<p>WOOPS. You made a huge mistake that you should never make on your apps. Your title is absolutely upsetting because more than anything, you come off as a young woman who is seeking sympathy for her sob story. You must not dwell on your struggles and your past and use them as excuses. What you need to do is to make colleges forget about your struggles for a moment. You want to present your passions and you really need to define yourself. Your ECs are all over the place, so what? What is it that you’re going to emphasize that you really have a passion for? Include that in your essay. Your past, the deaths in your family, mainly how you overcame them should only be the cherry on top of your application that makes you absolutely exceptional. Even the simply exceptional are rejected. You honestly NEED to show your schools of choice that you are a great fit. If you are applying for CMU engineering, doting on your difficulties, unless related to how you would be a good fit for said major, will not help you. I think this is where most everybody goes wrong. Yeah, one may be qualified. But no one is getting a sense of how great of a fit one would be. You need to be specific, with a sprinkle of pizazz here and there. And don’t mind me if I’m being clueless, but what does your father’s sexuality have to do with anything? I just don’t get it. </p>