I am planning to write about how my father’s battle with stage 3 cancer has motivated/inspired me to excel in academics and prompted me to get a job to financially support the family. Will this topic be too generic/dramatic?
First, my sympathies to your dad, and to your family. That’s a brutally hard battle for everyone involved.
OK, next: I’m guessing this is the prompt on when you became an adult?
It won’t be the first one they’ve read, but that’s OK.
Here’s the trap: you’ve got to make it about YOU, not dad. You have only 650 words. And, as hard as it may be, almost all of them have to be about you. You need to mention dad’s fight, and then transition to you.
Speak of the small lessons you’ve learned as well as the big ones. How do you treat others now? How seriously do you take your own health now?
Avoid the drama, and tell of what you’ve taken away from this situation. Avoid the big play for pity, and instead make this a personal read.
It could be very strong if you take the care to make it so.
Hi! Thank you for your advice. I agree, it should be more about myself since after all it is a personal statement. The prompt was to write about an experience that shaped me character/hardships I overcame in pursuing my education. Think I can make it to fit the prompt? I don’t want to talk about how seriously I take my own health now because that seems a bit divergent from the topic. However, I feel like I have completely changed in how I treat others now, would that show my change in character? Again, thank you for your time.
I think it fits the prompt very well. I would imagine that there are a million ways, large and small, that your life changed when your dad became sick.