Tips on Autobiography Secondary?

[FatherTime-PhD]

Specifically for Vanderbilt ...

BUT, I'm struggling on how to really format this autobiography. I already wrote something but my S.O. told me that it sounded like a bunch of mini personal statements. And I agree, it's a lot of this is a story about one phase of my life and it taught me X,Y,Z. Is that a bad thing?

Is it better to focus, say on three "values" and then flesh them out with stories? Because right now, it's more of a chronological story with what I've learned (lots of I 'values' I guess). That's what I thought an autobio is but I fear I might be taking the wrong approach to this.

I'm super lost on how to best approach this ... Any help/advice would be greatly, greatly APPRECIATED!

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[Moko]

Specifically for Vanderbilt ... BUT, I'm struggling on how to really format this autobiography. ... Is it better to focus, say on three "values" and then flesh them out with stories? Because right now, it's more of a chronological story with what I've learned (lots of I 'values' I guess). That's what I thought an autobio is but I fear I might be taking the wrong approach to this.

Vanderbilt's secondary does mention them wanting you to be as complete and precise as possible. Doing this chronologically seems like a reasonable approach, as long as you highlight the major branch points in your life and the experiences that influenced you to become who you are today. No one wants to read a novel, but giving some succinct examples to flush out particularly meaningful events and memories should be fine.

 

[907914]

Specifically for Vanderbilt ...

BUT, I'm struggling on how to really format this autobiography. I already wrote something but my S.O. told me that it sounded like a bunch of mini personal statements. And I agree, it's a lot of this is a story about one phase of my life and it taught me X,Y,Z. Is that a bad thing?

Is it better to focus, say on three "values" and then flesh them out with stories? Because right now, it's more of a chronological story with what I've learned (lots of I 'values' I guess). That's what I thought an autobio is but I fear I might be taking the wrong approach to this.

I'm super lost on how to best approach this ... Any help/advice would be greatly, greatly APPRECIATED!

I did chronological “I did this growing up as a First gen, realized this which led me to this where I learned this. After this I did this which presented this challenge where I learned this and furthered my path to Premed where I did this and that.”

Just went straight up these things in this order with these challenges and lessons.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

I did my first paragraph in broad strokes, doing major life periods (which worked out nice with how my life is organized) and then filled in the details using my values to provide context and specifics