I'm working on a college essay for my application and it asked me the question.
"What was the environment in which you were raised? Describe your family, home, neighborhood, or community and explain how it shaped you as a person."
(It has to 120 character lines)
Both my parents separated just when I was about 3 months, my mother had custody of me and my father was never there to help support. Around the age of 4, a family member called CPS and reported my mother boyfriend of harassment. I was given custody two both my great grandparents. Although I was only 4 and didn't know what was going on, leaving my mother and moving with my grandparents was the biggest impact of my life and I don't regret it at all. My grandfather was a hardworking man, and was always strict on me. From my middle school years to three years in high school, I wasn't allowed to go out with friends, go to special events, sleepovers, etc. For a man who didn't have a college degree he sure was intelligent. He has always taught me to be independent and that I don't always need a man to depend on. I've always learned my street smarts from him, whats right and whats wrong.
My grandmother is the main one who raised me and who I consider as a mother. She has taught me everything I know to this day and raised me into the young women I am. She never gotten her college degree nor high school, she didn't even get to finish her middle school years. Even though she not book smart, she smart when it comes to coming up with solutions when ever she comes across a problem. She has always taught me if I want to do something, I should put my mind to it and work for it. I've learned how to be strong and stand up for myself when I want to speak my mind. She has taught me to always to be the bigger person if somebody is trying to put me down. I've learned to love God and thank him everyday for what I have and always giving me another day to live. My grandmother is truly a big inspiration to me, she has taught me so much and I wouldn't be the person I am today without her.
I want to talk about is my aunt, she doesn't have custody of me, but she is one of the other relatives who raised me into who I am today. She is the strongest person I know, she has delt with cancer 4 times in her life. She always hardworking even when she is sick and isn't able to do anything, she always at home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the grandkids. She has taught me so much, I've learned how to be strong when it comes to losing hope in any situations that come across our way. She has also taught me to never let anybody put me down and to stick up for myself if anybody tries to.
One last person that I wanted to mention is my father, I know I said in the beginning he left me and my mother when I was just a child. Later on in my childhood years he came back into my life. He has taught me how to be independent person and to not care what other people have to say about me. I've learned to always and try to go out for my dreams if I really wanted them. I've never been afraid to do something new or been afraid to stand up for myself and learned to fight back.
Overall these 4 family members that I just talked about, they all mean the world to me and have impacted my life so much. I truly say if it wasn't for any of them, I wouldn't be this kindhearted, intelligent, sophisticate young lady I am today.
Holt Educational Consultant - / 14,835 
4783 Elena, your essay doesn't follow the correct format that you were provided with for this online application. You should be writing no more than 120 top to bottom lines which only have 80 characters per line from the right to the left. Your characters per line, which also includes the spaces between characters is always over 100. In order to properly write this essay, you should use the courier font and set your margins so that you will only be able to type 80 characters per line. Your essay may not be accepted by the online system if you do not follow the correct formatting for the page. So the best way to type your essay would be to set your margins to fit only 80 characters and then count 120 lines throughout your essay discussion.
This format is quite specific and difficult to accomplish. So you have to start working on your revisions as soon as possible. Your character count is currently 3127 with only 25 lines but at over 100 words per line. It is the line character count that is your problem here.
As you can see from the instruction explanation, you have a long way to go in meeting the proper character count and format. I suggest that you make the adjustments to your format before you proceed with revising your content. That is so that you will sure to have only 80 characters per line. It will be easier to meet the 120 line requirement that way.
