In Conversation with Tracy Badua, Author of “This Is Not a Personal Statement”

At 16, Perla Perez is by far the youngest senior at her hyper-competitive high school. For years, Perla has suffered through countless hours of studying and SAT tutoring, dozens of extracurricular activities, and complete social isolation from her judgmental peers, but she knows it will all be worth it when she is accepted to Delmont, the college of her dreams. Then, Perla is rejected. In a moment of panic, she forges an acceptance letter, and soon, she is pretending to be a student at Delmont, evading her suspicious classmates and family at every turn. But with campus security closing in, will Perla get away with it? And is Delmont even what she really wants? Full of humor, heart, and lots of surprising twists along the way, This Is Not a Personal Statement is the perfect YA read to curl up with this rainy weekend.

How did you come up with the idea for This Is Not a Personal Statement, and when did you start writing it?

I remember reading an article a few years ago about somebody who had been caught at an elite university after living on campus for eight months. I remember reading it and thinking, wow, I really get where they're coming from. Then I stopped and was like, why is this my first reaction? Why would I understand why somebody would fake being a student for eight months, as opposed to thinking no, that's wrong? That story stuck in my mind. I was on a writing retreat back in 2017, and I remember telling someone the story about this person that was caught on campus, and they were like, “Wow, that would be a really intense young adult novel.” I said yeah, that would be, and I started thinking about it more and more. I could see where I could make this really, really fun and really stressful. Hopefully I succeeded!

I love how the book focuses on a 16-year-old’s transition from high school to college, especially because I'm 16! Did you draw any inspiration from your own high school and college experiences?

First of all, I did go to the schools I said I did. Don't do fraud, guys! I went to the kind of hyper-competitive high school that the main character Perla goes to where everyone is so smart, and so talented, and so driven. And it's wonderful, it's such a cool environment to be in. But it's also extremely stressful, and it does a number on you, where you feel like you constantly have to be working, constantly doing something. I drew experience from what it’s like going to one of those schools where everyone is constantly trying to be the best at something. And then with Delmont, that was a fun thing to explore, but I also wanted to make sure I did represent that there are a ton of other ways that you can proceed after high school. One of the characters doesn't care if he goes to some brand-name school because he knows exactly what he wants to do. There's other folks who want to work right after high school, and that's fine, too. I didn't learn that until a lot later in life because I definitely bought into the whole idea that you have to go to a top school, you have to do this, you have to do it this, or you'll be a complete failure. It's not true, you will be fine, but I definitely bought into that, and I wanted to portray in the book that it's not the end of the world if you don't reach your goal the first time.

One of my favorite things about This Is Not a Personal Statement is that it is such a thoughtful coming-of-age story while also being so humorous. How did you balance these two aspects?

It was tough to balance the stress and the fun. I know the book is a little bit stressful—you're following a girl who is pretending to everyone, and you're always wondering if she's going to get caught— so I knew I needed to balance it out a bit with something a little more lighthearted. I also wanted to make sure that I did have these moments of lightness in there because it’s true to experience. You can be super stressed out at school or work, but then you can still go somewhere else and maybe have a good time and relax. You can have a life outside of what is making you super stressed out. I didn't try to be super over-serious in This Is Not a Personal Statement.

It was so fun reading about Perla’s hilarious close calls throughout the book. What is your funniest story from when you were in high school or college?

One time—I remember being so stressed out about this— I had our family car, and I backed into our gate at home. There was a huge scratch along the back of the car, and there was no hiding it. Even the gate was bent. I remember panicking, and when my dad got home, I told him I backed into the gate, and I was so sorry, and I would find a way to fix it. He actually just brushed it off, and he said to me, “Why do you think we'd let you drive the crappy car?” It was a nice lesson that sometimes things aren't as bad as you think they are. I feel like if that had translated to Perla, she could have saved herself a lot of trouble.

What advice would you give to high school students who are applying to colleges and getting ready for the transition?

After I finished writing the book and I started really thinking about what I had put into it, I think one of the big messages that I even got out of it for myself was that we all need to cut ourselves a little slack. We tend to hold ourselves to these really high standards, and for Perla especially, it's not even just her parents that are holding her to that high standard; she internally feels like she has to be the best at everything. I think there's a lot that can be said for just giving ourselves a little grace when things don't turn out our way or when one path doesn’t work out. I really tried to drive it home in the book that we need to not take it as seriously and give ourselves a little space to mess up now and then.

If you were to write a short, one sentence personal statement, what would it say?

That’s a tough one! The statement that I wrote to get into college was so boring. It's very much like, “I'm really great, and I can do so much better if I go to your school.” If I was being completely unserious, it'd be something like, “I swear I won't embarrass you.” I'm going to do my best, and I'm not going to cause any trouble. Just let me graduate. I think a lot of schools would be okay with that.

I love how Perla is so passionate about video game design. Do you have a favorite video game?

I really like games like The Sims where you can do stuff. I knew enough to be able to put into the book what it feels like to be passionate about video games. One of our friends actually used to develop video games, and I asked him for advice. When I was writing the story, my editor said that it wasn’t enough for Perla to decide she doesn't want to be a doctor; Perla has to pursue something else. If you're somebody whose life is very much controlled by your parents, gaming would be fun because you can do whatever you want. And, hopefully at some point, you will win the game. I feel like that's a perfect thing for Perla to like, because in her mind, as long as she does all these things, it'll all be fine.

What are you looking forward to? Are you working on any projects that you can talk about?

I have my middle grade book, The Takeout, coming out in May, so I will be starting promo for that. I'm also gearing up to do a cover reveal for my second young adult book called We're Never Getting Home. It's about two ex-best friends who go to an epic music festival together, then their driver crowd surfs and loses his keys. I am also lucky enough to be going on a mini book tour for This Is Not a Personal Statement. We're going to the North Texas Teen Book Festival, Phoenix, and some other places. That should be fun!