<p>Throughout my life, I have gone through many challenges. I wanted to address these in my essay. Some of the challenges included my parents divorce, my mom being diagnosed with cancer, and living in a very unstable household with constant physical and mental abuse. I thought about talking about how school was my escape from all the terrible things that I have gone through. How these things have made me a stronger person and even though I went through a lot and would sometimes be depressed, I still succeeded in school and made it a priority in my life to do well. Is this a bad topic to write about? Its kinda hard for me to write about because these things make me upset but I feel like they need to be addressed somewhere in my application.</p>
<p>To be honest, any topic will work. It’s how you approach the topic that counts. Although you may hear that the 3 D’s are “overused,” it’s not cliché if you don’t write it the way most people do (probably whiny…oh, you should accept me 'cause adversity…I bring swag and determination to your campz).</p>
<p>It could work, like Newdle said, how you write your essay says far more about you than does what your essay is about. That said, if you feel like your essay doesn’t do your circumstances justice, ask your counselor to describe this in his or her letter. The counselor letter, if done well, provides context for the rest of the application.</p>
<p>Anyone else have tips on how to make this topic work. I don’t want admissions at my top schools to think that I am complaining or that I these problems will cause still be an issue when I am in college. I will always be hurt by whats gone on throughout my childhood. I feel like I never had the opportunity to just be a kid, but I feel like college will be a time for me to move on from all of it.</p>
<p>I know where you’re coming from, believe me, but you only get one common app essay, and so please be careful with this. The 3D’s (death/disease, drugs, divorce) are not just overused and cliche, they are to be avoided altogether as the main topic of your essay. Weave it in, definitely, but don’t make it the main point. See if perhaps you can explain this to your counselor and ask him/her if there’s another way to get it out there if you truly want it to be considered in the overall admissions evaluation.</p>