UBC Application...Overcoming homelessness - what it taught me?

dealing with unfamiliar and stressful situations

Explain how you responded to a problem and/or an unfamiliar situation. What did you do, what was the outcome, and what did you learn from the experience? (maximum 200 words)

In December 2016, I entered the shelter system, a situation that changed my life forever. Upon entering the shelter system, I had two choices; either I could fall into the fish bowl of shelter life, or I could learn how to adapt to my new living situation. I went with the latter. Throughout my time in shelters, I learned how to use the resources I had around me to find and complete housing applications and access counselling/community supports. After doing thorough research and consulting with community housing workers, I decided that transitional housing was the most viable option for me. The low living expenses and supportive nature of transitional housing has allowed me to continue with school full time and learn invaluable life skills. One hurdle I faced throughout this process was obtaining Ontario Works because I was a minor. Through self-advocacy however, I was able to explain my situation to the government, and my application got approved. Although I learned many technical skills during my time in the shelter system, the most important thing I learned was how to stay calm and think rationally in unfamiliar and stressful situations, which I will carry throughout the rest of my life.

N, you were a minor in the shelter system? This is an interesting response to the prompt. The only problem is that you are lacking the backstory that explains how you ended up in the shelter system in the first place. In order to fully understand the relevance, importance, and achievement that overcoming this obstacle gave you, the reviewer needs to first understand why it happened. Since you have 200 words, maybe you can give a summarized form of the reason as the first sentence of the response. The date isn't really as important as the reason so you can skip the date presentation. if you can explain the reason this happened, how you recovered will become more admirable and memorable on the part of the reviewer. This has the potential to become a stand out essay, it just needs a little tweaking so that it can have a stronger foundation to stand on in the presentation.