2 common secondary essay question

[saa09]

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I don't exactly how to deal with two types of essay questions that come up on secondaries

1. some of my secondaries contain both of the following topics: a diversity essay, and an obstacle/challenge essay.
The first thing that comes to mind for both is the fact that I immigrated from a different country, but I can't write two essays about the same thing, can I? Anyone have the same issue?

2. Some applications give the option of writing about any hardships that you might have experiences (such as on the UCLA application). Is it a bad idea to mention the immigration thing, which although was difficult at first, really plays no effect now? (and I guess I had to overcome it during middle school in terms of academics)

Thanks

 

[Vido]

Maybe i can help you for the first question. If you want to approach being differnt in a smart way, don't rely only on talking about that you came from another country. try talking about how being from another country made things differnt for you and how did coming to this country changed you. this worked out fine for me and i hope it may help you. good luck

 

[kiganga]

I will add that I agree it is better to write essays on different topics. These extra essays are oppurtunities to present different sides of ourselves so that we can represent real people and showing the same thing in multiple essays makes us appear shallow and without any otherrelevent experiences.

 

[majestic red]

I also immigrated at a young age, but I left it out of these types of essays. I wrote my diversity essay about my self-taught knowledge of web design/web programming, and my adversity essay about a personal situation. I've been told that the adversity essays are more about how you handled the situation/cope, than what the source of the adversity actually was.