Dear Sabina, age 10,
I know you’re frustrated right now—you fight with your friends weekly, you would give anything to quit swim team, and school is so easy and boring that you fake sick to stay home and read. You just want to be in the real world; you crave change and understanding.
In the next few years, you will begin to experience that exact thing. You’ll skip sixth grade and go straight to junior high; it’ll shock your peers—one of them will even tell you that you don’t deserve to be there—but your success will prove all their doubts wrong. Once you get to seventh grade, junior high academics will be easier than you think, but you’ll encounter tough and unfamiliar life situations. One of your classmates will die of brain cancer, and you’ll struggle to see the justice in the world when you get to celebrate Halloween with your friends and she doesn’t. You know 12-year-olds aren’t supposed to die, that’s supposed to be for old people who’ve lived their lives. But you will realize that you have to take risks and make the most of everything. She’ll inspire you to do a season of basketball, which you’ll be awful at. You’ll go home crying three days in a row, but you won’t quit, which will pay off because you will grow to like it and even become somewhat decent. Just don’t be so afraid to mess up. I know you’ll want your team to win, but take that shot in the last twelve seconds of your final game instead of passing the ball because you could have made it.
Even though it’s a source of tension in your friendships right now, continue to be outspoken. Your peers will begin to lose their personal values and become identical to the people they spend time with, but you don’t need to. You are an individual. Your favorite word is no, and you’re so stubborn. Stay that way. As you get older your stubbornness will turn into determination and serve you well.
Try not to worry so much. Sometimes it’s better to just let things happen. That being said, though, continue to pursue your ever changing interests. While your parents reprimand you for quitting everything you start, I know you’re just trying to figure out what you love. You’ll try guitar, writing, dance, tennis, stage crew, painting. None of them will fit perfectly, but through a combination of each of their good elements you will get closer and closer until you eventually discover what makes you happy—working with kids.
Ten-year-old me, you’re a lot luckier than you think you are. Try to remember that; I know it won’t be easy.
Best wishes,
Sabina, age 16
This letter served as my application essay for college. It’s an untraditional format, but hey, the risk paid off.
Today is the first day of my April A to Z Challenge. For more All Things College posts, click here.
That is an insightful letter, glad it served you well – nice start to your AtoZ :)
Sophie
Sophie’s Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press
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Thank you! I appreciate that :)
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Very nice. So, what would a letter to 10 year old Sabina look like today?
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Probably very similar, actually. I think I’d still give myself more or less the same advice. My letters to my future self change much more often than my letters to my past self.
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Loved the letter Sabina!
I’m really sorry about your friend’s untimely demise.
Which application essay was this for?
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Thank you! This was for my application to college. It doesn’t follow the standard format but it got me in regardless.
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A great letter. It would be awesome if we could send such letters to our younger selves. Sometimes, we need a mad man with a blue box!
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Right?? Can somebody invent time travel already?
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So awesome and I already can’t wait to read tomorrow’s post.
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Ahh I hope you LOVE it!
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I would have accepted you into college based on that essay. Skipping a grade must have been very challenging socially but hopefully it eased the boredom of school.
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It definitely did ease the boredom of school, and frankly I look back and think that it was probably worth it socially, too. I ended up with some amazing friends that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
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Such a cool idea for an application letter. :)
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Thank you! It was actually me being lazy since it was an assignment from Junior English but I felt like it said more than anything else I could’ve written would have.
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So wait, it’s a re-re-use today? That letter has some power! Junior year assignment, actual application essay, and blogging challenge… I think it has life left in it yet, as well. What to use it on next…
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A re-re-use! Maybe I need to make it a re-re-re-use at some point. I only have two more reuses for the Challenge, but those I at least modified to fit my theme a bit.
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This letter could be a good “About” page or author bio in a book!
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Love it!
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I don’t even remember if I had to write an essay when I transferred from Berkshire Community College to UMass–Amherst. The schools has a transfer agreement, so pretty much anyone who graduated BCC was automatically admitted into UMass, provided the paperwork were sent. Though I do remember practicing writing college entrance essays in my English AP class.
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We did the same in my AP class, which I think is a good system. I had actually written this piece junior year (for a different assignment), modified it slightly and turned it in senior year for the college essay assignment, and then send it in with my app. I got a lot of mileage out of that first assignment!
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Great letter. I understand all about the boredom of school. I do think skipping a grade must’ve been challenging socially indeed. Your parents might not have liked your stubbornness. Ultiately, it paid off though.
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They still don’t like my stubbornness sometimes, but it also has gotten me where I am now, which they appreciate. Definitely paid off!
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Wow, that was a great letter. And sometimes untraditional really is better.
Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com
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Thank you!! Untraditional was the way to go for me.
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I like that you went with a different type of theme. I will definitely be sharing your posts with M this month :)
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Ah wonderful! They range from serious to silly so there’s all sorts of things coming.
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I am now very curious what M is going to be!
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Great letter! And excellent idea for your college essay! All the best on your A-Z challenge this month.
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Thank you so much! Thanks for stopping by :)
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I love it, and such an original idea for an application letter :-)
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Thank you Norm!
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Great essay. I am pretty sure that colleges still like to read the unconventional application essay. You figure that when they are reading thousands upon thousands of essays, the few that stand out will get more attention. I’m not surprised this one did.
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Thank you! That’s what I figured, too. It wasn’t too far outside of a standard essay but still had a bit of atypicality to it.
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My application letter and subsequent interview to get in to college got very interesting, and led to some really awkward (but apparently rewarding, I got in…) conversation. But now I kind of wish I could just go with what you did… too late to bandwagon this one, though!
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I never had an interview to get into college, which I’m grateful about. I probably could’ve held my own, but I definitely didn’t have great interviewing skills back then.
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It was a special program my university ran, where they pulled in faculty, parents, community members… lots of volunteers to interview applicants. It was good practice, for sure!
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A for Avant Garde. Sounds like you have learned quite a bit. Great letter btw. I think the people who live outside of the box do more in life.
Happy A to Zing
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Thank you! Happy A-Z to you too :)
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Figuring out what you love is sometimes the toughest, but you are well on your way! And remembering your 10-yr old self is important. Nice post :)
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It’s a neverending journey, in my opinion. Thank you!!
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Fantastic!
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Thanks!!
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Great way to start this challenge!
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Thank you! I appreciate that.
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Brilliant–the idea, the letter itself, and using it as a college application. Loved it! And now you got me thinking… What would I say to my 10-year-old self? (Once April is over maybe I’ll explore that ;) )
Thanks for stopping over at Quiet Laughter earlier; I’m really looking forward to your feedback as a linguistics enthusiast. Papiamentu fascinates me because of its mélange nature… And how cool is it you’ve actually been to Curaçao? And to dive! So few people I talk to have even heard of this island that hearing you’ve been here totally made my day :D
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It could also work for older ages, but when I wrote this piece originally I was 15 and 10 was the closest milestone age. But it’s a fun prompt regardless and you should try it! I’m happy I found your blog today! I apparently had found your Twitter earlier this week but didn’t make it to your blog. A happy accident I suppose!
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What a lovely letter, I would have loved at that age if someone had written me that kind of advice. Looking forward to the rest of your A to Z!
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Thank you!! I’ve got all sorts of things in store so stay tuned :)
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I love this! My oldest daughter is going to be 19 in a couple of weeks, she is in her first year of college. My youngest daughter is almost 12 years old so your post made me think of where they both are currently in their lives.
I’m also doing the A to Z challenge, Organize Home Life on http://AMomsPointOfView.com
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I’ll be 19 in June, so she and I are about the same age! I wonder how your older daughter’s advice to her sister would be the same/different as her advice to her younger self. Good luck on A-Z! I’ll drop by at some point tomorrow :)
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Right on! That is an incredibly mature piece of 16-year-old writing, and I love, love, love the photos at the end.The part about taking the risks and making the most of everything is my favorite part, and what a last line!
(By the way, I started right after myself on the list this morning, but David started up here because you are our earliest appearing friend, unless we missed someone. I am trailing him tonight and trying to get in sync so we’re visiting at least some of the same blogs, and trying to get through the first hundred as quick as I can. ;-) )
Always about the world domination :-)
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Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed. And if there’s a thread that becomes interesting, you know where to find me for some world domination!
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That is an amazing application essay for college. I would have accepted you, too! Fantastic. My own was not as fun…. sort of a summation of a life lived on the road for a year, whatever, and my fascination with kanji characters. I remember having to redo the essay because a side reader asked if the application was for ME or my FATHER… :D I’d realized I’d spent more time talking about him than myself, haha!
Alex Hurst, A Fantasy Author in Kyoto
Out of Print, Fiction authors and their shorts
A-Z Blogging in April Participant
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Thank you so much!! And the art of the college essay is hard to master–how can one piece really say everything about a person? (Answer: it can’t, try as we might)
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Um . . . this is really for both of you. (I always have to come back to your threads when you respond because I forget what I said and don’t want to be dumb.) Came back and saw Alex’s comment and your response. Alex is in on the World Domination, if you don’t know that already ;-)
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I found her from you, so I figured as much ;)
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Being personal is what we all do best though we often seem to want to hide most of who we are to ‘fit’. A great start to A to Z and I’m looking forward to the rest.
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Yes! Love that. And thank you!
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That is a great and individual way to go :) Love the letter,being yourself is so important.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
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Thank you!! And I agree, sometimes it’s worth it to show your identity.
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Excellent! My college application essay was a fictionalized account of “a day in my life”.. I may have to give sharing it a try some time.
I can see why yours worked! Very nice!
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That seems like an interesting essay! You should definitely share it.
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Next year I totally want to try to A-Z challenge. Is it during April every year?
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You absolutely should! Yes, it’s in April every year. There’s also NaBloPoMo (the blogging answer to November’s NaNoWriMo) that I participated in last year and intend to this year as well :) it’s a lot of fun!
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