"Unique Life Experience" question in Additional Information

Cville24

Cville24

TWE '28, reapplicant for '29!
Joined
Oct 13, 2022
Messages
125
Good evening all! I've opened my USNA application and I'm a bit unclear on whether or not I should check "yes" for the question asking "Have you had a unique life experience of which we should be aware?" I feel that the period in which I attended school virtually was fairly unique in that my generation is the only one (to my knowledge) to have experienced such circumstances for such a long duration-- but I'm unsure if it's appropriate to answer yes to that question as essentially every applicant this year will have experienced the same thing to some degree. I suppose this would also fit for "Have you ever experienced any exceptional adversity that we should know about?"-- but the point is effectively the same.

Thanks in advance for any help you all can give me here.
 
By definition, virtual school was not unique, as you said. Don’t overthink this. If you have nothing unique or adverse to include, then leave it blank. Most applicants probably do that.
 
... just a few examples:

* Iraqi interpreter who was accepted in University of Kentucky while still in Iraq.

** Home schooled daughter of a truck driver... spending 300 days on the road.

*** Surviving a shark attack by punching the nose. (Or an illness, life and death situation).

**** Taken SAT five times increasing score by 60 points each time.

Hope this helps.
 
The point of these questions is to explain why and where there might be gaps/lapses in your application (i.e. lack of extracurricular activities or sports, drop in grades for a specific period, etc.) due to a hardship (had to work a job to support family, had to look after siblings, etc.) or unique event (immediate family member or caregiver passes away or similar traumatic experience).

As mentioned above, everyone went through virtual schooling during COVID, so that wasn’t really “unique” in of itself. For most candidates, the answer to these questions are no.
 
Got it! Thanks, everyone. Answering no for both.
 
Living the Dream said:
***** my kid survived a school shooting where a bullet went through the wall inches above his head.
Click to expand...
Pardon my off topic post here, but was this an example or reality? I ask only because I have a very similar story, except the bullet grazed someone next to me. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find someone else with a similar experience because these things happen more than they should, but I do wonder if it was the same school.

I hope your son is doing well.

Edited to add that I did not use my story for the question the OP mentioned.
 
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BGOs are asked to inquire about hardships or difficult/extenuating circumstances.

Your application gets scored. The job of BGOs is to learn more about our applicants and learn things the digital application cannot speak to.

Single parent? Babysit siblings? Work after school to contribute to household expenses and thus have no time for extracurricular experience? Military family that has moved many times?

If you struggled with something, even if it might have been ‘the norm’ due to Covid or other things, be able to articulate why it was tough, and how you excelled and succeeded in that challenging environment.

Did you make a plan and execute? Did you leave a group better than you found it? Did you take challenges your peers didn’t have and compete and excel despite those challenges?

Tell your story. From the perspective of ownership, mentorship, and leadership. Just my two cents.
 
Cville24 said:
Good evening all! I've opened my USNA application and I'm a bit unclear on whether or not I should check "yes" for the question asking "Have you had a unique life experience of which we should be aware?" I feel that the period in which I attended school virtually was fairly unique in that my generation is the only one (to my knowledge) to have experienced such circumstances for such a long duration-- but I'm unsure if it's appropriate to answer yes to that question as essentially every applicant this year will have experienced the same thing to some degree. I suppose this would also fit for "Have you ever experienced any exceptional adversity that we should know about?"-- but the point is effectively the same.

Thanks in advance for any help you all can give me here.
Click to expand...
My DD left it blank and did just fine - like the others have said, if nothing really outstanding hit pass and concentrate on the other sections. I interpreted as either you had something really positive - you were interning on cancer research in the summer at Stanford OR it gives you an area to provide an explanation of why you were deficient on say ECAs or sports etc.
 
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