Essays About Obstacles (back to contents)

From the profound to the pitiful, how do you handle the problems that stand in your way? The best answer: carefully.

Students today have often gone through crises that required more strength than any teenager should have to muster. But if you choose to write about such a personal event in your life, remember that less is more. Go for sharp, honest detail with no hint of self-pity. You don’t want someone to feel sorry for you. Rather, you want the reader to see that you have come through your crisis strong and independent, ready to begin life on your own at college.

The first two writers are inspiring in their strength and uplifting response to tough times. They describe wrenching, tragic circumstances without sinking into pathos, although Laurie Jane Sternberg comes perilously close in tone to petulance. Alicia Jordan, on the other hand, steers clear of that tone—and of asking for sympathy. In fact, the climactic moment of her memory is in the shortest paragraph of her essay. She is clear-headed and mature, and it shows. Both students will be able to make the transition to college without difficulty.

Obstacles need not be as life-altering as divorce or death to be significant in your life. Jennifer Dodge, in her “Whomp!” essay, turns a broken leg and a potentially ruined year into an enlightening experience, and she does it with creativity and humor. She avoids syrupy glorifications of her charitable project and maintains a cheerful tone through the treacherous topics of pain and charity.

In the next essay, we see a student persevering in the face of enormous family hardship. Effort can be more impressive than victory, and it’s impossible to be unmoved by this writer’s effort.

The last essay also took some guts to write. A teenage boy confronting a stuttering problem may not seem as earth-shattering as the loss of a parent, but as anyone who stutters knows, it is a lifelong struggle with a condition that never completely goes away. Joseph Wurzburg used it to show how he learned about persistence, a valuable attribute in college. (CLICK HERE FOR JOSEPH WURZBURG’S ESSAY.)

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