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While college admission readers are somewhat interested in your challenges, they're especially interested in knowing what you did to overcome them. Before we launch into ideas on how to describe what you've done, here are two effective examples written by other students:

Without a father figure to teach me the things a father could, I became my own teacher. I learned how to fix a bike, how to swim, and even how to talk to girls. I became resourceful, fixing shoes with strips of duct tape, and I even found a job to help pay bills. I became as independent as I could to lessen the time and money mom had to spend raising me.

To read the rest of this essay, check out the "What Had To Be Done" essay at this link.

Here's another example:

Money became an issue at home, so I started helping out more. After school I'd rush home to clean up and make dinner. My parents refused to let me have a "real" job, so on Saturday afternoons I'd go to the park with my older brother to collect soda cans. Sundays and summertime were spent cleaning houses with my mother.

I worked twice as hard in school. I helped clean my church, joined the choir, and tutored my younger sister in math. As tensions eased at home, I returned to cheerleading, joined a school club called Step Up, and got involved in my school's urban farm, where I learned the value of healthy eating.

To read the rest of this essay, check out "The Little Porch and a Dog" essay at this link.

Pause.

Before I share with you some ideas for improving the "What I Did" part of your essay, ask yourself these questions if you haven't already:

1. Are my Challenges + Effects clear? Can I name them in a few sentences right now? If not, go back to this lesson.

2. Are my Challenges + Effects compelling? Is the reader pulled in by the opening and wondering "What will happen next?" If not, go back to this lesson.
   
   

Once you're certain your Challenges + Effects are both clear and compelling, here are:

11 Ideas for Improving the "What I Did About it" Part of Your Story

1. What did you do as a result of or thanks to your challenges? During or after the time you experienced your challenges, for example ...

2. What moment changed things for you? Was there a turning point?

• Examples: "When I saw the look on my mother's face, I knew I had to do something," or "After my father had left, I knew I had to step up."

3. Did you take responsibility for anything you hadn't before?

• Family example: "I was given the responsibility of taking care of my grandmother, making sure she took her medicine, and cooking healthy foods for her."

• School examples: "I was named team captain (or group leader), in charge of [name your responsibilities]."

• Community examples: "I started volunteering at my local library helping senior citizens understand all the amazing things computers can do."

4. Where did you go that you'd never been before?

• Physical/geographical examples: "I learned to take the bus myself," or "I traveled to Europe"—(see "Easter" essay)

• Mental/emotional examples: "I learned how to be more honest with my mom," or "I learned how to ask my friends for help."

5. Did you earn money to pay for anything? Perhaps to support your family, or pay for things that your parents might have otherwise paid for?

• Examples: "Saturday afternoons I'd go to the park with my older brother to collect soda cans"— (see "The Little Porch and a Dog" essay at this link).

5. Did you become more engaged with or take action around a social justice issue or cause?

• Examples: Maybe you started canvassing door-to-door for a local politician who inspired you, or maybe you started attending regular beach clean-ups.

6. Did you help anyone along the way? If so, who?

• Examples: "I was not only able to improve my own nutrition, I even inspired my mother to stop buying sodas (or) our family agreed to go vegetarian for one day per week."

7. Did anyone help you along the way? If so, who?

• Examples: "My teammates played a crucial role during this time, and I'd reach out to them whether I had a homework question or needed a ride home."

8. What problems did you tackle or solve along the way?

• Examples: "I grew interested in other problems facing my community and began attending town hall meetings," or "I began taking part in graffiti clean-up days and helped paint murals at two local parks."

9. What technology did you learn along the way, if any?

• Examples: "I learned the basics of Adobe Photoshop or Python," or "I learned how to create an awesome spreadsheet."

10. What details could help us understand how much time and energy you spent working on a particular task? (Note: While sometimes details can go in your Activities List, in other cases, they can help us understand your depth of involvement.)

• Examples: "For the next six weeks, I got up at 5 in the morning to catch the early bus to school so I could arrive early for additional tutoring," or "Without a teacher to guide me, I spent 2-3 hours each night studying physics on my own," or "For the rest of the year, I walked my brother to the school bus to keep the bullies away."

11. If there was a time when you lost motivation, what (specifically) helped re-energize or motivate you again?

• Examples: "When things got tough, I shared my struggles with my closest friend/counselor/mother, and they gave me the encouragement to keep going," or "To work through my feelings, I read self-help books such as X and Y and began eating more healthy meals and cooking for myself."

And here are six more ideas that could either go in the middle of the essay, when you describe what you did, or at the end, when you describe what you learned:

1. Were you able to bring anyone together along the way? If so, whom?

• Examples: "Thanks to our club's efforts, our school environment began to slowly change. People started paying more attention during assembly meetings, and more people voted in our class election than ever before."

2. What did you become more curious about? Did you start to study or explore anything new or different?

• Examples: science, coding, nutrition, cryptocurrency, poetry, cooking, website design

3. In what specific ways did you explore your new interest(s)?

• Examples: online research, becoming more engaged in class, volunteered, hours upon hours in the public library, started a microbusiness, led workshops, took webinars, watched YouTube how-to videos

4. Did your role change (in your school, family, community)?

• Examples: You took on the role of "mom" for your siblings, or you were promoted to vice president of a school club, or you became the de facto college counselor for your peers because your school didn't have a counselor.

5. What did you discover you had more choice around?

• Examples: After changing schools, you found you had more flexibility in terms of choosing your class schedule, or after encountering Ru Paul's Drag Race, you felt so much more permission to dress and act more authentically, as well as advocate for yourself and others (see "Drag Race" essay here).

6. What feedback did you receive? What did you do as a result?