Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. (250-650 words)
Allan Iverson - my role model
When I was five years old, I wanted cornrows. At that time, Allen Iverson was the most popular star in the NBA, and I almost religiously idolized him.
My two brothers are eight and six years older than me, which means that when I was supposed to be watching superhero cartoons, my brothers hijacked the remote control effortlessly, and switched on the Sports channel. At first I resisted, but eventually I realized that resistance was futile against people twice your size. I had to settle for watching the daily "Top 10 Plays of the NBA". At first, I wanted only to find out whether Spiderman finally beat the villain or not, but strangely enough, I kept finding my heart pounding in excitement whenever someone rattled the ball into the basket. Weird thing is, the number one play was almost always that of one man: Allen Iverson.
Even from a television screen, it was obvious that his body was leagues smaller than those of the other 9 players on the court. Whenever one of his plays inevitably made its way into the Top 10, he looked just like a kid among adults, but somehow, he managed to leave them behind his trail and get to the basket before they even knew it. The way he gracefully dribbled the ball was enthralling, even to the eyes of a five-year-old. At this point, I didn't even care about Spiderman and his friends - I wanted to see more of Iverson and his opponents. For the next ten years, he remained my role model and idol.
Last year, on the day his jersey was retired, I was watching a tribute video of Allen Iverson. On one of the highlights, he dribbled past 2 big defenders with ease, through to an open lane to the hoop. Just as he effortlessly put the ball in the basket, I realized that I had been in a similar situation before - when I was fighting over the remote control, when I was trying to get extra dessert, and when I needed my brother's laptop for an assignment, it was always a small me against two big guys. Of course, I don't hate my brothers for giving me a hard time sometimes - after all, that's the typical show of brotherly love. Sometimes, however, it's incredibly annoying when they practically abuse their powers as the "older brother". If Allen Iverson could consistently overcome bigger opponents, why can't I have my way against my brothers, or surmount any tough obstacle?
Iverson's influence on me isn't limited to the trivialities of my family life either. He once said: "I don't wanna be Jordan, I don't wanna be Magic, I don't wanna be Bird or Isiah. When my career's over, I want to look in the mirror and say I did it my way.". He never copied anyone, but still managed to be the best. Although it seems unlikely that I will become a Hall of Fame basketball player, I want to do whatever I do just like he played basketball. I want to innovate and create, but most importantly, do it my way. Currently, I am interested in robotics, computer programming, and mechanical engineering to name a few fields, but whichever it is that I eventually build my career upon, at the end of it, I want to look back and see a road full of my own failures and successes.
The way Allen Iverson bewildered opponents twice his size on the way to the hoop motivated me to never shun away from a challenge, and his headstrong, independent spirit has inspired me to always fight for myself, and stay true to who I am.Holt Educational Consultant - / 14,835 
4783 Iverson does not represent anything related to your background, identity, or interest in the way that this essay requires. I think the problem is that your essay is severely focused on Iverson as your idol instead of how he inspired you to do some pretty impressive things in your life ever since you came to idolize him. Normally, this essay is best used to represent a particular discussion that the other common app prompts do not allow for. In this case, you have just chosen the wrong topic to discuss. This essay that you wrote is more geared towards the "person who influenced you the most" prompt. In my opinion, you cannot use this essay with this prompt. Review the prompt requirements again and decide what it is about your personal background, interest, talent, or skill that you feel will best introduce your personal side to the reviewer. Opt to discuss something that is not related to your major or the other prompt requirements. Pick something that best represents your character development on paper.
@Holt
Thanks for the reply.
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"You're getting all the girls with that thing, aren't you?" said Mr. Mike, our Economics teacher.
Of course he was being sarcastic, because "that thing" was a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube, the definitive nerdy plaything, and I was feverishly solving the puzzle, as if my life depended on it.
Now that I think about it, maybe my life really does depend on solving the cube.
It was a calm summer morning in 2010, when I found a Rubik's cube lying scrambled on the living room table. Not giving any thought as to whose it was or how it got there, I enthusiastically grabbed the cube. I twisted the faces in every direction possible, hoping to complete at least one of the six faces, until I realized no amount of randomly twisting and turning will magically do the trick.
For the next few days, my 10 year old mind could scarcely think about anything but the seemingly impossible image of the cube being completely solved. Everywhere I went, I had the cube in my hands. It didn't take too long for my father to notice the situation.
"Son, are you not going to put that down?"
"I want to learn how to solve this thing, dad. You can do it, right? Can you teach me?"
After persistent persuasion, my father reluctantly agreed to teach me. The education process took two long days, but it wasn't at all what I expected. Turns out, all you need to do is memorize a few moves, and execute them over and over again, and ta-da! The cube is solved. The solution was very simple, almost disappointingly so.
I now know how to solve one of the most famous puzzles in the world, but what now? At this point, simply solving the cube wasn't enough. My pompous curiosity demanded a new challenge. I had to solve the puzzle as fast I possibly can.
I opened up YouTube, and searched "rubix cube fast". Among the results, a video by Yu Nakajima, simply titled: "Rubik's cube: 6.57 seconds" immediately grabbed my attention. Sure enough, he solved the cube in exactly 6.57 seconds. I couldn't believe it. In fact, I didn't want to believe it - this random guy was light-years ahead of me. I closed the laptop, and grabbed the cube.
In the next few weeks, I broke the 1 minute barrier. After buying a brand new cube, I reduced my time to 40 seconds. However, as time went on, the improvement was less and less clear. Over the next five years, I took on many challenges, such as debate, physics, computer programming and artificial intelligence, but everywhere I went, I made sure to keep the cube in my backpack.
Fast forward to 11th grade. I had barely improved my average in 2 years, but I decided to pick up the cube, just to time myself one more time.
I pull out my brand new cube from my backpack, my phone from my pocket, and start the stopwatch. My fiery fingers grab the puzzle, as my classmates observe in fascination. I stop the watch.
Beep.
13.76 seconds. My best time yet. I was as surprised as the spectators.
Somehow, I was only 7 seconds away from reaching the time that had me in complete disbelief five years ago.
Among other things, the Rubik's cube has taught me that I can accomplish any goal I set my mind to. Whatever I'm doing, if I feel like throwing up my hands, I only need to look at this little piece of plastic.
