# AFI application: Life Experience



## thebankteller (Dec 22, 2008)

I read a lot about how current fellows say AFI looks closely and weighs heavily on a person's "personal experience." Unfortunately, the phrase "personal experience" is incredibly vague as to what this exactly entails.

To educate us hopeful applicants, can anyone who was accepted share what they wrote about? What their "life experience" was?


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## Jayimess (Dec 23, 2008)

Personal life experience means what experiences you've had in your life.  Not your career, not your education...everything else.

It's vague because it's so different for everyone.

Examples:  

Growing up an orphan
Backpacking across Europe
Beating cancer
Competing at the Olympics
Surviving a violent crime
Your life on the pageant circuit

They want to know you've met and overcome challenges in life, experienced things outside of your backyard, had some diversity of history.  The reason that this is important is because it's a common practice to write what you know.  The more worlds your own has crossed, the deeper the well of experiences you can draw from.


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