Nigerian - I have always felt like an outcast - Wisconsin Unnoticed essay

1. Consider something in your life you think goes unnoticed and write about why it's important to you.

Being a Nigerian born in England and raised in the Netherlands, I have always felt like an outcast as I never really fitted in any of the countries. I have even had family members refer to me as an "Oyinbo" which is use to refer to a foreigner in Yoruba, this caused me to see my differences as a curse and not know how fortunate I was to grow up in this manner.

I left my home country, Nigeria when I was three and came to the Netherlands as my father had received a job offer from shell to work there as a geophysicist. I attended a Dutch nursery school, blending in was a difficult task as I was one of the only people who spoke English. I eventually transferred to the British school in the Netherlands and then to the International school of The Hague, at this point I was in secondary school and my Dutch had dramatically improved as I was able to understand it and have small conversations. During this time I would use English at school, what little Dutch I knew in public and at home I was spoken to in Yoruba while I was learning French at school, this was quite frustrating at first but it eventually became normal to me as it was a part of everyday life.

Growing up, I never realized how lucky I was to be exposed to a diversity of cultures from a young age experience different points of views that people from certain countries might have and to have friends that come from all over the world from Italy to Sri Lanka.

Since I was young I have experienced identity crises as I never felt Nigerian, Dutch or British. After spending eleven years in the Netherlands my mother, brother and I moved to Nigeria. My father moved back to Nigeria when I was five and we stayed in the Netherlands as he believed that the country would offer me and my brother a better education. Going into a Nigerian school I did not know what to expect as it would be the first school that I would go to where I was not a minority however, my time in a Nigerian school further highlighted my differences. Despite being a Nigerian I felt like an outcast as I found it hard to blend into Nigerian society as I did not understand the jokes and couldn't make any friends. It wasn't until a year after returning to Nigeria that I decided to embrace my heritage and learn more about the culture which led me to appreciate who I was and where I came from and helped me to improve my understanding of Yoruba and make friends that will last a life time.

Now I realize there are many people who like me have struggled with their identities due to the fact that they grew up around several different cultures. Rather than put a label myself a nationality I like to see myself as a citizen of the world as growing up the way I did was an eye-opening experience for me as I have had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, which has changed the way I view certain issues today. Though at first glance I may not appear to be very different from any other Nigerian, this unnoticed part of my life is very important to me and has shaped me into the person that I am today.

Any help is appreciated, thank you in advance.

- Adedapo, I strongly feel that you should revise the essay to make this statement in particular your introductory paragraph. When combined with the contents of the following paragraph;


, you will be able to create the important and interesting hook that your essay needs to keep the admission officer interested in your application.

After having successfully explained why you used to take something for granted, you can now go back to your past to explain the basis of this confusion and sense of outcast that you used to feel. Start with;


and then follow it up with this conclusion;


The portion about how you came to end up in the Netherlands because of your father's work is a bit redundant is often presented in a similar manner by other students in their essays. In order to stand out, you need to make your essay more informative without being dramatic. I feel that by structuring the essay this way, you will be able to immediately catch the attention of the admissions officer and offer a clear understanding of how you felt and why. So you should just quickly mention that you moved to The Netherlands for your father's work and that is where your experience of confusion as an outcast began.

could i also use this essay as an common app essay for option 1(central to identity) ?

I believe that you can also use this essay for your central identity prompt but you will have to make some changes to it. I would suggest paraphrasing it because you never know when universities might check if you have submitted the same essay to other universities. You can use this as the template for your next central identity essay since this has already been revised to suit the needs of such an essay. Just state the same information in a different manner in order to make it work for other universities. If there is a need to add information to make it a new central identity essay then add some information. You can also delete some information if you think it will help you answer the prompt better. Editing the essay to suit your needs depends upon you. We can offer guidance whenever you feel it is necessary :-)