Hello! I was wondering if my UC personal statement is a prompt 1 topic or a prompt 2 topic. I originally typed this for prompt 2, but looking at it now I feel if it works better for prompt 1. What do you think?
"Living with an alcoholic parent truly is a long-term experience that many people will find to be depressing and emotionally painful, especially for me since I have experienced it myself. During the early years of my life, my dad would drink heavily, and since I was too young to understand the problem of his situation, I interpreted this as something normal that adults do. Once my mom educated me about the dangers of alcohol, not only did I begin to worry about my dad’s health, I began to worry about the future of our family. It didn’t help me that he would constantly give us a false sense of relief by telling us that he would quit drinking and would occasionally fight with my mom every now and then. Every night, I prayed that my dad would get better so that he can go back to supporting us since we were losing money. At the start of my middle school years, my prayers would be answered. He gradually began to recover began to work more hours to make up for the money that was lost. I felt relieved as sight of my mom and dad being together as a regular family washed away the stress, pain, and anxiety out of my body. I thought that I would never have to deal with alcoholism anymore.
Unfortunately, I was not aware at the time that history can and will repeat itself, especially when it comes to alcoholism. Near the end of December 2014, my father reverted back to his old ways and began to drink alcohol again. Once I found out, I fell into a state of despair, my mind was aching, my heart pounding. The thought of not being able to afford to go straight to a four-year university to pursue my desire for a higher education put me in a dispirited mood. Matters become worse as my father got arrested for drunk driving and ultimately lost his job.
After all this, I feared that I would end up like all the other kids with the same problem as mine; socially isolated and getting bad grades on their report cards. There my mom told me that I can’t let my dad’s relapse affect me or my grades. I have to get serious about school and look into finding scholarships that can help pay for the expenses of college. I began to work twice as hard. My desire to take more academically challenging classes rose higher, which led to me taking classes at Sacramento City College, something that I was not considering doing. During my senior year, I joined more clubs to get rid of my social isolation and gain community service hours. I also began to apply for scholarships.
The experience I had with my dad may have been bad at first, but it helped me realize that life can be unexpected and will try to knock people down in any way possible, so the only logical thing to do is to stand up and fight back twice as hard. This is what makes me different between me and other kids affected by alcoholism, I have the determination and willpower to keep on going when the world around me is not turning out the way I want it to be. These problems only fueled my desire to work hard and become more active in my community."