Edited By: Rishika Agarwal
Well, well, gather around all of you. If you are a student at a university just like me, then you would’ve probably spent a summer (usually reserved for holidaying, sunshine, outings with friends, and the beach) researching universities, course combinations, scholarships, preparing for entrance exams, and applying to all of your dream colleges. I too found myself in the same place last summer. After a grueling month of final examinations at school, I settled down to craft and polish my personal essays, as well as talking to seniors and mentors to seek guidance over how to navigate interviews.
Inevitably, a question that you would have come across in your college application would be: “What is a challenge, hardship, or failure that you experienced, and how did you overcome it? What did it teach you?” Whether it be in your personal statement or in an interview, this question adds a layer of depth to your application process.
The purpose of the question is to allow the applicants to share their personal story that goes beyond displaying their writing skills. It seeks to reveal their strengths and resilience in the face of hardships. This gives a chance to the students to authentically express themselves as individuals who are more than just their grades or extracurricular activities. A narrative about your struggles in life and the triumphant manner in which you overcame it has the power to leave a lasting impression on the admissions officer and positively influence your chances of being accepted to the college. This question works out perfectly well for those who have experienced adversities and trauma in their lives, have been able to come out of it and are comfortable enough to share it.
But what about the others?
What about those who have had no traumatic struggles in their life, or have been privileged enough to overcome any hardships?
What about those that are still processing their trauma?
What about those, who have struggled, and continue to do so with no silver lining in the end?
While students should be allowed to write about the challenges they’ve faced, this places an unnecessary pressure on those who may not want to.
During my journey of filling out admission portals and preparing for nerve wracking interviews, I spent many hours watching students in YouTube videos give advice on writing essays. YouTube recommended the video titled ‘The Rise of the “Trauma Essay” in College Applications’, a Ted talk by Tina Yong. It was quite apt for the moment, if you ask me. In the talk, she recounts her experience of navigating the application process “…like I had no other choice, no other experience worthy of mentioning and no other merit beyond the fact that I had thrived despite what I had gone through.”
If one was to put more thought into this, then is it really reasonable to have someone describe their experience of trauma in a compact 700 word essay, or a five-line answer in an interview? It has been proven that writing is a cathartic process and journaling and laying out your thoughts, feelings and emotions can help one alleviate stress. However, writing about trauma that often requires counseling, medical support and time to heal, may not be fully understood or processed by a 17 year old. As Tina Yong says, “it’s always not pain to progress – it doesn’t fit a linear narrative.”
Now, if a student does write about their personal hardships in their essay and subsequently receives a rejection letter, does that mean their trauma was not moving enough to constitute a good essay? So, on what basis is it decided which trauma is “better”? This application decides your entire academic trajectory, and trauma doesn’t seem to be the right criteria to determine your future.
Perhaps the system of evaluation needs to be rethought. One should start off by reconsidering the criteria on which applicants are evaluated on the essay. Is it merely how one finds strength through their adversities or is it their passions and excellence in a subject that qualifies them as a good candidate? It would be ideal to encourage discussion on their interests and understand why they are truly drawn to the chosen subject. Instead of posing the same question that has been around for years, consider posing one that pushes students to think outside the box, and allows them to showcase their creativity. Build a system that assesses a student much more holistically than a single essay or interview question. How holistic would you consider your university’s application system to be in this regard?