best college essays about overcoming challenges

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How to Write the Overcoming Challenges Essay + Example

April 17, 2023

At some point, most college-bound students are tasked with writing an overcoming challenges essay. The prompt crops up in various forms, as a supplemental short essay about overcoming a challenge, and in as the main essay itself.

Some students may feel inclined to write about a dramatic experience (say, spotting a grizzly bear outside the kitchen window), mistaking the drama of the moment for a significant challenge. Others may get to work, only to realize they don’t have much to say about the time they got a C in P.E. (that dreaded frisbee unit). Students who’ve overcome unspeakable difficulties, like a death in the family, may find that reducing the tragedy to 650 words feels insufficient, or worse—as if they’re attempting to profit from suffering. One or two students may stare down the blank computer screen as their entire existence shrinks to the size of a 12-point font. Should they write about the challenge of writing about the challenge of writing an overcoming challenges essay??

Don’t worry. Focusing first on how to tackle the essay will help any student decide what they should write about. In fact, how the essay is written will also prove more influential than the challenge itself in determining the strength of the essay.

Decoding the Prompt

Let’s take a look at the overcoming challenges essay question included among the seven 2023-24 Common App Essay Prompts :

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Notice how the prompt places an immediate emphasis on the “lessons we take,” rather than on the obstacles themselves, or any potential success. This is because the challenge itself often says less about the student than the way the student chose to tackle it, or the way they now reflect on it. In other words, obstacles often come at us randomly; it’s our personal response to the circumstances which reveals something of who we are.

While studying a prompt for clues, it’s helpful to think from the perspective of the admissions officer (the essay reader). What can they glean from an overcoming challenges essay?  A lot, actually. A thoughtfully written essay may tell them about the student’s personality, as well as things like problem-solving techniques, rigor, persistence, creativity, and courage. These insights can work to prove to the admissions officers that the student has what it takes to overcome challenges in college, too. These future challenges may range from the inevitable academic obstacles that occur with heavy courseloads, to social and moral challenges that arise as college students form their adult identities.

Picking Your Topic: A Brainstorming Activity

With the question of identity in mind, let’s now approach the overcoming challenges essay backwards, by brainstorming the final message the student wants it to contain.

For this three-part exercise, the student will first set a five-minute timer. With the clock ticking, they’ll jot down character traits, values, and any descriptive words or terms that say something about who they are. If stumped, change perspective. The student may imagine what their best friends, parents, coaches and siblings would say. (For example, tenacious , logical , scientific , peacemaker .) Even mild criticism can be helpful, as long as it’s not cruel. While a student’s brother may call him a “perfectionist,” perhaps this word will trigger other relevant words, like persistent and detail-oriented.

Next, the student will set the timer for another five minutes, pull out a second sheet of paper, and jot down any challenges, obstacles, setbacks, failures, and achievements that come to mind. Don’t hold back here or overanalyze. (For example: underdog at state swim meet , getting lost on the family hike , petitioning for a school compost system …)

Lastly, the student will place the two pages side by side, and draw lines between the items on the list wherever connections occur. One student may draw lines between persistent , curious , gamer , passionate about electronics , and saved the day during the power outage. Another set of lines might connect caring, observant, creative thinker , and helped sister leave abusive cult . Whatever ideas are sparked here, the goal is to identify which challenges will demonstrate something essential about the student to an admissions officer.

Topics to Avoid

The internet is rife with advice on what not to write when writing an overcoming challenges essay. Yet this advice can be confusing, or downright hypocritical. For instance, some may advise against writing about death. Yet a student who lost their father at an early age may be capable of writing a poignant essay about their search for an alternative father figure, and how they found one in their soccer coach.

I suggest avoiding guides on what not to write until after the student has done a thorough round of brainstorming. Otherwise, they risk censoring themselves too early, and may reject a promising idea. Once they’ve narrowed down their list to three ideas or less, they may want to check our guide on College Application Essay Topics to Avoid .

The reason why certain types of overcoming challenges essays miss the mark is that they emphasize the wrong aspect of the experience, which turns the topic into a cliché. While it’s generally a good idea to avoid trivial topics (again, that C in P.E.), any topic has the potential to be compelling, if it’s animated through personal opinions, insight, and description. Details bring an experience to life. Structure and reflection make an essay convincing. In other words, how the story is told will determine whether or not the topic is worth writing about.

So, rather than avoid specific topics, consider avoiding these scenarios: if you can’t show the essay to your best friend or grandmother, it’s probably not ready to show a college admissions officer. If you must write a clichéd topic, don’t choose a typical structure.

Techniques to Hone

Techniques that animate an overcoming challenges essay are the same ones used in storytelling. Think setting, visuals, sounds, dialogue, physical sensations, and feelings. “Showing” instead of “telling.” Crafting the essay with these inner and external details will bring the challenge to life, and catch the reader’s attention.

Another technique which works well when trying to avoid the trappings of cliché involve subverting the reader’s expectations. In storytelling terms, this is a plot twist. The student who got a C in P.E. may actually have a stellar essay on their hands, if they can break away from the “bad grade” trope (working harder to improve their grade). Perhaps this student’s story is actually about how, while sitting on the bleachers and not participating in the game, they found themselves watching the frisbee spin through the air, and realized they had a deep interest in the movement of astronomical bodies.

Some of the strongest overcoming challenges essays demonstrate what students have learned about themselves, rather than what they’ve learned about the obstacle they confronted. These essays may show how the student has come to see themselves differently, or how they’ve decided to change, thanks to the challenge they faced. These essays work because the reflection is natural and even profound, based on the student’s self-awareness.

Writing the Overcoming Challenges Essay, or Drafts, Drafts, Drafts

Everyone writes differently, some by outlining (never a bad idea), some by free-styling (good for capturing sensations and memories), some by lighting a candle—but don’t procrastinate too much. The only “must” is to revise. After a first draft, the student should begin to look for several things:

1) Clarity and Detail. Is the challenge recounted with precision? Is it personal?

2) Structure. Consider mapping the structure, to visualize it better. Does the structure suit the story? Can it be changed for clarity, or to keep the reader more engaged?

3) Cliché. Identify words, sentences, and ideas that are dull or repetitive. Mark them up, and in the next draft, find ways to rewrite, subvert, condense, and delete.

4) Lesson Learned. Has the student reflected adequately on the lesson they learned from overcoming a challenge? To add more reflection, students might ask themselves what they have felt and thought about the experience since. Would they do something differently, if faced with the same challenge? Has their understanding of the experience evolved over time?

By the final draft, the experience and the reflection should feel equally weighted. To get there, it may take five or six drafts.

Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample

The Happiness Hotline

First there were reports. Then we were told to stop socializing, go inside, wait. Covid struck. Everyone knows what ensued. It probably looked different from where we were all (separately) standing, even though we faced the same thing. Those first weeks, I stood at my bedroom window. It was dark by early evening in Oregon. The weirdest part—after the fact that we were collectively sharing the loneliest experience of our lives—was the silence.

… it was really quiet.

So quiet, I could hear my mom sigh downstairs. (So quiet, I couldn’t remember if I’d hummed aloud, or if I’d just heard myself in my head.) When I looked out the window, I could hear the stoplight at the end of our street. Green to yellow. Click.

Before going on, you should know three things. First, this is not a Covid essay. This is about melancholy, and the “sadness that has taken on lightness,” to quote Italo Calvino. Second, from my bedroom window, I can see down a row of oak trees, past the hospital, to my friend Carlo’s house. Third, Carlo is a jazz singer. Maybe that sounds pretentious, a freshman kid being a jazz singer, but that’s Carlo, and I wouldn’t be me without Carlo being Carlo. He’s someone who appreciates the unhinged rhythm of a Charlie Parker tune. He’s an extrovert who can bring introverts like me out of my shell. He convinced me to learn trombone, and together we riff in the after-school jazz club.

In the first month of the pandemic, we called each other nightly to talk rap albums, school stuff. At Carlo’s house, he could hear a white-crowned sparrow. He could also hear his parents talking numbers behind the bathroom door. The death toll was mounting. The cost of living was going up too. As the month wore on, I began to hear something else in our calls, in the way Carlo paused, or forgot what he was saying. Carlo was scared. He felt sad, isolated, and without his bright energy, I too, felt utterly alone.

Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample (Continued)

After some dark days, I realized that to help ourselves we needed to help others. It was pretty obvious the more I thought about it. People are social creatures, supposedly, even introverts. Maybe our neighbors needed to remember the noisiness of life.

We built a happiness hotline. That sounds fancy, though essentially, we provided three-way calls on my parents’ landline. The harder part involved making flyers and putting them up around town, in places people were still going. Grocery stores, the post office. We made a TikTok account, and then—the phone rang. Our first caller.

For months, if you called in, you could talk to us about your days in lockdown. People went really deep about the meaning of life, and we had to learn on the spot how to respond. I’d become a journalist and a therapist before becoming a sophomore. After chatting, the caller would request a song, and if we knew how to play it, we would. If not, we improvised.

Now we’re seniors in high school. Carlo visits the hospital with band members. As for myself, I’ve been working on a community music book, compiling our callers’ favorite tunes. I don’t want to forget how important it felt to make these connections. Our callers taught me that loneliness is a bit like a virus, a bit like a song. Even when it stops it can come back to haunt you, as a new variant or an old refrain. Still, sadness can take on lightness when voices call through the dark: sparrows, friends, strangers. I learned I’m good at listening into the silence. Listening isn’t only a passive stance, but an open line of receiving.

Analysis of the Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample

This student uses their musical passion to infuse the essay with vivid detail. There’s a focus on sound throughout, from the bird to the stoplight. Then there are the callers, and the clever way the student conceived of breaking through the silence. The narrator’s voice sharpens the piece further, elevating a clichéd Covid essay to a personal story of self-discovery.

In fact, the essay briefly breaks with structure to tell the reader that this is not a Covid essay. Although techniques like this should be used sparingly, it works here by grabbing the reader’s attention. It also allows the student to organize their thoughts on the page, before moving the plot along.

Outwardly, the student is overcoming the challenge of loneliness in a time of quarantine. Yet there seems to be an inner, unspoken challenge as well, that of coming to terms with the student’s introverted personality. The essay’s reflection occurs in the final paragraph, making the essay experience-heavy. However, clues woven throughout point to the reflection that will come. Details like the Italo Calvino quote hint at the later understanding of how to alleviate loneliness. While some readers might prefer more development, the various themes are threaded throughout, which makes for a satisfying ending.

A Last Word on the Short Essay About Overcoming Challenges

The short essay about overcoming a challenge requires the same steps as a longer one. To write it, follow the same brainstorming activity, then focus more on condensing and summarizing the experience. Students who’ve already written a longer overcoming challenges essay can approach the short essay about overcoming a challenge by streamlining. Instead of deleting all the extra bits, keep two interesting details that will flavor the essay with something memorable and unique.

• College Essay

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

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How to Nail Your Overcoming Challenges Essays

By Eric Eng

College essays are among the most influential and overlooked portions of college applications. By the time most students get to this part of the admissions process, they’re just ready to get everything completed and submitted so they can finally relax. On the other hand, though, it is the college essay that will help determine if your application gets a second look or is tossed to the side. Writing a personal essay effectively can make a significant difference in your application.

Although all colleges have different essays , many themes span across all of them. One of the most common and difficult prompts includes an essay about overcoming a challenge. Many students get stumped on this seemingly easy prompt for various reasons. When writing a personal essay on this topic, it’s essential to convey your unique experiences and growth.

We will be delving into this essay topic in this blog. We will investigate what the college admission officer is looking for and give you some tips that will help you in writing a personal essay on how to overcome challenges in life.

Diving Deep into the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay

Wondering what are some personal challenge essay examples? As the name implies, the ‘essay about overcoming a challenge’ prompt refers to any college essay question that asks applicants to address a difficult obstacle or challenge that they have had to overcome. There are many variations of the question, but it is essentially always the same basic material. Writing a personal essay for this prompt involves reflecting on these experiences thoughtfully.

College admissions officers are looking at how you cope with adversity and how the challenges you have faced have molded you into the person you are today. Much like many of the other college essay topics , writing a personal essay on overcoming challenges requires you to get a bit personal and open up.

This is an excellent opportunity for applicants to let admissions officers in on more about themselves as a person, helping them further qualify for an acceptance letter. While you may feel the urge to tell one of the most traumatic experiences you’ve gone through in your life, writing a personal essay does not require you to choose the most dramatic story. The challenge may be something very ordinary and common.

Admission officers will read and review your response based on how you faced the challenge, how you overcame it, and what you learned. Writing a personal essay on overcoming challenges is about showing colleges you can deal with setbacks and obstacles in your life and be resilient, resourceful, and able to push through.

No matter where you go, there’s a fair likelihood you’ll run into at least some of the obstacles that are going to be on your way to graduation. Colleges need to know that their students can overcome some of these barriers gracefully. The ‘overcoming challenges’ essay prompt helps colleges measure this capacity.

Rundown of Some Personal Challenge Essay Examples

Just to feel your way around what these essays look like, let’s take a glance at some real ‘overcoming challenges’ essay prompts. This first one is from Common App , which asks students to respond to the following question with a 650-word limit. When writing a personal essay for this prompt, it’s crucial to address each part thoughtfully.

“The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a challenge you’ve faced and how you approached it. It can be a challenge you’ve faced, a setback, or a failure. How did it affect you? What did you learn from this experience?”

Notice that the question is not just about some setback or challenge that you had in the past. This is asking how this experience impacted you and changed you up until now. This means the real focus here will be more on how it affected the applicant rather than the seriousness of the challenge itself. Writing a personal essay that effectively highlights this transformation is key.

Another example of an ‘overcoming challenges’ essay question comes from MIT . For the 2018-2020 application, students were asked to answer the following question in 200 to 250 words. When writing a personal essay for this prompt, consider the specific aspects they are asking for.

“Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. Tell us what you did to handle the situation.”

This is a ‘managed the situation’ prompt — not what you learn, or how have you been changed as a result. Writing a personal essay for this type of prompt involves focusing on your actions and decision-making process.

It’s important to key into the question because the ‘overcoming challenges’ essay prompts are very different in how they are worded and in exactly what they are looking for, even though the overall subject may be the same. Paying attention to these details can ensure you give admissions exactly what they are looking for when reading over your application. Writing a personal essay that addresses these nuances can make a significant impact.

Top Tips for Writing a “How to Overcome Challenges in Life” Essay

Excited to start on your college journey? Keep these tips in mind to ensure that your personal challenge essay impresses the admissions committee of your dream school:

1. Refrain from Writing About Common Topics

One major mistake students make when responding to the ‘overcoming challenges’ essay is writing a personal essay on a common topic. Since admissions officers have to read hundreds if not thousands, of essays answering the same question, writing on a common topic can seem trite and unoriginal.

Even if your essay is pristine, the topic still runs the risk of bringing down your overall response. Instead, it’s best to try and pinpoint a challenge or obstacle you’ve faced in your life that’s unique, or at least not as common. Some common ‘overcoming challenges’ essay topics to avoid include winning a difficult sports game or passing a course in which you were struggling.

Think back to events earlier in your life that impacted how you think and act today. Any of these experiences involved you in challenges you overcame and changed for the better? Don’t be afraid to get vulnerable and open when writing a personal essay. The more concrete, unique, and original you can make the topic, the better your chances at standing out from the crowd when you write your how to overcome challenges in life essay.

2. Highlight Your Emotional Intelligence

Colleges use ‘overcoming challenges’ essay prompts to get a better sense of the applicant than other areas of the application would be able to convey. Most notably, these essays are intended to highlight some characteristics that a student might possess that would prove valuable for their time in college. Writing a personal essay on this topic allows you to showcase these attributes effectively.

For example, an experience related to dealing with a challenging event in your life can show mental strength, social tact, perseverance, long-term thinking, follow-through, and other such qualities. One of the strongest ways to make your response even stronger, adding depth to your application, is through writing a personal essay that will reflect certain qualities you want to display to admissions officers. For example, overcoming a disagreement with a friend could strike a chord in you as a meaningful challenge.

However, the qualities it may demonstrate—forgiveness, understanding, and empathy, for example—are not necessarily those that you want to show to the admissions officers. Students should consider in advance what type of qualities they would like to convey in their answers and select a challenge accordingly when writing a personal essay.

Again, what this prompt is looking to effect is some positives about you and your personality. Contemplation, ahead of time, of how your topic is going to be read to the admissions officers can make the overall piece more impactful and calculated.

3. Steer Clear of Common Writing Techniques

Now, here’s the pro tip that most applicants won’t ever think about: this ‘overcoming challenges’ essay can stand out from other responses if one pays attention to its structure.

How you structure your prompt response can make a huge difference to the essay. Even if the topic is original, admissions officers will still spot the duplicated patterns of paragraphs. When writing a personal essay, to make sure that your ‘overcoming challenges’ essay stands out in the colleges’ eyes, you will have to give a due share of attention to how it is written. The majority of students stick to the following pattern:

Describe an event or experience that tested you → Describe how you overcame the challenge.

It’s not that this format is going to damage your essay. The thing is, hitting on something more unique and unexpected helps the essay to stand out. When writing a personal essay, it’s normal to feel stuck especially when you run out of ideas.  Instead of focusing on a singular event or occasion, you could write about a challenge you overcame over a prolonged period and events that helped you to push forward.

If you want to get creative, you could focus on something you’re still in the process of getting over. You could bring it into the present day and talk about what you plan to do in the future. Writing a personal essay with these variations isn’t essential but it is a great way to grab the attention of admissions officers.

4. Pay Attention to the Essay’s Substance

When the prompt asks for a description of an event or obstacle, as in the case of the ‘overcoming challenges’ essay prompt, too often students focus on the description of people, places, circumstances, and other physical or tangible things. That is a fine writing skill overall, but you’re not competing for a Pulitzer Prize when writing a personal essay for your college applications.

This all goes to giving admissions exactly what they want, making your responses outstanding, and showing off your strengths in the process. It is, therefore, best to focus more on the internal components of your topic rather than the circumstances. For example, rather than writing about what happened in the challenging event, you should focus on writing a personal essay about how you reacted, how you felt, what you thought, and how you overcame it mentally.

Were you anxious, worried, nervous, scared, confused? Was the event a surprise or frustrating one to you? It is this psychological experience and development in triumph over this obstacle that forms the true story. It’s more engaging; it tells more about who you are and who you became through this process. This narrative can give admissions officers the feeling of knowing you more as a person, which works wonders for making your essay stand out when writing an essay about overcoming a challenge.

5. Show the Impact, Not the Event

As mentioned earlier, the ‘overcoming challenges’ essay prompt gives admissions officers a better idea of who you are and how you deal with challenges. There are always some questions about a difficult/challenging situation in your life, but the key emphasis is on the reaction to the situation, rising to the occasion, and becoming a better person out of it. Some students feel a need to focus on the challenge itself, and not necessarily on what was learned from it when writing a personal essay.

Spending too much time describing the event, rather than how it impacted you, can ultimately hurt the quality of your answer. Remember, you are working with a strict word limit. While that varies between each school, many universities only allow applicants a few hundred words in which to respond. When writing a personal essay, the greatest portion of your response should deal with how the event affected your life, not how hard it was or the details about the challenge.

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to explicitly write that ‘from this event, I learned…’ You certainly can make it that evident, but it’s more effective to show the admissions committee rather than telling them by providing examples of how you’re better off having gone through the challenge. For example, let’s say you had a debilitating fear of public speaking .

You overcame this difficulty by joining a debate club and working through the discomfort to become an all-around stronger speaker. Rather than saying, ‘I became more confident in front of crowds,’ describe that transformation by saying, ‘Now, I can even give extemporaneous speeches easily.’ This describes the qualities you have developed, rather than saying them flat-out. When writing a personal essay, it’s one of those small things that can make all the difference for the admissions officers reading your essays.

Ready to Write Your College Application Essay?

You can think of your college application as your college resume. It’s a summary of performance and experience so far and of present knowledge and capability. In effect, the total of your application will be what dictates which college you get into. Writing a personal essay is a crucial part of this application process .

No matter what’s on your college list, it’s critically important to maximize your chances through the best possible college application. That is, saying it is much easier than doing it in a process with so many different parts to a successful college admission . Writing a personal essay effectively can greatly enhance your application. That is where Admission Sight can help!

For the last decade, we have been helping students like you refine applications and increase their chances of getting into their dream universities. And you know what? The results turn out to be great. Writing a personal essay with our guidance can make a significant difference.

Of the students we have helped, about 75% have gone on to be accepted into Ivy League or Top 10 Universities. We offer a range of services to help students enhance their college applications and be better prepared for the entire admission process at college. If you’re ready to get started on acing your college application, contact us today !

Want to assess your chances of admission? Take our FREE chances calculator today!

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Cassandra Hsiao: College Essay Coaching

Get 1:1 help from an 8-Ivy League-accepted Coach

• Nov 30, 2022

Blog: How to Write an Overcoming Challenges College Essay

Updated: Dec 29, 2022

As deadlines and deadlines creep up on us this year, you might be thinking to yourself: my biggest challenge is college application season. And you’re not wrong nor alone in that feeling; applying to universities is indeed a massive undertaking. When you’re confronted by a question like, “What is the biggest challenge that you’ve overcome?” it’s easy to start spiraling out—what if my biggest challenge isn’t significant enough? What if I haven’t overcome any challenges?

No fear, Cassandra’s here with 4 tips on how to write this challenging essay.

1. Don’t Look for “Big,” Look for Authentic

Some of the best “challenge” essays I’ve read are about the smaller moments in life, like not landing a dream role in a school musical or conquering stage fright. Your topic doesn’t have to be grandiose or somber or life-altering in order for this to be a good essay. In fact, if you try to force your essay into something that it’s not, your admissions officer will be able to see through that quickly; inauthenticity is the last thing you want in your essays.

Your officers know that everyone’s lives are different; what might be a huge challenge for one person might not be challenging for another, and that’s okay. What’s important here is that you choose a topic or story that you genuinely felt like was challenging to you. Forget about the scope—let’s just make it authentic to you and your voice.

Specificity is key. Even if you’re choosing a “cliche” topic, for example, challenges in the sports world, you can still make this essay sing by putting in details only you could’ve written. Everybody’s point of view is unique. Describe your situation/world in a way that has your fingerprints and lens on it.

2. Show the Struggle AND the Victory

Remember that you are telling a story with a beginning, middle and end. I like to think of it as a classic plot structure for a movie or a book. Take a look at this chart above

. See how much of the struggle or the rising action takes up? Ideally, your essay should aim for 70% struggle, 10% turning point, and 20% celebration/lessons learned. Paint us a picture of the blood, sweat and tears you went through. Let us feel the difficulty of this challenge. You might think that these details are too insignificant but if you spend time showing and not telling us the story, we’re right there in the trenches with you. We’ll empathize with you every step of the way.

A turning point in the essay is important. Often, I find that it might be an epiphany, a realization that something’s not quite working in your initial approach to overcoming a challenge. Once you write that in, this will logically and naturally propel us to the last 20%, which is showcasing the New You: what do you look like after overcoming this challenge? Have you emerged from this difficulty stronger? Braver? More equipped? Don’t tell us that, SHOW us. If you had shaky hands at the beginning before taking your first hang gliding lesson, end on an image of steady hands guiding the glider through the skies. And don’t forget to give us a taste of that sweet victory celebration too. In the same way we feel your struggle, we also want to feel your euphoria and glee at overcoming the struggle.

3. Avoid Summary

The biggest mistake I see students make is including a conclusion paragraph that neatly summarizes all the lessons learned from overcoming this challenge. Why is that a mistake? It’s a waste of real estate. If you did your job correctly, that is, SHOW and not TELL us a story of your struggle, we should implicitly understand the lessons that you’ve absorbed and how you’re a better, different person now.

It’s good that you wrote the summary/conclusion paragraph—now copy and paste it into a new document as a lamppost for your next draft. Make sure your essay reflects it; if you’re struggling to meet a word count, hold up every sentence to this lamppost and ask yourself, “does this help achieve what I want my readers to implicitly take away?”

4. Don’t Forget to Answer The Question

Some essay questions ask for more than just telling us a time where you overcame a challenge. It might ask you to make a connection to your academics and what you hope to study in the future; it might ask you to draw a line between what you overcame and how you plan to contribute to student life on their campus. Whatever it may be, make sure you answer ALL parts of the question!

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Overcoming Obstacles: Using the ‘Challenge You’ve Faced’ Essay Prompt to Your Advantage

During college admission, one common essay question in Oxbridge admissions tests and various other admission tests is, “Describe a significant challenge you have faced and how you overcame it.” Although this topic can initially appear difficult, it offers candidates a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate their resiliency, problem-solving skills, and personal development. But don’t worry!

In this blog article, we’ll discuss how to write a strong response to the essay topic, “challenge you’ve faced,” and we’ll provide insightful tips on making your struggle into an engaging story. After reading this blog, you’ll have the skills required to use this essay as a chance to highlight your special traits and make an impact on admissions committee members.

Before going ahead, as a university admissions consultant, we want you to know why universities would be interested in learning about your challenges. What is their motive?

Reasons Why College Admission Essays Would be Interested in Knowing the Challenge You’ve Faced

College admission essays frequently ask about the challenges you have endured due to the fact that they offer insightful information about your character, resiliency, and capacity to overcome problems. Admissions counsellors are curious about your personal development and coping mechanisms.

Going deep, here are the reasons why college application essays include topics to know your challenges:

Resilience: Admissions committee members want to know that you have the perseverance and resolve needed to thrive in college and beyond.

To show them, you can demonstrate your ability to endure and overcome trying circumstances by outlining your difficulties.

Manifesting Personal Growth: The admission committee is interested because overcoming obstacles frequently results in personal development. Sharing your experiences might show that you have the ability to reflect on yourself and show how you have changed as a person. It enables admissions assessors to comprehend how you have become stronger as a result of your challenges.

To Know How You Stand Out from the Crowd: Applications for college admissions are very competitive, and many candidates have good grades and test results. When you talk about your struggles, it gives you a special chance to separate from the crowd. It enables the university to know your uniqueness and show admissions authorities what makes you special and relevant by sharing a personal story.

Examining Problem-solving Abilities: Colleges are looking for applicants who can successfully navigate and resolve issues. They want to know your capacity for problem-solving, inventiveness, and critical thinking by outlining your difficulties. This aids admissions personnel in determining your capacity to enhance their academic community.

Assessing Self-awareness: University counsellors want to determine how self-aware and emotionally intelligent you are by reflecting on challenges. Colleges seek applicants who are aware of their own advantages and disadvantages as well as how they relate to others. Sharing your life experiences and the lessons you’ve gained can reveal your maturity and self-awareness.

Predict Future Success: Admissions officials frequently utilise prior performance as a sign of future success when making decisions about applicants. Making a strong case for your capacity to overcome hurdles in the collegiate setting can be accomplished by demonstrating how you have previously managed difficulties. This can inspire universities to believe in your ability to succeed in your academic endeavours.

So, consider your progress and the lessons you acquired while writing about problems in your college admissions essay rather than concentrating on the difficulties. Focus on the good results and attributes that have emerged as a consequence of the obstacles and frame them as chances for growth.

Also Read: Unveiling the hidden gems: how to approach unique college essay prompts

How Can You Overcome Obstacles: Using the ‘Challenge You’ve Faced’ Essay Prompt to Your Advantage?

In college application essays, overcoming challenges is a popular subject, so it’s critical to wisely approach the “Challenge You’ve Faced” essay prompt. Here are some tips on how to make the most of this prompt and highlight your development and resiliency as a person:

#Select the Appropriate Challenge

Select a challenge that has greatly influenced your life and is relevant to you. A personal, academic, or extracurricular challenge might be the cause. Make sure the task is significant enough to show off your character and capacity to overcome hardship.

#Provide Background and Context

To start your essay, give the required background and context. Describe the nature of the difficulty, why it was important to you personally, and how it affected you. This provides context for the reader and aids them in seeing the seriousness of the issue.

#Share Your First Impression

Describe how you responded to the problem at first. Did you experience feelings of apprehension, defeat, or a lack of direction? During that period, be open and honest about your feelings and opinions. This makes it easier for the reader to comprehend how the difficulty first affected you.

#Mention Your Actions and Strategies

After describing your original response, include the steps you followed to remedy the problem. Talk about the tactics, methods to fixing problems, or coping techniques you used. Draw attention to your inventiveness, imagination, and tenacity in coming up with answers or methods to get around the issue.

#Showcase Your Personal Growth

This section of the essay is vital; reflect on your personal development. Consider how the difficulty has changed you as a person. Talk about the knowledge you gained, the abilities you acquired, or the insights you attained as a result of conquering the challenge. Did it help you develop your resiliency, persistence, flexibility, or empathy? Show how this event helped you grow personally and how it changed you.

#Highlight the Positives

Be sure to highlight the advantages of taking up the challenge. Did you develop new skills, enhance connections, reach a goal, or learn more about yourself? Talk about the material or intangible advantages brought about by your tenacity and resolve. This indicates your capacity to seize opportunities out of adversity.

#Link to Your Long-term Objectives

Connect your experience conquering the obstacle to your next hopes and goals. Describe how the knowledge and abilities you have gained will help you in college and beyond. Talk about how this encounter has influenced your morals, profession, or desire to improve the world. Prove to the admissions officials that you can use the resiliency you displayed to overcome any future difficulties you may have.

#Present Your Writing Skills

Showcase your writing abilities by paying attention to your writing style, punctuation, structure, and the essay’s substance. Use colourful language, captivating narrative tactics, and a simple framework to capture the reader. Make sure your essay is error-free and successfully communicates your point by proofreading and revising it.

Remember that the goal to succeed in Oxbridge admissions or any other admissions is to emphasise the benefits that resulted from the difficulty and frame it as an opportunity for personal growth. Admissions counsellors are curious about your ability to overcome obstacles, grow from experiences, and persevere. Writing a captivating essay may show you are resilient, mature, and prepared for college.

Also Read: The dos and don’ts of writing a standout college admissions essay

Examples of Such Essay Prompts

Here is an example of a college essay question that demands you discuss challenges and how you overcame them:

“Describe a significant hardship or obstacle you have faced in your life. How did you confront and overcome it? What did you learn from this experience, and how has it shaped you as an individual?”

  Essay Answer:

I can clearly remember the heartbreaking day my family learned of my father’s cancer diagnosis. We were surprised and terrified as the word resonated across the space. Our lives were abruptly flipped upside down, and the difficulties we encountered felt insurmountable. But this struggle turned into a turning point that put my fortitude to the test, gave me priceless life lessons, and helped me become the person I am today.

I had to stand strong for my family while we dealt with my father’s illness. I assumed obligations that were above my years, helping with housework, scheduling appointments, and offering emotional support. It was difficult to juggle my academic obligations with my newly acquired duties, but I refused to let my situation define who I was. I turned to my passion for studying for comfort, utilising it as a way to manage my emotions and keep things in perspective.

A mindset change was necessary to overcome this adversity. I chose to concentrate on our happy and grateful times rather than dwell on the bad. I came to understand how crucial it is to treasure each special moment and look for the positive aspects of even the most trying circumstances. With this new perspective, I was able to develop resilience because I approached each obstacle with tenacity and a firm conviction that we could conquer it.

My father’s sickness taught me the value of compassion and empathy. Seeing his fortitude and bravery in the face of suffering motivated me to be compassionate to those going through similar struggles. I started a support group at my school to offer a secure environment for kids going through various difficulties. My grasp of the human experience has grown due to this event, and I now desire to guide people through their own difficulties.

The journey we went on together as a family taught me the importance of harmony and unwavering love. In the course of supporting one another through the highs and lows of the treatment process, we developed an unbreakable friendship. My mother became my pillar of strength, exhibiting unflinching fortitude and giving me the conviction that love and support could overcome even the most difficult challenges.

This struggle has completely changed who I am. I’ve come out with a greater capacity for empathy, a fortitude that helps me move ahead, and a profound understanding of how fleeting life is. Additionally, having personally seen the positive effects of caring and committed professionals on the lives of patients and their families has strengthened my desire to pursue a career in healthcare.

This well-written essay answer shows how the student encountered a huge challenge, overcame it with tenacity and persistence, gained important lessons, and was moulded by the encounter. It demonstrates the growth and development that resulted from conquering the challenge by incorporating personal tales, thoughts, and a link to future objectives. When replying to a similar prompt, keep in mind that your essay should reflect your individual experiences and writing style.

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How To Level Up Your Overcoming Challenges Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Robert Crystal and Kaila Barber in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Components of a challenge-based essay, how to structure your essay, challenge-based essay tips.

In this article, we cover ways that you can revise challenge-based personal statements to help highlight your own skills, values, interests, and qualities.

For students who have faced challenges, writing a challenge-based personal statement could be a good option. The challenge-based essay is made up of three main pieces: challenges and effects, steps you took to overcome your challenge, and what you learned.

Clear and Compelling Challenges and Effects

When writing a challenge-based essay, the first step is to make sure that you write about the challenge and its effects clearly and compellingly. You want to avoid leaving any room for interpretation from the reader by simply and concisely outlining your challenges.

Keeping your challenge concise will allow you to show your reader what you went through and how it impacted you, while also leaving space for you to show what you did and what you learned.

For example, if in your essay you mention that you struggled with your mental health, but you don’t provide any other details, the reader will either make their own assumptions about your experience, or they could just skim through your essay without making any assumptions at all. To avoid the challenge of being misinterpreted, it is important for you to be specific about what you have faced.

Steps You Took To Overcome Your Challenge

The next step in a challenge-based essay is to make sure that you’ve elaborated on what you did to overcome your challenge. While your challenge is important, the admissions officer is more curious about what you did to overcome your challenge and the steps that you took to make your situation better. 

What You Learned

The last part of a challenge based-essay is a section in which you elaborate on what you learned. Here, you should build upon what you did to overcome your challenge by including what you learned from overcoming it. This is your teaching moment to show that you reflect and learn from your experiences and environment.

As you write, keep in mind that each component should make up about one-third of your essay. This is important because it is common for students to focus mainly on what the challenge is and write 45% to 50% of the essay talking about the challenge and its impact. 

Instead, you should split your essay into thirds, with challenges and effects, what you did, and what you learned each taking up approximately one-third of your total word count. Approaching your essay in this way provides you with two-thirds of the essay to show your values and personal growth. 

There are several handy tips that can help you write a challenge-based essay like this. These tips include, in addition to writing clearly and concisely to build a compelling narrative, using active verbs, including your insights, and connecting everything back to your values.

Use Active Verbs

When talking about what you did to overcome the challenge, it is important to use active verbs. Examples of active verbs include words like customized, designed, facilitated, recruited, and restructured. Active verbs clearly and specifically show the reader what you did, and these are most crucial to include when you write about the steps you took to overcome an obstacle.

Include a Strong Insight and Connect to Your Values

During the “what you learned” section, make sure that the insights that you include are strong. Strong insights demonstrate to the reader how you’ve made meaning from the challenge that you’ve faced, and are an opportunity for you to showcase your values, self-awareness and critical thinking.

This essay should be written in a way that makes your core values clear to the reader. One exercise that you can do to help find connections and linkages to your core values is to consider guiding questions like the following: 

• What did you do as a result of your challenge? 
• What moment did something change for you? 
• Did you take responsibility for anything you hadn’t before? 
• Did you start paying for things? 
• Did you learn a new piece of technology? 
• Did you help someone or did someone help you?

As you write and revise, you can use these guiding questions, and questions like them, to reflect and become more aware of your own core values. You may find that once you clarify and include more of your own values, your insights are strengthened.

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Essay Samples on Overcoming Challenges

Navigating life's roller coaster: the ups and downs.

Life is a journey filled with twists and turns, peaks and valleys, moments of triumph and challenges that test our resilience. The ebb and flow of experiences—the ups and downs—shape the tapestry of our lives. This essay delves into the profound significance of embracing both...

• Overcoming Challenges

How to Overcome Challenges in Life: Becoming Stronger

Life is a journey filled with ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks. Throughout our lives, we inevitably encounter various challenges that test our resilience and determination. Overcoming these challenges requires a combination of mindset, strategies, and support. This essay explores effective ways how to overcome...

• Overcoming Obstacles

Overcoming Obstacles and Challenging Situations on the Way to Passion

July 8, 2013, is a day that I will never forget. At approximately 1:15 p.m., a 911 dispatcher's frantic voice came over my radio: 'Medic 908, emergency response for a one-month-old not breathing.' My partner and I rushed to the ambulance and then to the...

Overcoming Adversity: A Challenge That Makes You Grow as a Person

Adversity is life’s hardships or misfortunes. Almost everyone will face adversity several times in their lives. It will either bring the best out of you or the worst. It is up to us to decide that. There are different types of adversity, such as financial...

Challenges Of Overcoming Bulimia

In the vicinity of the world, 4.7 million females and 1.5 million males have their lives dangered by bulimia, a potentially deadly disorder, which has been distinguished in patients as young as six years old (Ouellette). Bulimia gives a flawed feeling of “self-esteem, competence, and...

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1. Navigating Life’s Roller Coaster: The Ups and Downs

2. How to Overcome Challenges in Life: Becoming Stronger

3. Overcoming Obstacles and Challenging Situations on the Way to Passion

4. Overcoming Adversity: A Challenge That Makes You Grow as a Person

5. Challenges Of Overcoming Bulimia

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One Expert's Advice to Help You Write a Strong Overcoming Adversity Essay

Leslie Tucker PhD, Jun 07, 2021

Learn how to pick the right adversity story and write an impressive overcoming adversity essay

Whether you’re working on college or scholarship applications, you’re bound to come across the overcoming adversity essay sooner or later. While every type of college application essay is unique, the overcoming adversity essay presents particular challenges for students.

What’s the best way to talk about the adversity in your life? What if you come off as too whiny? What if you don’t have any significant obstacles to write about? Will you be at a disadvantage?

Every year, my students ask me how to tackle this tricky part of their college applications. Luckily for you, I’ve developed a fool-proof approach for writing the overcoming adversity essay , and I’m eager to share it.

Keep reading to learn why the adversity essay is important, how to choose the best topic, and how to write an impactful overcoming adversity essay.

Why the overcoming adversity essay is important

When colleges ask you to write a personal hardship essay, what are they trying to learn? Many students think they’re trying to find and admit the applicants who have faced the most adversity. Not true! Trust me, the adversity essay is NOT a competition to see who has it worse.

The purpose of the overcoming adversity essay is to reveal how you respond to difficult situations. Think about it. College is hard—not everyone has what it takes to succeed. Colleges want to accept students who have the skills and resilience to persevere through the adversity they’re bound to face.

So when an admissions officer reads your adversity essay, they’re trying to answer these questions:

●      How do you manage stress?

●      How do you attempt to resolve adversity?

●      How do you reflect on the challenges you face?

●      How do you apply lessons to your life?

If you can successfully answer these questions, you’ll write a stand-out overcoming adversity essay.

Not sure how to recognize an overcoming adversity essay prompt? Here are a few examples.

The Common App

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

The University of Miami

Considering your ability to control your own motivation and behavior, how have past experiences helped build your courage and resilience to persist in the face of academic and life challenges so that, once these storms pass, you can emerge in continued pursuit of your goals?

The University of California

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

How to select the best story for your overcoming adversity essay

Choosing what to write your overcoming adversity essay about can be a challenge. The hardest things you’ve faced in life might not actually be the best topics. So I always encourage students to brainstorm lots of ideas before committing to one.

Here’s what I suggest. Sit down with a family member or close friend. Write a list of all the adversity you’ve faced—big and small. From challenging school projects to your parents divorce to the death of a family member, add everything you can think of to your list.

Next, you’ll want to remember and record how you reacted to each of the obstacles on your list. What were you thinking? What actions did you take?

To choose your adversity essay story, you’ll actually focus on your reactions list. Search for the instances when you showed impressive grit, strength, resilience, and problem-solving skills. These are the best stories to use for your overcoming adversity essay.

Weak topics for your adversity essay

As you’re selecting which topic to write about, beware of choosing a story that falls into one of these categories.

●      Adversity you faced due to COVID or virtual learning—everyone dealt with these circumstances, so it’s not a unique topic and won’t help you stand out.

●      Obstacles you dealt with in elementary or middle school—it’s a bit too outdated. Find a more recent instance of your grit and resilience.

●      Interpersonal struggles you had with a teacher or coach—these essays can come off like you don’t get along well with adults, which isn’t the impression you want to give.

Strong topics for your adversity essay

Any story that shows your maturity and problem-solving skills is a good choice for your overcoming adversity essay. Even so, there are few topics that might be better options for you than others, depending on your circumstances.

●      Ongoing obstacles you’re still facing but you’re handling well—important if this obstacle will carry on into college.

●      Adversity that interfered with your academic achievement—important if you had a GPA dip you’d like to explain.

●      Something that will resonate with the school you’re applying to or the career you’re pursuing—important if adversity drove you to choose a specific type of school or major.

How to write an impressive overcoming adversity essay

Now we’ve arrived at my fool-proof overcoming adversity essay formula. Once you’ve chosen the right story that demonstrates your resilience, just apply this formula to create a memorable adversity essay.

This formula is simple. It’s all about crafting a narrative. Remember, you’re telling the story of when you faced an obstacle. So you want it to sound like a real story, not a school report.

Here is the five-step formula to writing the perfect overcoming adversity essay.

• Introduce the obstacle or adversity
• Describe your emotional response
• Discuss the actions you took to face the problem
• Share the outcome of the situation
• Reveal what you learned from the experience

See? It’s a piece of cake. Now let’s see how it looks applied to an adversity story.

• The adversity: My family moved across the country between my sophomore and junior year.
• Emotional response: I was devastated to lose my friends and scared to start over in a new place.
• Actions taken: I scheduled regular talks and virtual hang outs with my old friends to ensure we’d stay in touch. Then I pushed myself to join two clubs at the beginning of the school year.
• Outcome: I stayed connected with friends from home. And even though it was intimidating to make new friends, putting myself out there helped me quickly meet people who shared my interests. I felt less alone and adjusted to my new environment sooner than I expected.
• Lessons learned: I am stronger and more adaptable than I thought I was. I am capable of thriving in new places and creating a new community for myself wherever I go.

With extremely little effort, I made a strong outline for an adversity essay using this formula. You can do the same!

Dos and don’ts for your overcoming adversity essay

The formula will take you a long way in structuring your adversity essay, but here are a few additional tips and tricks to make sure your writing is outstanding.

●       Don’t try to garner sympathy or pity —be honest about what happened, but remember your purpose isn’t to make the reader feel bad for you.

●       Do maintain a positive and upbeat tone throughout your adversity essay.

●       Don’t spend too much time describing the problem —keep it brief and to the point.

●       Do focus the majority of the essay on how you responded to and resolved the obstacle.

●       Don’t forget to include the outcome and the lessons you learned —self reflection is impressive to application readers.

●       Do connect what you learned with your future in college or in your chosen career.

Remember, one of the great things about the overcoming adversity essay is that you’re telling a story. You’re not making an argument or delivering an informational report. Once you have your story and the structure in place, have fun with the rest!

Final thoughts about the overcoming adversity essay

I’ll never say writing a college application essay is easy. But hopefully I’ve convinced you that the overcoming adversity essay isn’t as intimidating as it seems. In fact, I hope you have an enjoyable time writing your adversity essay and celebrating your resilience. Be proud of yourself. You are amazing!

I want to hear from you! What are your thoughts and concerns about the overcoming adversity essay? Drop a comment below, and I’ll be happy to address them.

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December 11, 2023

Three Ways Writing About Obstacles Strengthens Your Application Essays

Applicants love to write about their accomplishments, whether in a personal statement for graduate school or in a b-school essay that asks about one’s greatest achievement, challenge, or the like. And they are not shy about sharing their accomplishments, such as driving innovations that led to revenue boosts for their firm, conducting original and meaningful research in their field of study, or leading a volunteer group on a community service initiative. 

As genuine and significant as these accomplishments are, many initial essay drafts are often missing a key element: obstacles . In this blog post, we explain why you shouldn’t shy away from discussing obstacles in your essays and how doing so intelligently can help your candidacy.

Here are three ways that discussing obstacles enhances your application:

1. Sharing how you overcame an obstacle shows the adcom that you can navigate bumps in the road in a positive, proactive way.

All of us frequently encounter obstacles: the traffic detour, an incompetent customer service representative, a disagreement with your partner, the approval you expected on a project unexpectedly turning into a “No.”  Every single person faces challenges, but people deal with them in wildly varying ways. Those who are more successful in life succeed because they understand that obstacles are to be expected. They learn how to navigate them with patience, creativity, and a problem-solving attitude, and by – to borrow a phrase – “keeping calm and carrying on.” But too often, when asked to discuss their accomplishments, applicants selectively and completely forget the things that got in their way  en route to their achievement. When they experience this kind of amnesia, they are shortchanging themselves. Triumphing over the hurdles they encountered might well have been just as difficult as executing all the anticipated elements of their plans – and therefore worth sharing.

2. Details about how you overcame obstacles create an appealing image of you as a candidate with a can-do personality.

Look at the following examples and see if you don’t agree. First we have the “stop-putting-me-to-sleep” example : As the leader of my product research group, I came up with a plan for a new widget that would save us 10% in costs. After I communicated my vision to the team, we worked hard for four weeks on a prototype, completing it by the deadline, to the delight of management. Today, my widget is still the standard for my company, saving us over $300K annually. Okay, this sounds like a solid accomplishment, but it’s hardly memorable.  How  did the candidate communicate her vision? What specific example does she offer of the hard work that was done over four weeks on the prototype? We have absolutely no idea.  Now let’s look at a “dazzle-is-in-the-details” example : As the leader of my product research group, I came up with a plan for a new widget that would save us 10% in costs. But when I explained my vision to the team, two senior engineers immediately argued against it, saying that there were key flaws in the design. After revisiting my design and realizing that they were correct, I revised my plan and was able to eliminate the flaws. We worked on a prototype for two weeks before discovering that the cost of the material we had planned to use for it had increased by more than 30% in recent months. I worked many late nights that week researching alternative materials, before finding one that was both appropriate and cost-effective. By the skin of our teeth, we met our four-week deadline and presented the prototype to management, but the VP of Manufacturing argued that we would need to purchase major new equipment to produce the widget. I convinced the team to work overtime on a manufacturing proposal that proved we could craft the product with existing equipment. Today, my widget is still the standard for my company, saving us over $300K annually. There’s no contest here, is there? The second example, loaded with specifics about what went wrong and what almost derailed the project, is mighty impressive. The details highlight the applicant’s creativity, thoroughness, tenacity, communication skills, and leadership potential. When spelled out this way, discussing an obstacle can make your essays shine with the drama of the story and can  associate you with lively elements and images . For example, in the second example, it’s easy to visualize the two dissenting engineers, the surprise of discovering the price hike for the materials, and the VP’s frown. In the first, there’s only the haziest impression of an employee smiling about a job well done.

3. Discussing obstacles makes you a more fully developed, more relatable applicant.

Can you see through these examples how including specific, key obstacles in your essays and explaining how you negotiated them  showcases your ability to overcome the unexpected ? This will assure the adcoms that you can capably execute a well-defined plan – even when you face unexpected bumps in the road. Moreover, it shows the school how you spring into action when the chips are down. This adds to a fuller understanding of who you are as an individual – and as an applicant the school would like to have in its next class.

For more details about what the adcom actually wants to know about the challenges you’ve overcome, watch this short video, in which Linda Abraham shares the answer to this often-asked question:

Are you still wondering how to address obstacles you’ve overcome in your application essays? Leave a comment on the video on YouTube, and we’ll gladly offer some tips. 

There’s no substitute for one-on-one guidance when addressing your obstacles and writing essays that make you shine. Working with an experienced admissions consultant, you can apply with the confidence that you have presented yourself at your best and maximized your chances of getting accepted.  Click here to learn more.

For 25 years, Accepted has helped applicants gain acceptance to top undergraduate and graduate programs. Our expert team of admissions consultants features former admissions directors, PhDs, and professional writers who have advised clients to acceptance at top programs worldwide, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, and Northwestern. Want an admissions expert to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Five Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Application Essays , a free guide
• Four Tips for Highlighting Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
• Resilience: How Flaws and Failures Can Strengthen Your Application

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How to Answer the Essay Prompt "Describe a Challenge You Overcame"

Late fall is officially college admissions season! Some students have already sent in their early decision applications and are working hard on those regular decision deadlines, which means it may be time to work on your essays.

These essays from the Common App , Coalition App , or your prospective school’s specific format can vary in topic, and you may get to choose what you write about. But no matter the school or set of schools to which you’re applying, you will likely come across a version of the “Describe a Challenge You Overcame” or “Overcoming a Challenge” essay prompt.

For some people, the answer to this could be evident. But if you have no idea what to write about, the first rule is:

Don’t panic

So many students are plagued with questions like: What if I’ve never overcome an obstacle? Is my life boring? What if I have nothing to write about, and the admissions officers hate me? What if they judge me for what I've been through?

Deep breath.

All of these fears are normal, but everyone has overcome some sort of challenge or obstacle, whether small or completely overwhelming. By being authentic to yourself, yours will be compelling to readers and help them get to know the kind of student you are now and will be at their college or university.

You will need more than panicking to help you write an essay. Remember that everyone has something valuable to say, and the obstacle you choose will matter less than your ability to write about it and highlight your resilience.

Brainstorm an authentic but impactful challenge

The first thing you'll need to do is think through some challenges you’ve faced . 

A challenge can be as seemingly simple as learning to trust yourself after a failure in school or an extracurricular activity or as complicated as overcoming significant discrimination and prejudice.

You had to overcome a specific fear to succeed at an activity you love. You may have had to rebuild your life after losing a relative. Maybe your family moved, which shook up your life. Or, receiving one terrible grade or criticism led you to change your outlook on life and motivated you to work harder than ever.

Whatever the obstacle you face (no inventing, please), it should be impactful.

That means thinking of a challenge that changed something about you. As a result of overcoming this obstacle, you should have learned significant lessons about yourself or the world around you and made changes in your life.

Colleges and universities want to know what traits you possess that will help you succeed in college and your future career, so the obstacle you choose to share should have helped you develop one of your defining traits. They will care more about your reaction to this challenge, how it shaped you, and how you articulate it than what the problem was in the first place.

Generally, the obstacle you choose to share should also be pretty recent or have had a current impact on your life, rather than a challenge that happened when you were very young that doesn’t impact you today.

Begin at the end

The opening sentence of your essay about overcoming a challenge should be compelling and make the reader want to continue. It can be tempting to tell the story chronologically, but it can sometimes be adequate to start with the ending or a positive memory.

So, think about when you overcame your challenge or realized that you had improved after facing an obstacle. You might even share a moment when you realized your chosen barrier significantly. Recount this moment as your introductory hook in some way.

You can even preview the lessons you learned in your introduction. That way, readers already know that you will share what you’ve learned rather than just share a story recounting a terrible moment or difficult challenge in your life. This can also make them want to keep reading to see how you got to that place.

Share context about the situation but make it brief

You want the reader to learn about you and your challenges rather than overdoing it in detail. They don't need to know every step of the process or every player in the story.

Of course, you should share the context behind what happened to you that challenged you and changed your life or perspective, but you should not dwell too much on the details. Provide only the ‘need to know’ moments and how they led to changes in your life.

With this kind of essay, readers want to know less about what happened and more about what you learned due to your experience.

Focus on what you learned

Your reflection about what you learned due to your experience should be your primary focus within your essay. This section will help readers understand how you’ve changed after facing your challenge or obstacle to become the stellar student you are today. It can also show the maturity and self-reflection colleges may seek in a student.

By sharing lessons learned in this type of essay, you also share how you will contribute to any college campus with your newly acquired traits and perspectives.

If you had to move from one city to another, perhaps you learned to be flexible or met new friends who helped you discover your fascination with science and technology. If you faced bullying, maybe you learned how to respect yourself without outside validation and gained resilience. Whatever the challenge, the lessons associated with overcoming it are most important.

Share actions you took as a result of overcoming the challenge

To help readers understand how you overcame the challenge and how the lessons you learned tangibly affected your life, you should also consider your actions after overcoming your obstacle.

For example, if you witnessed discrimination at school, you could have founded an anti-bullying campaign or student organization. If you lost a family member to a specific disease, you may have volunteered with an organization to help fund research for a cure.

Remember, all of this information needs to be authentic to your experience. Even the most minor actions can be impactful. So, truth is always best, even if you just learned to treat your family better or significantly improve your grades after facing this obstacle.

Connect the lessons you learned to your future

Finally, you can strengthen your response even more by connecting the lessons you learned and actions you took with your future goals.

Think about how you will show up in college after facing this challenge. And consider how you are better equipped now to achieve your future goals because of the lessons you learned. You can then tie this into how attending each college will help you reach those goals.

Seek support!

Admissions officers should never be the first people to read your essay. Get help from a teacher or college counselor, your parents or guardians, an online college essay writing site like Prompt , or fellow scholars like other NSHSS members   before you hit "submit." 

Have them read your essay and provide you with constructive feedback about content and structure. If you're stuck, you can ask for some "overcoming an obstacle" essay examples or ideas from those who know you well.

Then, submit your essay and enjoy that feeling of accomplishment!

Answering the essay prompt "Describe a Challenge You Overcame" offers a unique opportunity to showcase your resilience, growth, and problem-solving skills. By focusing on the specifics of the challenge, the steps you took to overcome it, and the lessons you learned, you'll answer the prompt effectively and make a lasting impression on the admissions team.

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Overcoming Challenges Essay

I’m about to write an essay with a prompt that asks me about a challenge I have faced and how I overcame it. I wanna write a good essay with a topic that isn’t overused and need some advice or suggestions. These are the topics I brainstormed so far:

Talking about ED (eating disorder)

Academic Validation

Social Anxiety and how I have gotten over it

Please let me know if any of these ideas are good and it would be much appreciated if you could suggest any more ideas that would be good topics for my essay.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, need advice on writing an overcoming a challenge essay.

Hey, I need to write an essay about overcoming a challenge in my life. Are there any good examples I could take a look at? Or any advice on how to make this essay strong and relatable? Thanks!

Hey there! Overcoming a challenge essays can be powerful and impactful if you approach them in the right way. I'll share some tips and advice on how to make your essay strong and relatable:

1. Choose a unique challenge: Try to choose a challenge that isn't too generic or common. Avoid discussing things like grades, standardized tests, or common life events unless your experience is truly unique or you have an unexpected way to frame it.

2. Focus on personal growth: The crux of an overcoming a challenge essay should be the personal growth and development you went through as a result of the struggle. Make sure to illustrate how the challenge affected you at first, the steps you took to address it, and the positive changes or realizations you experienced as a result.

3. Be sincere and genuine: Don't exaggerate or downplay the challenge you faced. Present the situation honestly and openly, explaining the true impact it had on your life. The admissions committee will appreciate your authenticity.

4. Show, don't tell: Use descriptive language, anecdotes, and sensory details to convey your emotions, thoughts, and experiences during the challenging time. By painting a vivid picture, you will help the reader better understand how difficult the challenge was and emphasize the significance of your growth.

5. Maintain a positive tone: Although you're discussing a challenge, make sure your essay ends on a positive note. Focus on the strength you gained, the lessons you learned, or the positive outcomes that emerged from the challenge.

6. Keep it concise: Make sure your essay is well-organized and easy to follow. Avoid long paragraphs and unnecessary details. Stick to the most important aspects of your story to keep the reader engaged.

A good example to follow would be an essay about overcoming a speech impediment and how it led the writer to become an active public speaker, competing in debate competitions, and ultimately gaining confidence in their communication skills. Another example could be an essay about a student who struggled with a learning disability and overcame it by developing unique techniques to understand and process information, ultimately excelling academically and helping others with similar challenges.

A great CollegeVine blog post is linked here, definitely check it out: https://blog.collegevine.com/overcoming-challenges-college-essay-examples

In summary, focus on the personal growth you experienced through overcoming your challenge and illustrate your journey using vivid details and a positive tone. Best of luck with your essay!

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