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i know a lot of students use this topic, but please tell me what you think:

My parents always talked about getting a divorce, so much that it became a joking matter. We would drive by a billboard advertising “1-800-DIVORCE” and my father would jokingly comment about calling. Obviously, I never thought my parents would actually go through with it, until they did...
The disintegration of my parents’ marriage started my sophomore year of high school. My parents were constantly arguing and I, being the only child, was always caught in the middle.
After my parents got divorced my mother decided to move to Miami, FL in order to start a new life for herself. She wanted me to go with her but she wasn’t even sure how she would support herself, let alone, support me as well. My father figured it would be best if I stayed with him and his girlfriend, promising I could visit my mother every major holiday.
The day the moving truck arrived I was an emotional mess. I felt as though someone was slowly cutting my arm off as I helped carry out my mother’s furniture. I will never forget waving goodbye to my mother, submerged in tears, waiting and wishing the truck would turn around, bringing my mother back to me.
My mother missed some important years of my life. She was not there to help me get ready for my first prom, nor tell me to study for the SATs. What saddens me the most is that she won’t be able to “miss” me when I go away to college, we won’t sincerely cry during move-in day because we have already been through that.
My mother being 1000 miles away from me has made me a very independent person. I am not afraid to be away from my parents. I love them both dearly, but I know I can survive on my own. I now study because I want to get good grades and meet my goals not because my mother tells me to. I am now much more self-motivated.
I have had to grow up a lot sooner than other people my age because I have not had a mother guiding me through things. I have had to find other resources and have learned to rely on myself. I believe that obstacles exist to make people stronger and I have come out of my parents divorce a better person.

By Gianscolere (Gianscolere) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 02:37 am: Edit

i think your approach to this essay is effective because it shows that you're not trying hard to impress by using highly academic vocab, yet it gets across your basic message. however, if i were part of an adcomittee, i'd be more interested in reading about a more specific experience that you had regarding your parents' divorce, so develop a central theme that is more specific than what you already have. perhaps you can describe what was going through your head the day you parted with your mom? try to describe your experience without explicitly stating your main point. if you want them to know that you're now a more independent person, show them what about this experience made you more independent.

for example:

"I now study because I want to get good grades and meet my goals not because my mother tells me to"
try to come up with an example to support (and eventually replace) this sentence. do you study just for the sake of getting good grades or is your source of motivation deeper? maybe, through this process, you realized that dwelling on your parents' divorce would accomplish nothing and that this realization in turn prompted you to act on your interests (identify interests and elaborate)? maybe you woke up one day and told yourself that you'd make the best of the situation...contrast this positive outlook with the negativity you had years before when your parents divorced.
or maybe, you took on a new job because your father can't afford to give you allowance? maybe at one point, you felt as if you were walking on thin ice, unsure about how the living situation would work out and at the same time feeling emotionally vulnerable; but then you decided to make a difference for yourself by committing to certain activites to distract your mind from the harsh realities that you were under? i'm sure you can think of many fine examples that can effectively show how you've become more independent.

pretend as if you were writing a journal entry about your thoughts for that day (in other words, come up with an anecdote), and this specific instance should be the central theme which your examples should support.

be true to yourself, and your writing should come across as sincere. whatever example you use, keep in mind that it should be representative of your overall life experience and personality because this example is what adcoms, from reading your essay, will remember you for.

i chuckled at the subtle humor you used in the beginning...1800DIVORCE LoL (hopefully that was meant to be funny and that i'm not just laughing for no reason) because it shows that you've truly gotten past your parents' divorce...i firmly believe that being able to laugh at your own mistakes is a true sign of maturity and growth...and this is true for your case, is it not?

this essay has a lot of potential to be a great college admissions essay.... just keep working on it. also, let's hope that other more qualified readers can comment.