ending; it put a smile on my face :)

I like it! Good job! Only thing that other people haven't commented on is that came should be come, present tense

Thanks everyone for the help!!! :P