Please tell us something about yourself, your experiences, or activities that you believe would reflect positively on your ability to succeed at Penn State. This is your opportunity to tell us something about yourself that is not already reflected in your application or academic records. We suggest a limit of 500 words or fewer.
Could you please help me with this?Any kind of suggestion is welcome.
A few years ago, I was to write an essay on a topic of having to recount a failure that I had experienced and my learning from the same. I remember racking my brains trying to think of instances wherein I had experienced failures in the first place, though not without a trace of smugness. I was an ideal and meticulous student, with enviable grades. I could not recount a single instance when I had fallen short of the academic goals I had set for myself. However, deeper introspection left me aghast at what had been staring me right in the face. With only accomplishments in the academic field defining my success, I became painfully aware of the one-dimensional life that I had been leading.
I had never cultivated hobbies or nurtured passions or even ventured into any of the school's extra-curricular activities including sports for they seemed to be a distraction from my goal of achieving academic excellence. I had never known the thrill of playing Joan of Arc in front of a live audience, never known the joy of coming trumps in a closely fought game of table-tennis, never felt the high of organizing my school's cultural event.
It was at that moment of epiphany that I resolved to work towards having a well-rounded personality, even if it meant stepping out of my comfort zone.
They say there is a right time for everything. Sometime later, my sister came across an article about the US education system of which she spoke to me. This aroused my interest and I read the write-up which spoke of the emphasis that the education system lays on developing a versatile persona. It truly inspired me. I turned to my sister, who has always been a driving-force force for me, for her help and guidance in helping me achieve my goal.
The process of my transformation commenced with the inculcation of reading habits and plucking up courage to participate in various activities. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered that I had quite a flair for public speaking, singing and table - tennis. Also, I was learning to multitask - juggling my co-curriculars with my studies. Throughout I always had the pressure of not to let myself down in academics come what may. But it so happened that during a certain period I felt my grades going lower, and with that I found my old self gripping me from within. I was guided once again by my sister on how to effectively manage time. I also learnt how to accept defeat gracefully and became stable.
I had learnt the quintessential lessons of life that it is better to try your hand at something and fail than not to attempt anything new at all and the best way to fight fear is to face it! Today, I realize that I have indeed come a long way from introversion but longer is the route to perfection.
With this new positive outlook on life, I think I can succeed at Penn State.
The essay is not asking you to think of whether you will succeed at Penn State or not. It is asking you to tell the admissions officer how you believe you will succeed there using your life lessons as the basis of your answer. The current content of the essay is very weak because it concentrates on your weaknesses as a person. That said, you need not enumerate your failures in life. Rather, you must discuss your successes instead. Choose one of your more notable successes and make that the center of this essay. For eample, recall the time when you first traveled alone to a strange place. Discuss how you were able to adapt and blend in with the members of the new community. Be as detailed as possible and then relate it to the way you view the student community of Penn State. This is one example of showing how you will succeed in immersing yourself into the Penn State social strata. Or consider an academic achievement you had in the past that helped you overcome certain obstacles in your life. Detail that event and then explain how that experience will be the foundation of all your future actions as a successful student at Penn State. There are even more ways to go with this essay prompt. You just need to get creative about answering it :-)
Don't downgrade yourself in the eyes of the admissions officer. That would defeat the purpose of the essay application. Build yourself up as a confident student who will not allow anything to prevent you from succeeding in your academic and/or social life at Penn State.
