First Prompt: Prompt #1 (transfer applicants) What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field — such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities — and what you have gained from your involvement.

My interest in psychology grew from experiencing the effects of mental illness within my own family.
My dad’s dad was the father of ten children. He worked for twenty five years as a worker at docks. One night, he was attacked by two men with a baseball bat while he was walking home from a bar. Police found him unconscious on the curb and rushed him to the hospital. My grandpa suffered tremendous brain damage from the blows to his head. His mental capacity was now similar to that of a two year old child. He wore diapers and blurted meaningless sounds. Whenever my dad would enter the room, my grandpa would start screaming for help. Years of experiencing this trauma left my dad significantly scarred.
My mother has severe clinical depression. Though she takes medication for her illness now, she did not always. There were times that she would be perfectly normal one moment, then crying hysterically the next. Her tumultuous moods left me off balance, always wondering when she would finally lose all control.
She lost control when I was in middle school. On the way home, we got into an argument over a grade I had been given on an essay. The conversation was civil at first, but she soon every word I said as an act of war. She started shouting violently and uncharacteristically cussing every other sentence. As we pulled into the driveway, she vowed that I would never have to deal with her again.
I ignored the threat at first. I simply walked upstairs to pout. After calling my dad and telling him what had just happened, he told me to go down to my mom and apologize right away. I walked downstairs into the kitchen to make amends, but then was shocked by what I saw. My mom was holding a knife and was about to stab herself. I will never forget my mom’s attempt at suicide. Despite her now taking medication that helps her mood, I still fear walking into a room and seeing her dead.
I’ve learned the mind is a powerful thing. A person’s identity is determined by his or her brain. Their emotions, problems, thoughts and hopes are all electric signals within an organ encased in cerebrospinal fluid.
I took AP psychology my senior year to learn more about what my mother and grandfather have had to endure. I ended up far more curious about the mind after the course than when I first began it. Since my senior year, I have been taking a psychology class every semester.
Seeing what my grandfather and mother have been through is difficult. These experiences inspired me to look deeper into the science of psychology. By doing so, I have discovered something very important. I know what I want to do with my life.

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Second Prompt: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

I unlocked the front door, but paused before I walked inside.
I had just come home from one of the dress rehearsals of the musical “Cabaret” at school. The show was approaching the final steps of the rehearsal process. We were now working with a giant set with stunning lights. We also had gotten our costumes and our makeup for the first time that day.
I hadn’t yet told my homophobic father I was playing the role of a gay dancer.
Before driving home, I spent thirty minutes in the dressing room, trying to wash the thick mascara, ruby lipstick and excessive glitter off my face. I had already hung my black pants, open red vest and black bow tie back on my hanger.
I opened the door into my house and shuffled through to find my dad. I found him reading the newspaper. What would he say? I was nervous.
“Hey Dad, I need to talk to you.”
My dad looked up from his newspaper, smiling. “How ya doin’ bud?”
“Fine. Yourself?”
“Great!”
We’ll see if that continues, I thought to myself. I took a deep breath. “I need to talk to you Dad.” I told him everything. I told him that the director was gay, most of the male actors were gay, and the show itself was extremely flamboyant. He shifted in his seat uneasily and cleared his throat.
“I don’t think I want to see it.”
Knowing that I couldn’t end my confession there, I continued. I opened my phone and showed him a picture of his son dressed as a homosexual dancer. “I play a gay man in the show.”
His response wasn’t nearly as collected as it was before. “I want you out of that show, Chris” he rumbled. “Why would you degrade yourself and your family?”
I argued that I wasn’t gay. “I know you aren’t” he fumed. “Everybody will think you are, though. I want you to quit that show.” He handed me a phone. “Now.”
I may have already been eighteen, but this was when I first became an adult. I could have just agreed and given in like I had so many times before. I could have simply run away and avoid seeing the cast members, the director, or anybody involved with the show. But, to abandon a show days before it opens, disappoint friends and peers when they need me and succumb to my dad’s insecurities would be to fail myself. I was done with failures.
“We open Thursday night. And I’ll be there.” I walked away to punctuate the conversation’s ending.
I wasn’t the only one there Thursday night. In that audience, my dad was there too, applauding every song.
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In either case my first impression was "woah, this is pretty heavy", is this what students send as college applications? I really don't know, I thought it was all 'I want to help people and rebuild the wetlands' kind-of stuff.

Perhaps your family is different, but I'd be disappointed if my kids shared family confidences with college professors and the internet.

Also, an element of caring for people with depression is surely confidentiality, which you've blown with your Mum by putting her story on the internet. Isn't there a risk the college would expect you to know that? And what if her friends stumble across it?

Good luck with your application.

And I dunno, you're supposed to relay who you are in less than 1000 words. I feel that one needs to really get to the meat if they are to do that.

Thanks everybody. I appreciate it.