“Tell me something about yourself” 

“What’s a word that you would use to describe yourself?”

“Who are you?”

All college-bound students are familiar with these daunting and mind-stumping questions. They appear on the Common Applications, the supplements and the surveys that colleges send out to prospective students. They want to “know” the students they might pick to become part of their campus. They want us to explain our feelings and thoughts. 

But what if we don’t know?

What if we aren’t sure of ourselves? How can we persuade admissions officers about ourselves when we don’t even know yet? 

There is so much more to ourselves that we have yet to discover. As a child, you think you know yourself, but as you grow and mature, the things you once thought would never change start to morph into something different; something new that comes with age. Your view of knowledge and what is the truth changes as your mental map matures and absorbs the ideas around it. 

Isn’t college the place you’re suppose to find yourself? How can we show who we are if we haven’t discovered it yet?

The college application process is just one giant contradiction. Colleges send you brochures, pamphlets and other materials to sell you their programs and benefits. They tell you that through their school, you will find yourself and your place in life. 

However, when it comes time to actually apply to these schools, they ask you to explain who you are and why you want to go to their school. Isn’t it a little obvious why I want to go to college?

To find myself, like the brochures said; I want to discover new things, meet new people and learn new materials.

Also, how am I suppose to explain myself when I haven’t discovered it yey? All the jumbled ideas inside my head reflect only the surface of my being, of my consciousness. My true self has yet to be unearthed from the depths of my soul and mind. What I know about myself now may not be true a year from now. So how is my essay suppose to reflect myself when the self is always changing. The college experience molds you into the adult you are destined to be; an essay written at the age of 17 won’t. 

I am a dynamic character trying to figure out what I know, how I know it and where I will end up one day. I can’t be described that in under 500 words.

Maybe that should be my essay.