I Wrote a College Essay About Being a Teen Mother

Well it’s not what you think. I am not really a teen mother. I mean I am based on my essay, but here, read my essay first and then you will understand what I mean.

I never thought I was ready to be a parent at such a young age, but I guess life thought differently.

At first I was very resentful, I wanted nothing to do with Minime(d), but after being attached at the hip for the last twelve years, we truly are inseparable. I cannot picture my life without her, and I would seriously die if I ever lost her. My Medtronic Minimed insulin pump that rests on my hip 24/7 is my child, and taking on the responsibly of diabetes from the young age of 4, I have become a collaborative, disciplined, responsible mother.

She has truly changed my life, but she also can be a real pain in my hip.

We are an amazing team. Not to be the parent that says “my daughter is a genius.” But “My daughter really is a genius.” She calculates the exact ratios of insulin I should be administered based of the time of day and the amount of carbohydrates that I consume. 

What 3 year old is that self aware and that good with math? 

And, listen to this! If I drop her or break her I won’t be arrested, but rather I get a new child shipped to my house within 24 hours. My little girl has a warranty. Which being such a young mother, definitely is a plus!

Although I am not changing diapers every 4 hours. I still have some parental responsibilities. I must change my infusion set, injecting myself with a needle and drawing up a reservoir of insulin every three days, so that she can work properly. Unfortunately Minime(d)s biological parents haven’t taught her and all her siblings to do that just yet. 

Minime(d) and I have really grown to love each other and have one another’s backs. For example she alerts me when she’s running low or when she’s worried about my blood sugar. Yes, sometimes at 3am all I want to do is sleep, but her high pitched alarm makes me aware that it’s time to get up and get some sugar. And as the loving and responsible mother that I am, I would never want my child to get hurt, right? So when we go to the airport I allow the TSA to pat me down and swab my hands just so my little girl never goes through the X-Ray machine and metal detector. 

I can tell you right now, it is not easy being a mother. But it has been one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. I decided to become a mother at the age of 6, and because of that decision I have been able to accomplish my dreams and live a healthy life. I cannot thank my Minime(d) enough for allowing me to manage my type one diabetes a little less, and live a bit more.

So my child isn’t a human it is my insulin pump. Kind of clever right? Risky too. I did in fact submit this essay but for a supplement question not my common app essay. I thought it was a cleaver way to draw the reader in, tell them a little bit about my life, add a few cheesy punchlines, but at the same time reveal some of my depth. It is impossible to write an essay in 650 words that shows the whole entire person. But nobody is expecting you to do that. You just need to answer these three questions. What is unique about you that you want admissions to know? What is a creative way you can paint your story? And is it positive?

The situation you are going to talk about is probably negative more often than not. Having type one diabetes (T1D) is not something I would consider to be a positive thing, but in this essay I made more positive and I think that shows both strength and maturity. One of my best pieces of advice is don’t waste words talking about how hard or horrible a situation is or was. Sometimes it is more powerful to just leave it up for interpretation. These are smart people, if you talk about the time you ran over your own foot on your moped, they will be able to assume that that was a painful experience.

Sharing my teen mom essay was one of the most requested blog topics I received. I hope it inspires some rising seniors to think outside the box. You can write about so many different topics in the most creative of ways. Obviously, diabetes is way more serious than I portrayed it in this essay but my intentions were to reveal parts of myself not discuss the severity and challenges of T1D. I hope you enjoyed and would love to know what you thought!

Love Always,

Casey