"Kim" is the most popular last name in Korea, like "Smith" in the West.

…A Letter from C2 Education President and CEO David Kim

“Dear Readers:

As the college application season heats up, I would like to offer some additional guidance on one of the most important parts of the college application, the essay (read our past essay writing advice here).

The college admissions essay is the only part of a college application which allows students to separate themselves from the pack. Particularly at selective colleges, most applicants will have comparable SAT scores, GPAs, course selections, and extracurricular activities, so the essay becomes particularly important for admission.

Obviously, the essay itself is what’s most important. Too many students use their essays to simply rehash the many extracurricular activities that they have taken part in, but a college essay ought to be a story that offers color and perspective to an application. Beyond the essay itself, topic selection is also highly important because selecting the right topic can help to make an essay stand out. Most colleges (and the Common Application) offer more than one essay prompt for students to choose from, yet we find that most students avoid certain prompts.

For example, one essay prompt from the common application which has the potential to create excellent essays asks students to evaluate a current event or issue, but most students avoid such prompts like the plague because most students pay little or no attention to current events. Though students ought to keep abreast of current events for their own edification, these essay prompts offer additional incentive for reading a newspaper: Students who select uncommon essay prompts will make it easier for their essays to stand out from the crowd.

Since I always try to practice what I preach, I’ve written my own personal narrative in response to a common college application essay prompt:

Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

The waiting room was dark and dingy, filled with cigarette smoke, the stench of vomit, urine, and too many unwashed bodies. All of the chairs were full, so patients sat huddled on the cold linoleum floor, some shaking visibly from drug withdrawal symptoms, others coughing unceasingly into ragged bandanas, still others staring blankly and muttering to themselves. The despair of poverty, illness, and hopelessness was palpable. It was 1974, and my mother was among those waiting to see a doctor at the Baltimore Department of Health.

My mother had recently immigrated to the U.S. Though she had earned her degree in biochemical engineering in Korea, here she found herself helping my father to run a martial arts studio, the only job available to a recent female immigrant with little English. Almost immediately upon arrival, she began having respiratory problems. Though she ignored her symptoms for as long as she could, she was eventually forced to see a doctor, a luxury my parents could hardly afford at the time.

Uninsured and broke, my mother had no choice but to go to the Department of Health, a place that served the poorest of the poor in 1970s Baltimore. Her first foray into American culture surrounded my mother with drug addicts, HIV sufferers, and indigents, the ignored underbelly of the city. Her impression of her new country was not improved when she was referred to the city hospital which, at the time, catered primarily to inmates from the local prison. At the hospital, doctors ran test after test before finally diagnosing my mother with tuberculosis. During the next 9 months, my parents scrounged and saved to afford my mother’s treatment, which she received at the city hospital.

My mother vowed that she would never again step foot in a place like the city hospital so, although my parents could barely afford it, she purchased health insurance. Several months later, my mother learned the dangers of being under-insured: When she became pregnant, her doctor told her that her insurance would not cover pregnancy and that she would have to deliver her baby at the city hospital. Dismayed, my mother told her doctor that one way or another she would find a way to deliver at a quality hospital – she wanted her son to have the benefit of a safe delivery. Touched by her willingness to invest all she had in her child’s wellbeing, the doctor helped her find a way to deliver at a better hospital.

My mother’s tale is sadly typical of the American healthcare system. Today there are roughly 50 million uninsured Americans faced with the same choices that she had to make – to pay the rent or see a doctor, to buy medicine or groceries? Many people are unwilling to pay for medical care for the uninsured, arguing that insurance is a luxury rather than a necessity, but I suspect that many of those people have never lived in fear of illness or injury due to a lack of health coverage. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch told his daughter, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Perhaps if those who argue that healthcare is a luxury were to climb into the skin of an uninsured American, we might reach a national consensus on healthcare reform.

In an enlightened and prosperous country such as ours, there is simply no excuse for neglecting the basic healthcare needs of 50 million citizens, forcing them to resort to public health clinics and emergency rooms for everything from head trauma to the flu. I hope to one day live in a world in which people are no longer faced with the decisions my mother had to make, a world in which we show empathy and compassion to our fellow man, a world in which we walk in each other’s skins.

The story of my mother’s illness and of my birth helped to shape my goals and ideals. As a child, our family doctor often reminded me of my mother’s sacrifices on my behalf and of my obligation to live up to her hopes and dreams. It was her selfless investment in my future that spurred me to work hard as a student, to attend Harvard University, and to begin my own business. To this day, my mother’s sacrifices inspire me.

The sacrifices that you make on behalf of your children will not go unnoticed. When you invest your all into their future, they will respond in kind. At C2 Education, we believe that the strongest investment anyone can make is to invest in their child’s education. Only by providing the best educational resources available can we ensure that our children grow up to be bright, successful, and responsible adults.

If your child is approaching the end of his high school career, it is time to focus on preparing him for that next step: applying to college. Regardless of what essay prompt your child chooses to respond to, it is important that he put a great deal of work and effort into his college admissions essays. For help and guidance, consider purchasing The Smarter Guide to College Essay Writing, or visit your local C2 center to sign up for essay help. Investing in your child’s application essay will pay off when he receives that coveted admissions packet!”

Best of luck,

David Kim

President and CEO, C2 Education