Me earlier today: "I'm going to get all of these secondaries done." Me later today, "Ok, I might have a first draft of just the first Duke essay..."
I went with just straight autobiographical, hitting major points in my life that impacted who I am, how I act, and how I think. I mentioned experiences with different cultures. I am glad I went through it as I now recognize ways I need to change some of the other essays. I definitely need to rethink this one, but it was very helpful to get a bunch of thoughts on paper.
Now I still need to do the research essay and I'm going to add a brief note about why I'm choosing Duke. I'm thinking one per day max for quality, so I'm going to get started